Based in Wilsonville, OR, the family-owned Collins companies trace their roots back to 1855. Collins holdings include sawmills, hardwood, particleboard and siding facilities in Oregon, California, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, a Builders Supply retail location that carries hardware and lumber, and the Collins Pine Museum which features exhibits on lumbering, forestry and principles of sustainability.
History
In August 2018, Collins contracted SSNW to replace their aging general ledger system, Open Accounts. Having been on older systems for a while, their customer IDs were out of sync and often required manual onboarding and mapping. Manual effort was not confined to customer IDs; in other areas, manual input slowed down daily workflows. The scope of our project was to replace the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, and some Accounts Receivable functionality without impacting Collins’ best of breed systems.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations was selected to replace Open Accounts with a project implementation timeframe of four months. The project went live in January 2019.
Challenges
Aggressive timeline with minimal implementation costs
Integrating third-party financial solution of choice within the D365 framework
Merging ongoing implementation with day-to-day workflows and processes
Solutions
Implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations as central ERP platform with custom code extensions for interface translation and deep integration with Microsoft Excel
Implementation of Jet Reports as a third-party financial reporting solution
Education of Collins’ key subject matter experts on Dynamics F&O functionality, configuration, and data requirements.
Results
Reorganized and streamlined daily and monthly accounting workflows
Integrated previous workflows from Microsoft Excel to ensure a smooth transition between old and new systems
Cut down on continued IT costs by centralizing an application footprint combined with continuous Microsoft’s One Version platform updates
Software Plan
Primary
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (F&O)
• Provides a strong financial foundation and supply chain management capabilities
• Provides a robust platform for future enhancements
Microsoft’s One Version services application and platform updates remove significant burden from IT resources.
Simplifies the creation of customer and vendor records in one master company that can be copied across all other companies.
Additional implementations:
Extension of “Open in Excel” journal templates for AP, AR, and project-related invoices and standard General Ledger entries.
Creation of a custom code extension to take the 15 various interface files as is, map them into a common data staging table, and process them into the standard Dynamics F&O ledger functionality.
Dynamics F&O Extensible Data Security: restricts user access and data visibility to only the sites they can work with or inquire into.
Third-party implementations
Jet Reports
Financial reporting system that integrates with Microsoft Dynamics F&O via AppSource
Builds reports directly in Microsoft Excel
Decreases errors, cuts reporting time and cost, refreshes data in real time
Game Plan
SSNW followed an aggressive timeline of four months to implement the primary and third-party software. We also built custom tools, and educated key subject matter experts in the company to ensure smooth functioning beyond the project timeline.
Strategic Solutions NW
Strategic Solutions NW is a tight-knit tech management consulting company headquartered in Beaverton, OR with clients around the world. We specialize in integrated software implementation and recovery, approaching every solution with a business-wide approach. Our repertoire includes creating and managing the accounting function for 500 million-dollar manufacturers, specialized forest product experience, and longstanding partnerships with a swathe of major software vendors. Led by three partners with decades of experience in software and business solutions, we approach each client with a long-term relationship in mind, providing continued support and communication beyond project timelines. Contact us if you’re thinking of introducing D365 Finance and Operations to your enterprise.