ERP Software Mythbusters: Third Party Software Makes It Harder To Upgrade

Have you ever watched Mythbusters? Here’s a myth for you CFOs out there:

Myth: To keep your ERP/accounting software implementation as simple and clean as possible just use one software, with no add on tools. This will prevent unexpected system conflicts, especially during version upgrades.

Finding: Busted

Explanation: After doing hundreds of ERP/accounting software implementations and upgrades we can prove conclusively that this is not the case.

Adding third-party software to your core system can sometimes actually simplify your overall system and make upgrades easier and less expensive.

Beekley Medical is one example.

Beekley Medical is a medical supply company that used Dynamics GP for over a decade. Over the years they customized and modified the Microsoft Dynamics GP code to meet their changing business needs. With ten years of development, you can imagine how unique Beekley’s implementation of Dynamics GP became. And all these customizations meant that Beekley Medical was not using the latest version of Dynamics GP.

Then Beekley Medical decided that they wanted to use Dynamics GP Manufacturing functionality to automate manufacturing processes. Since the software expansion required the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics GP, Beekley Medical now faced a tough decision. Either they would have to re-build all the customizations they’d implemented over the last decade, or abandon the project and find another solution.

Luckily, CAL Business Solutions, their local Connecticut Microsoft Dynamics GP partner, had another idea. CAL suggested implementing a third party software called SalesPad, built for Dynamics GP. CAL re-created all their custom functionality in SalesPad, which allowed them to upgrade to a clean, unmodified version of Dynamics GP. Not only did this replicate all the business functionality that Beekley Medical depended on, but extended it.

“Over the years we had added a lot of customizations to Dynamics GP to handle our unique pick/pack and lot tracking process. Once we installed Salespad we were able to use their customization tools and workflows to mirror and even improve our process. Doing the customizations in Salespad, rather than in Dynamics GP gives us much more flexibility and saves on implementation costs,” Commented Olga Glynos, Director of Finance and Technology at Beekley Corporation.

Read the full Beekley Medical case study at www.calszone.com/beekley

By finding an elegant solution through third-party software, Beekley Medical both simplified their business software infrastructure and expanded their business capabilities.

This debunks the myth that third party software makes systems more complicated. I am not sure we could build a whole TV show around this, but I am sure there are more. What other myths have you heard about accounting software that we can tackle next time?

Watch the short 3 minute Beekley Medical testimonial video:

Watch the video at: www.calszone.com/beekley-video

By Anya Ciecierski, CAL Business Solutions, ERP Software Mythbusters

Photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net