Faster processes thanks to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Group Machiels operates globally in areas such as environmental services, renewable energy, real estate, and timber-frame construction. The company is headquartered in Hasselt (Belgium) but also has a strong presence in South America (with Chile as its base). Group Machiels' business strategy focuses on sustainability, innovation, and extensive internationalization.
For the re-implementation of the current ERP package Microsoft Navision 2009 to Dynamics 365 Business Central, Group Machiels partnered with Microsoft partner Scapta. The focus was on optimizing and digitizing approval and financial processes, and automating standard group reporting.
The impressively fast implementation of Dynamics 365 Business Central (SaaS) was a reality within a few months. Thanks to smart on-the-go analyses, the software was quickly embraced within the organization, leading to a significant efficiency improvement.
“Automation with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers us convenience and the ability to be and remain future-proof. Thanks to the cloud-based solution, we always stay up-to-date. This is essential in a digital landscape where upgrades and new features follow each other at lightning speed.”
Group Machiels
THE PROBLEM
At the Belgian environmental technology family business Group Machiels, the majority of invoices arrived on paper, after which they had to be manually booked. Invoices that did arrive digitally were printed and put in folders before being passed on to the responsible person for the approval process.
This approval workflow was already digital. The responsible parties, primarily unit managers and project leaders, each have separate monetary authority. Each role is authorized to approve up to a specific amount, meaning each link in the process has its own task. After all steps in the approval process were completed, an invoice was submitted to the accounting department for financial processing. To streamline the entire purchase-to-payTo make the process smoother and faster, Group Machiels looked for a good SaaS solution to digitize these processes.
Additionally, there was a desire to automate group reporting with a flexible and user-friendly tool that would provide employees with sufficient tools to make changes themselves. In the old situation, datasets were often so complex that employees were dependent on an external IT provider for the management of their BI tool. Group Machiels preferred a cloud-based solution to the data center footprint to reduce and increase universal accessibility. In the already initiated switch to Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central was a logical next step in the global digitalization process.
THE SOLUTION
In its search for a SaaS-minded partner, Group Machiels quickly found Microsoft Partner Scapta – an IT company highly regarded in the field of Dynamics 365 Business Central. In contrast to the previously used method with Microsoft Navision, the aim was to achieve as much standardization as possible in the new software. Customization had to be reduced to a minimum.
In August 2019, Scapta began an initial preliminary study of the existing processes at the time, based on Navision. The conclusions drawn from this were recorded in a working document. This ensured that all business drivers were clearly understood by all stakeholders at an early stage, allowing for further work on the implementation from that point onwards.
The implementation was done hands-on using the train-the-trainer principle. Key users were appointed within the company who started working intensively with the new software from day one. The advantage of the SaaS environment is that it is immediately available. This allowed the standard D365 BC software to be displayed directly at the workplace, and key users could start using it immediately. XPR365 Financials ensured a smooth start and additional basic functionalities. Power BI and Jet Analytics were implemented for standard reports and analyses. For optical character recognition (OCR) for invoices, automatic scanning, and approval, Continia Document Capture is being used.
Scapta took a pragmatic approach, analyzing which functionalities worked best and where adjustments might still be needed. Thanks to the workshops and learning on the go, the key users became ambassadors for the implementation, creating buy-in to smoothly disseminate the acquired knowledge throughout the organization.
THE RESULT
Because the Key users From the very first hour, they started working intensively with their new software, and during the live launch, they felt much more confident than if a process with a classic open analysis had preceded it. The stress level at go-live was minimal, partly thanks to the two-way communication during the implementation phase.
Group Machiels now largely works with a standard BC solution. Customization has only been applied in a few cases, such as for the master data of the organization's various entities. Thanks to the intensive train-the-trainer program, all applications from the new system were immediately embraced throughout the entire organization. Approval and financial processes have been fully digitized, making paper almost obsolete and significantly reducing the time employees spend on their authorization tasks.
Key users raised to a higher level. Not only did they learn to work with new software during the workshops, but they also gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about the technology behind their software and the sources of their data. If changes are needed, for example, in group reports in Power BI, these can often be resolved internally without having to call on an external IT partner – although that option will of course always remain available.
“Thanks to the implementation of BC and the collaboration with Scapta, Group Machiels now has a user-friendly tool that enables more effective and efficient work, ensuring its future in this area.“ ”Dedicated ownership and the commitment of all employees have resulted in a huge amount of work being completed in a short period of time. The key users, in particular, dared to and wanted to get to grips with the new system. That, together with the optimal collaboration between Group Machiels and Scapta, was an absolute prerequisite for success."
Machiels Group