| |
Migration to EnterpriseOne Passes the Test at SEVERN TRENT LABORATORIES
Company Overview
Founded in 1997 and a subsidiary of UK-based Severn
Trent Plc., Severn Trent Laboratories (STL) is the
largest environmental laboratory company in the USA
with revenues in excess of $200 million and 29
laboratory locations in 20 states nationwide. With
more than 2000 chemists, microbiologists, and
environmental scientists, STL has over 500 years in
the environmental testing business and supports a
variety of clients including commercial, government,
and chemical industries. STL's testing capabilities
include chemical, physical, and biological analyses
of a variety of matrices, such as aqueous, solid,
drinking water, waste, tissue, air, and
saline/estuarine samples. Specialty capabilities
include air toxics testing, mixed waste testing,
tissue preparation and analysis, aquatic toxicology,
dioxin/furan testing, and microscopy.
Challenges Faced
STL is dedicated to providing its clients with
the highest level of professionalism and the best
service practices in the industry. In order to do
so, STL commits itself to using innovative ideas and
state-of-the-art equipment and technology to
continually enhance its services and quality. Thus,
in light of its many business acquisitions, STL’s
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution no longer met its business needs and
threatened its ability to maintain its high level of
standards and service. STL needed a centralized
system to consolidate functions and duties across
all 29 laboratory locations by eliminating duplicate
and/or inconsistent business practices and rules.
STL also wanted to provide itself with the
capability to:
- integrate seamlessly with its vendors and
clients,
- create a smoother process flow in the
collections area,
- upgrade system security in terms of cash
disbursements and internal access,
- improve its ability to track its inventory,
and
implement a document management system that was
more efficient, secure, and diverse.
Overall, STL sought an ERP system that would grow
with its company, while upholding its high level of
standards and business practices.
The Solution
Creating a centralized footprint
To centralize its current ERP software, STL hired
CD
Group, Inc. to update its ERP software by migrating
its Financials from JD Edwards World (formerly JD
Edwards World Software) to
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (formerly
JD Edwards ERP 8) using its existing AS/400 platform
and by installing a new JAS server. To successfully
migrate to EnterpriseOne, CD Group first employed a
series of process workshops to develop process maps
to model STL's future business structure in
EnterpriseOne. These process maps helped to improve
and update STL's current and future processes, while
continually communicating and educating STL as the
company grows and processes are refined. Also, by
employing a Web browser to access the system ease of
access has been simplified.
Through migration, STL gained a solid back-office
foundation for its upcoming Laboratory Information
Management System (LIMS) order entry system rollout.
Migration also enabled STL to standardize and
streamline many processes, including Accounts
Payable, AR Collection, and Purchasing. Regarding AR
Collections specifically, STL now has access to
deduction manager functionality, which provides a
smoother process flow in the collections area due to
the availability of easy access from the main
collections review screen to other related
information screens. By converting a manual process
to an automated process, STL has significantly
reduced man-hours, thus allowing its employees to
concentrate more on data analysis and
interpretation. Migration also helped to streamline
STL's inventory tracking system. In one instance,
STL seamlessly integrated with one of its vendors to
conduct an item master upload of inventory items
into EnterpriseOne. As a result, days of work with
Excel spreadsheets have been replaced with a
consolidated, consignment process in EnterpriseOne,
and inventory tracking has become more accurate and
less time consuming.
Lastly, by migrating to EnterpriseOne, STL upgraded
and improved its security system from its former JD
Edwards World environment. After reviewing its
internal access structure, CD Group implemented a
security structure that allowed the STL user
community to control system access, thereby creating
a more secure environment.
Enhanced delivery and communication options
To improve printing and data distribution for STL’s
Accounts Payable processes, CD Group implemented
FormScape V3—the leading forms and document
management system used by over 500 JD Edwards
customers worldwide—for Windows NT. Consequently, STL has the ability to create and print many
different forms, including A/P checks. Also, the
cash disbursement process is more secure; now, STL
keeps only blank check stock on hand rather than
blank checks that could be stolen. FormScape also
allowed STL to print A/P checks for multiple
companies using the same check stock, thus
eliminating the need for separate check forms for
each company.
Benefits Realized
The resulting business model achieved all defined
objectives and was met with a high level of customer
satisfaction. The centralization of many
processes—including Accounts Payable, Accounts
Receivable Collection,
and Purchasing—helped to:
-
standardize and streamline
many processes,
-
create an automated inventory
tracking system for improved accuracy and
efficiency,
-
facilitate a remote system
for remote users, improve security,
-
integrate seamlessly with
vendors and clients,
-
provide a smoother process
flow in the collections area.
Additionally, STL was able to enhance its
documentation management system to:
-
simplify the creation and
processing of critical business documents,
-
promote a more professional
image through an increased variety of forms,
-
increase security,
- create a more consolidated system.
Overall, through its partnership with CD Group,
STL has met its goals of consolidating functions
and duties across the organization and
implementing a document management system that
is more efficient, diverse, and secure. With
these new enhancements and tools, STL can feel
confident that it can uphold its high level of
standards and business practices, while
continuing to grow its company.
Click Here
to Download a PDF of this Success Story |
Terms
of Use
