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Project Management Services Secures Success at BARTON PROTECTIVE SECURITIES
“Working with CD Group, Barton was able to
deliver a successful solution into the enterprise.
The CD Group team proved to be a tremendous asset
during the complete project life-cycle,”
“They integrated seamlessly with the Barton team and
kept Barton's best interests at the forefront of the
partnership.”
Jamie Kranking,
Vice President of Information Services
Company Overview
Founded in 1977, Barton Protective Securities, Inc.
(Barton) has grown to become the 5th largest
security company in America with 1,000 high profile
customers and 13,000 employees. Barton provides
contract security personnel services to its
customers who are premium properties in class A
commercial buildings, corporate and technology
facilities, and upscale communities. Barton has been
named for five consecutive years by FORTUNE Magazine
as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in
America and remains the only security company on
this prestigious list. Barton has maintained an
annual client retention rate of 92% in an industry
that averages 75%. Barton Securities has recently
merged with Allied Securities.
Challenges Faced
Barton's challenge that led to
this project was that the company was taking too
long to process the scheduling and payroll
functions. Barton needed to enhance the scheduling
experience, process payroll faster than with the
previous model, and extend ERP data seamlessly to
and from the ERP solution to eliminate redundant
data entry in each system, thereby reducing time and
cost associated with these business processes.
Barton wanted to achieve the
following:
-
Improve business processes
and eliminate data inconsistencies in payroll
and billing.
-
Enhance technical
infrastructures to replace legacy systems and
gain efficiencies and consistency in the
technical platforms. Configure and deploy
branch-specific business set up of the
scheduling solution without disrupting business.
-
Develop a progressive
integration model which addressed existing
procedural pains without impacting back-office
procedures.
-
Prepare and educate the
enterprise for a sizable procedural and
technical transition.
-
Work with three companies
(two vendors and Barton) to effectively deliver
the solution and to return business value.
The Solution
Barton partnered with
CD Group
and Valiant Software to initiate an enterprise-wide
project replacing previous scheduling and payroll
time integration functions with a more progressive
and more integrated solution for capturing time and
supporting payroll and client invoicing. The
solution included Vision Scheduling Solution from
Valiant Software and
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and the integration
between the two applications. The Vision system is a
"best in class" labor management solution
specializing in the physical security industry. This
was selected because it would enhance the
front-office scheduling functionality while
leveraging existing ERP investments. Additionally, the integration
would deliver dramatic decreases in the need for
double data entry in the scheduling system and the
EnterpriseOne environment. The integration would
enable the back-office process to be faster and more
flexible than the previous integration model.
The resources deployed to implement the solution
included:
- Full-time CD Group Project Manager managing
resources from the three company’s resources.
- Barton resources responsible for business
processes, system set up, and end-user education
and branch office transitions.
- The scheduling vendor’s resources
responsible for training and implementation,
data integration, and scheduling system
enhancements.
- CD Group resources responsible for ERP data
integration, process work flow validation, and
integration validation.
- Barton branch-specific resources supporting
the transition of the new scheduling solution
and payroll integration model at the individual
Barton offices.
The project lasted 16 months, and it was on time
and under budget. The enterprise transitioned from
the older system to the new solution infrastructure
with little to no operational impact. The branch
offices are operational on the new scheduling
system, and the new integration is supporting the
enterprise well. The project was by far the most
successful enterprise-wide technology implementation
in Barton's company history. Customer satisfaction
is high because the solution is working well and the
business was not disrupted during the 16 month
transition.
According to Jamie Kranking, Vice President of
Information Services, "Getting two vendors and a
customer working all together to share a common
vision of the solution was a challenge. We had to
create an implementation methodology that, when
delivered, had minimal impact on branch employees
and customers while achieving objectives."
The project accomplishments included:
- Replacement of all the
stand-alone/branch-specific scheduling
applications with a fully-integrated/
enterprise-wide solution, thereby gaining
efficiencies in payroll processing, customer
billing, and resource scheduling.
- Execution of a controlled cut-over strategy
at each Barton branch office to ensure employee
payroll checks and customer invoicing processing
would not be impacted.
- Execution of a well-communicated and
predictable project implementation into the
enterprise with little to no uproar or upheaval
from field operations.
Benefits Realized
The resulting business model achieved all defined
objectives and was met with a high level of customer
satisfaction. The implementation and rollout of the
Vision Scheduling Solution and JD Edwards
EnterpriseOne and the integration between the two
applications achieved the following benefits:
- Increased visibility of employee overtime
trends at the enterprise level rather than at
branch-specific dimensions.
- Decreased processing time by one-half of
what it took prior to the implementation
- Decreased Customer Invoice errors because
integration improved data accuracy.
- Mitigated branch-specific technology risks
and increased robustness and consistency of the
enterprise model
- Eliminated double-entry required between ERP
and Scheduling System
Overall, through its partnership with CD Group,
Barton has met its goals of improving business
processes, enhancing technical infrastructures,
deploying branch-specific business set ups, and
effectively delivering the solution and to return
business value.
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