ORR Safety needed to streamline processes, improve system speed, and enable better communications. Keep reading to learn how this safety distributor positioned their business for success with innovative use of Microsoft Dynamics GP and help from Velosio.
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Download “ORR Safety Protects Business Success with Innovative Use of Dynamics GP”INDUSTRY: Distribution
LOCATION: Louisville, KY
SYSTEM: Microsoft Dynamics GP
Based out of Louisville, KY, ORR Safety provides industrial safety, occupational health, industrial hygiene, and fire-related products and services for companies large and small. Today, ORR Safety is one of the nation’s largest privately held safety distributors and represents over 600 manufacturers offering products for any application.
The company was experiencing inconsistencies and delays with their Microsoft Dynamics GP solution. They needed a solution to streamline Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory Control, as well as Purchase and Sales Order processing.
With the help of Velosio, ORR was able to upgrade their current version of Dynamics GP as well as all 3rd party packages over a six month span.
ORR Safety is now experiencing greater system speed, better communication capabilities with vendors and improved navigation, streamlining their processes.
ORR Safety has used Microsoft Dynamics GP for 13 years to manage their accounting, sales and inventory processes. With 250 employees and over 200 Microsoft Dynamics GP users, ORR Safety relies heavily on their Microsoft Dynamics GP software to complete everyday business tasks.
“Microsoft Dynamics GP is the brain of our company, our centralized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.”
Sidonie Ho, Systems Analyst Supervisor, ORR Safety
Over the years, ORR Safety has added numerous VBA customization solutions in order to cater to their business needs. This also includes leveraging dozens of 3rd party packages to enhance functionalities. Before attempting these customizations and adding 3rd parties, ORR Safety experienced the following pains:
These various inconsistencies and delays with their Microsoft Dynamics GP solution prompted ORR Safety to look at a solution upgrade and third party enhancements to streamline Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory Control, as well as Purchase and Sales Order processing.
Before ORR Safety could move ahead with upgrades and further enhancements, they needed to upgrade their current version of Microsoft Dynamics GP and all 3rd party packages. With the help of Microsoft Premier Support Engineers, they upgraded from v9.0 to v2010 over a six month span. They also updated their SQL and Windows servers, extending from four Terminal Servers to twelve. During these 7 months, Microsoft Premier Support converted all of ORR Safety’s Microsoft Dynamics GP v9 home-grown VBA customizations to Microsoft Dynamics GP Dexterity programming language. This bold move helped ORR grown VBA customizations to Microsoft Dynamics GP Dexterity programming language. This bold move helped ORR Safety prepares for the new release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and to enhance overall user experiences.
These upgrades alone greatly improved the speed of their system, showing immediate productivity results in every department. But ORR Safety didn’t want to stop there; they needed more out of their system and knew Microsoft Dynamics GP was robust enough to handle it.
After the Microsoft Dynamics GP upgrade, ORR Safety went to work on finding third party enhancements that suited their order fulfillment needs. From checks and balances to invoicing customers via paper or through EDI, ORR Safety planned for two dozen customizations and enhancements to their Microsoft Dynamics GP solution. Currently, ORR Safety has a Trained & Certified Dexterity developer in-house to develop third party solutions for the customization and enhancement demands from users, keeping the workflow as efficient as possible in their Microsoft Dynamics GP solution. ORR Safety also has a Certified Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Inventory & Order Processing professional in-house to assist users in various functional inquiries.
System speed is and has been the number one benefit for ORR Safety as they’re able to handle every process with ease. Dina Rager, CSR Supervisor at ORR Safety says, “We’re no longer getting in our own way with manual processes or dealing with pop-up windows that slowed down our everyday processes.”
ORR Safety is now able to move from an order to an invoice within Sales Order inquiries, allowing for a much smoother progression through Microsoft Dynamics GP. Not only does this save time, it reduces error and improves the morale of ORR Safety employees. It’s also much easier to move through screens by a simple enhancement instead of using drop downs.
Richard Knepfler, Manager of Finance and Accounting says, “I am very excited about the Dexterity changes, especially the one that allows you to go from a sales order to an invoice in inquiry, and the one that allows AP to see all the items on a sales order from Enter/Match. These simple yet important enhancements will continue to help us get better.”
Ever since ORR Safety implemented Microsoft Dynamics GP in 2000, efficiency has increased by 40%. With only a 39% increase in workforce, sales have also doubled. If ORR Safety had continued with its legacy accounting system, 106 additional employees would have to be working in order to achieve the same sales results. ORR Safety is also growing at an amazing pace, with an overall increase of business by 103% in the past 10 years!
Orr Safety has fewer problems with delivering faxes now as well. What would take them up to 6 hours to deliver before due to troubleshooting printing issues, is now taking them less than 5 minutes to deliver.
Purchasing enhancements have improved communication with Vendors tremendously. Instead of getting complaints from Vendors due to delays and errors in PO’s, ORR Safety now receives praises from Vendors in accuracy. Vendors are able to update delivery information and price updates directly in the ORR Safety Vendor Portal internet site to save time, rather than making calls to the purchasing department in order to provide updates.
By implementing a multiple windows feature, ORR Safety streamlined navigation and greatly increased speed and efficiency. Everything ORR Safety employees need is right on their home screens. This also helps keep every department on the same page, improving communication and streamlining order processes so that nothing is unaccounted for.
Improvements in the Sales Order process are also creating benefits for ORR Safety. Document flow has improved as they can now link to invoices from orders, and vice versa. Ease of navigation has improved as they now have different, more transparent ways to get to the screens they need. The ability to personalize their Microsoft Dynamics GP home screen is an added bonus. They can also easily toggle between Microsoft Dynamics GP companies, which are extremely helpful to gaining overall business insight.
ORR Safety recently acquired a business and was able to move all their data, including inventories, customers and vendors, in 6 weeks due to the solution enhancements in place. Having this amount of power in Microsoft Dynamics GP makes anything possible for ORR Safety.
As of August 11, 2013, there have been 94 Dexterity enhancements implemented in their Microsoft Dynamics GP solution. Numerous SQL Table Triggers and Stored Procedures are put into action daily. Transactions generated in all ecommerce platforms are flowing smoothly into Microsoft Dynamics GP every minute of the day.
ORR Safety continuously strives for excellence in customer service and data accuracy. During spring 2013, the ERP team at ORR Safety hosted numerous round table discussions with users to discover ‘wishes’; over 160 wishes were gathered and all are in the process of turning into realities.