4-page Case Study - Posted 11/21/2006

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E-T-A Elektrotechnische Apparate GmbH

Integrated Information System Breaks New Ground at E-T-A

Situation

E-T-A is a German company with its head office near Nuremberg. Over 50 years old, it has established itself as a market leader in the design, development and manufacture of circuit breakers for equipment protection; 1300 or more highly qualified staff work on circuit breakers of all descriptions and sell them to electronics manufacturers and industrial customers alike. The products have accreditations for safety and reliability in numerous countries and the company has gained recognition from civil aviation authorities and other safety-critical organisations, as well as the commercial sector.

Extracting information is made simpler by the system and the fact that it's Microsoft Windows–compatible, which means a new user doesn't have to learn the basics before sitting in front of it Sue Linnett, Commercial Manager, E-T-A Circuit Breakers U.K.

With 1300 employees worldwide spread across three continents, E-T-A found the IT systems of some of its companies stretched by conflicting demands and different, locally-sourced, solutions. It wanted to use its financials for more than just number-crunching; it needed management information and this was difficult to obtain from an ageing system which, though excellent in its day, had been designed without this in mind.

Although replacing an existing financial system that was basically working might seem surprising, for E-T-A U.K.’s Commercial Manager, Sue Linnett, the decision seemed like common sense. “We had an installed bespoke system which did the job well," she explains. "But there was only one person who could support it and we were aware that if anything ever happened to him, we would have a problem.”

The search began for something that would be comparatively open, in terms of enabling management of support issues, but which could also be configured precisely according to E-T-A requirements. Any solution needed to link into the SAP system at E-T-A's head office; in addition, as the installation progressed, it needed to act as a pilot for the rest of the international offices to evaluate, when considering their own upgrades.

Solution

Linnett first looked at the installation at the head office in Germany, which used SAP. Deciding this was too complex for the UK office’s purposes, her research led her to investigate Microsoft® Dynamics™ NAV. The E-T-A Singapore office also made positive noises about the software, so Linnett got in touch with Microsoft Certified Business Solutions partner, Alphameric Hospitality.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV was the right solution for a number of reasons. First, the support implications were eliminated with the purchase of a widely-used system. Second, the ability to tailor the system was important. “I don’t think anyone buys a straight installation of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, it’s always adapted,” says Linnett.

"Perhaps more important to us than the flexibility of the product was the reporting facilities offered by Microsoft Dynamics NAV," she continues. "We can get whatever information we need out of it at the touch of a button and we liked the fact that it was Microsoft Windows® based, user-friendly and fully integrated with Microsoft Excel.”

This second point was an important one for E-T-A U.K. since comparatively few staff would need intensive training on a product as familiar as Microsoft Excel.  Eliminating the need for intensive staff training meant significant savings in both time and money.

Linnett and her team decided to implement the system to support the company's distribution requirements since at this stage there was no requirement for a manufacturing solution. Being 100 miles away from Alphameric Hospitality did not prove to be an issue as the Microsoft Dynamics Partner was more than keen to offer all the technical support it could. This became important as the project grew beyond the bounds of the originally-envisaged specification — something for which Linnett takes full responsibility. “It took a long while to implement and that was entirely our fault,” she says.

The execution delay was generated by changes within E-T-A itself; while the U.K. office began preparing to implement its new system, its sister companies around the world were looking at doing the same thing. “We decided to put Microsoft Dynamics NAV into four other offices as well,” Linnett explains.

Although the international element was unexpected at this early stage, Alphameric Hospitality understood the issues involved and provided a resolute U.K. presence, providing technical information and details to the other country partners.
 
Discussions with Alphameric Hospitality started in 2000 and due to the evolving scope of the implementation, the contract was actually signed in early 2002. Linnett was impressed at the resources Alphameric Hospitality had at its disposal for the project — liaising overseas but also training and, of course, implementing the system. The time it took was also lengthened by an innovative approach taken by E-T-A. “We decided to transfer all of our data manually as a training programme,” she explains. “Which is why we didn’t go live until January 2003, and we took one month running the bespoke system concurrently to make sure we were happy with the new one — which we were.”

Benefits

The initial benefits achieved by E-T-A in the first few months were easy to obtain and immediately apparent. "We didn't have customer relationship management (CRM) before, but we do now," says Linnett. "Extracting information is made simpler by the system and the fact that it's Microsoft Windows–compatible, which means a new user doesn't have to learn the basics before sitting in front of it."

So, has the project delivered in terms of return on investment? Although E-T-A U.K. prefers not to disclose the figures spent on the system, Linnett stresses that pure ROI was never the objective. "The processes have improved and there are things we just couldn't do better," she says.

Actual financial pay-back will be tracked over the coming years, although the company acknowledges that measuring and monitoring business that might have been lost without CRM is difficult.

Internationally, there remain things to do. The U.S.A. office of E-T-A is not yet live with its system — implementation was scheduled to begin once Microsoft Dynamics NAV was operational in all other countries. Once all offices around the globe are running the same software, E-T-A anticipates there will be even further reporting and integration benefits which will primarily be experienced by its head office.

Meanwhile, the U.K. operation now has better information to support its business decisions and the scope to grow its system to accommodate manufacturing, HR and other areas with which Microsoft Dynamics NAV can help.

Software and Services
  Microsoft Dynamics 
    Microsoft Dynamics NAV
 
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
 
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/dynamics

For More Information
For further information about Microsoft products and services please visit www.microsoft.com/uk or call 0870 60 10 100*.
 
For hearing impaired customers with a Minicom contact: 0870 50 30 400*.

*Lines are open 8am-6pm Monday to Friday. Please note Numbers prefixed 0870 will be charged at national call rates. For details of national call rate charges please contact your telecoms provider.

For more information about Alphameric Hospitality products and services, call 023 8074 5950 or visit the Web site at: www.alphameric.com

For more information about E-T-A Circuit Breakers products and services, call 01296 420 336 or visit the Web site at: www.e-t-a.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published November 2006