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Mfar Holdings (Mfar) is a leading real estate development company offering a range of project and property management services to suit a diversity of requirements. Its main transactions are related to the purchase of construction materials such as steel and cement. Mfar initially used Tally to maintain these transactions, but the application was unable to scale up to the project planning and forecast levels that Mfar required. Mfar needed an enterprise resource planning system that would generate the right return on investment, be easy to use, and be able to connect to remote sites. Mfar evaluated Oracle and SAP before selecting Microsoft® Business Solutions–Axapta® (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™). Mfar now expects to get the right information for its planning process, obtain custom reports as needed, and improve operational efficiency through the tight integration of different processes.
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| Situation |
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| Mfar Holdings is a leading real estate development company offering a range of project and property management services to suit a diversity of requirements. It has over seven years’ experience in the development of institutional buildings, commercial complexes and residential areas.
Mfar is presently involved in the construction of two flagship projects. The first is a 1,000,000 sq. ft IT facility, at an approximate cost of US $20 million, which will be the campus of the Philips Software Center. The second is the 175,000 sq. ft. Mfar Silverline Technology Park, a US $5 million project located at the Export Promotion Industrial Park.
The operational model of Mfar involves purchase of land and the main material items such as steel and cement, and then outsourcing different aspects of the construction to multiple sub-contractors. It has about 15-20 sub-contractors working on a project at any given time. Its ongoing activities are related to the purchase of materials, project planning and finance.
Mfar’s initial transactions were maintained in Tally. However, a key issue was that the central office was disconnected from the site offices where purchasing decisions accounting for 40-50% of Mfar’s total materials expenditure take place.
A crucial requirement, therefore, was for connected project planning and materials management. Mfar needed the ability to forecast demand and supply of key materials, monitor the costs, plan movement of goods and obtain an inventory status at any time. “Tally didn’t yield to any of these aspects, and as we scaled up, we realized the need for a serious planning and accounting system,” says Vinod Menon, Mfar Holdings’ Financial Controller. A major step towards achieving this vision was to perform all accounting functions, project planning and inventory control on one system.
The solutions initially considered included SAP (which was being finalised at Mfar Holdings’ sister organization, Mfar Constructions), Oracle, JD Edwards and Microsoft. The compelling need was to have real-time material control, online project status, resource visibility across the enterprise, and up-to-date accounting information.
Menon explains: “There were three main factors that influenced the decision-making process: getting greater economic returns from the money invested, the ability to connect to remote sites even through a dial-up, and a familiar interface that even a new user can manage without going through a long training period.”
These factors led to the selection of Microsoft Dynamics(now called Microsoft Dynamics – AXP). “The biggest advantage was that Axapta, with its Windows Explorer look and feel, was quite intuitive in terms of ease-of-use,” says Menon.
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The biggest advantage was that Axapta, with its Windows Explorer look and feel was quite intuitive in terms of ease-of-use.
Vinod Menon
Financial Controller, Mfar Holdings
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| Solution |
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Mfar worked with Sonata Software, a Microsoft-certified Gold partner, for the implementation. From the start, Sonata Software involved key users and took them through pre-implementation training. This familiarized users with the end product and aided the roll-out process. An Enterprise Design Document illustrated the way in which Microsoft Axapta would handle different processes. Users were shown a pilot test case and, in parallel, data migration from the legacy Tally system was undertaken. After four months, the system went live.
The main Microsoft Axapta modules being used by Mfar Holdings are:
- Finance 1
- Finance 2
- Fixed Assets
- Trade and Logistics
The Indian localization of the system included taxation customization, addition of cess as a field in the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) process, calculating TDS on the gross amount and not the net amount, and other aspects. Another customization was the adding of an ‘indentation’ feature, to create a request for an item before a formal purchase order is issued.
The solution also dealt with key issues for Mfar: the automatic calculation of localized statutory needs, generation of statutory legal documents as per Indian Acts, and the Indian bank check format.
Vertical specific requirement like work orders, job orders and identifiable quotations which were not available in Microsoft Axapta were also developed by Sonata Software.
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| Benefits |
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Says Menon: “The three main benefits from the system are the generation of information that will influence planning decisions on material and thereby save money; the provision of custom reports as per our needs, and the integration of finance, inventory and planning operations.”
Better information insights
Through the integration of project planning with finance and inventory operations, and thanks to the ability to connect local sites through various modes (dial-up included), Microsoft Axapta is now able to provide Mfar with accurate and up-to-date information on materials movement and prices. This allows field managers to take an informed decision with respect to purchases of key items such as steel and cement.
Faster generation of reports
Previously, generating reports depended on a manual process of ‘cut and paste’ from disparate sources. Now Microsoft Axapta can generate over 200 standard reports as well as custom reports developed for Mfar’s needs, and in less time.
Reduction in data-entry time due to tighter integration
The integration of project planning, finance, and inventory means that financial transactions such as auto-bill settlement, cash flow management and other processes can be automated. With a streamlined process and a single data-entry point, operational time has been reduced.
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics offer integrated business applications and services
that allow small and midsize organizations and divisions of large enterprises to
connect employees, customers, and suppliers for improved efficiency. The
financial management, customer relationship management, supply chain management,
and analytics applications work with other Microsoft software, including the
Microsoft Office System and the Microsoft Windows® operating system, to
streamline processes across an entire organization. This gives businesses
insight to respond rapidly, plan strategically, and execute quickly. Microsoft
Dynamics are delivered through a worldwide network of channel partners
that provide specialized services and local support tailored to a company's
needs. For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/india/dynamics
Contact Microsoft
Dynamics India
Call : +91 99999 09 654
SMS "DYNAMICS" to 8243
or e-mail at
connect@microsoft.com |
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