Audrey International finds best fit with Microsoft Business Solutions—Great Plains

Audrey International is a Malaysian-based designer and manufacturer of ladies’ undergarments. They were concerned about the ability of their previous financial solution to manage the Y2K problem and were looking to expand their business and fully meet the requirements as a public-listed company. They selected Microsoft Business Solutions—Great Plains, and found that they could realize all of their requirements, as well as vastly improve their operational efficiency.

THE SITUATION
Established in 1987, Audrey International (M) Bhd. is a leading designer, manufacturer, distributor and retailer of ladies’ undergarments for the local and overseas markets. Listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange since July 1997, Audrey International’s range of products include brassieres, panties, corsets, girdles, camisoles, bodysuits, crop tops, boxer shorts and sleepwear. The 350-employee company’s products are marketed under three well-known and established brands — Audrey, Lilian and Tres Tres — and are available through an extensive network comprising about 200 retail outlets throughout Malaysia and company-owned specialty boutiques strategically located nation wide. In early 1999, Audrey International realized that the accounting system it was using could not adequately support its expansion or needs as a publicly listed company. It had doubts, too, on whether the software could effortlessly transit the business into the new millennium. Relief came in the form of the Microsoft Business Solutions— Great Plains financial and accounting solution and its partner, Dynamic Business Solution Sdn. Bhd. (formerly known as Nortek Associates Sdn Bhd)

Established in 1987, Audrey International (M) Bhd. is a leading designer, manufacturer, distributor and retailer of ladies’ undergarments for the local and overseas markets. Listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange since July 1997, Audrey International’s range of products include brassieres, panties, corsets, girdles, camisoles, bodysuits, crop tops, boxer shorts and sleepwear.

The 350-employee company’s products are marketed under three well-known and established brands — Audrey, Lilian and Tres Tres — and are available through an extensive network comprising about 200 retail outlets throughout Malaysia and company-owned specialty boutiques strategically located nation wide.

In early 1999, Audrey International realized that the accounting system it was using could not adequately support its expansion or needs as a publicly listed company. It had doubts, too, on whether the software could effortlessly transit the business into the new millennium. Relief came in the form of the Microsoft Business Solutions— Great Plains financial and accounting solution and its partner, Dynamic Business Solution Sdn. Bhd. (formerly known as Nortek Associates Sdn Bhd)

Company growth spurs financial changes
Fit, form, function. These words describe the attributes that Audrey International’s customers look for when they choose from the company’s range of intimate apparel. They also describe the criteria that Audrey International itself applied when it decided that it needed a new accounting solution to replace the one it was using. “Our previous system couldn’t generate the kind of management reports we wanted to support decision making. Besides that, there was a lot of tedium involved, reentering data for consolidation purposes, changing formats, etc. The usability of the system in Y2K and beyond was another concern,” recalled Kimberly Sia, Finance Director, Audrey International.

Having decided that it needed a more capable system, the company set to work by listing down its requirements for each area of the finance and accounting function and for the function as a whole. It then evaluated five accounting systems, and eventually picked the Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains Financial and Accounting solution.


“Microsoft Great Plains had the best fit to our requirements and had the added advantage of not requiring customization work, which would have meant a longer implementation cycle and less flexibility in the future. What also impressed us was the high quality of service from Dynamic Business Solution, the local Microsoft Certified Business Solutions Partner, particularly, Mr. Wong Swee Shenn, Microsoft Business Solutions Channel Sales Manager” said Sia.

Work to map Microsoft Great Plains to Audrey International’s needs began soon after, with active participation from the dozen power users within the company’s accounting and finance function. The accounting solution went ‘live’ in December 1999, just in time for the transition to the new millennium. The swift implementation was aided by the Integration Manager module of Microsoft Great Plains, which was used to migrate data from the previous system. On an ongoing basis, Audrey International uses the module to seamlessly port data from its custom-built distribution cum inventory management application. This direct linkage has yielded many benefits, according to Sia.

A Better way to run the Business
“We use the distribution system to generate sales invoices — more than 1,000 a month. The invoices are automatically pushed to Microsoft Great Plains through Integration Manager. With the previous setup, the accounting application had no linkage to the distribution system, and we used to spend at least three days each month to re-enter and consolidate sales information. Now, there’s no data re-entry and we complete the consolidation work in less than two hours and with a higher degree of accuracy and full transaction traceability.” Management reporting has improved, too, and this has enabled more effective and efficient decision-making. Reports are now available within five days of accounts closure, and managers can customize their reports using the Multidimensional Analysis function, which allows for multi-faceted analysis of financial information. Audrey was very happy that Microsoft Great Plains provides “Technology protection”. Audrey effortlessly performed an upgrade to the next version of Microsoft Great Plains in 2001 to support the growth of its business and plans to migrate its database engine to Microsoft SQL Server 2000 later in 2002 – they expect this to be just as smooth as the version upgrade. Audrey International is deriving other benefits from its use of Microsoft Great Plains. For example, despite its business expansion, the company has not had to increase its accounting and finance staff. Better cash management has been seen with the use of the Bank Reconciliation module and because of the faster accounts closure and consolidation. Equally importantly, with more efficient statutory reporting, Audrey International is now able to meet the reporting requirements of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Ms. Sia concluded, “We had allocated six months for data migration alone, but managed to do it in less than four months. The data integration capabilities built into Microsoft Great Plains, and the Dynamic Business Solution consultants played a significant role in this achievement.”

Customer Profile:
Audrey International is a Malaysiabased designer and manufacturer of ladies’ undergarments.

Business Situation:
Audrey needed an “industrialstrength” financial solution to improve operating efficiency and to provide the efficient and complete reporting needed for a listed company.

Solution:
Microsoft® Business Solutions—Great Plains®

• General Ledger
• Bank Reconciliation
• Payables Management
• Receivables Management
• Integration Manager
• Multidimensional Analysis

Benefits:

• Easy, accurate accounts closure and consolidation
• Customizable reporting and analysis
• Improved cash management
• Staff cost avoidance
• Efficient statutory reporting
• Seamless integration with distribution application
• Technology protection

Software and Services:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2000
• Pervasive SQL Server

“Microsoft Great Plains had the best fit to our requirements and had the added advantage of not requiring customization work, which would have meant a longer implementation cycle and less flexibility in the future.”

“Now, there’s no (invoice) data re-entry and we complete the consolidation work in less than two hours and with a higher degree of accuracy and full transaction traceability.”

Kimberly Sia,
Finance Director,
Audrey International