| | Proper Planning + VAI S2K Enterprise = Weekend Conversion Transparent to Customers! | Ince Distributing is a family-owned HVAC distributor located in San Antonio, Texas with 130 employees servicing Southern Texas. Cindy Ince, one of the owners and the Information System Manager needed to change to a new system - but quick!
"Our previous software supplier went bankrupt. We needed to quickly find a system that was a good fit for our business that we could get up and running fast," explained Cindy. "We were very pleased with our decision to go to VAI, but I cannot say enough good things about how well the conversion went. Now, how often do you hear people raving about their conversion?"
Ince selected VAI S2K Enterprise in March after considering several other systems; a few that were even more expensive. "Consistent look and feel from screen to screen, menu to menu, and application to application was a very important consideration. We felt this would make training and converting easier. We were right. VAI's consistent look and feel is user-friendly, intuitive and logical. We think it was a big factor in helping us to make a smooth conversion," says Cindy.
"Another thing we really liked about S2K Enterprise was that all the information we needed was at our finger tips. With our previous system we had to run queries and special reports to have all the information ready for the monthly board meetings. Even then, the information was always old. The Information Center gives us an up to the second snapshot of our critical business indicators, so we no longer have to run any of these reports for the board. I figure that will save me a lot of time."
"When we attended the training class, VAI showed us better ways to accumulate crucial information with our general ledger. As part of our implementation plan we spent time improving the design of our general ledger. It is really working well. VAI's tips really paid off.
"Also, because it is so easy for the users to get at the information with VAI's drill down and navigation capabilities, I don't get interruptions from the users asking for special help or to run extra reports," Cindy continues. "With 80 users, that's a huge savings. Before I had S2K Enterprise, I had no idea we could all get to the information so easily."
"Security was another important capability. If information is easy to get, you have got to be concerned about who gets to see it. We found the security to be very powerful and still very flexible," says Cindy. "For example, I may have restricted a user from a menu or a field and then discovered I needed to change it. I could make these changes on the fly. No signoff, no testing, no delay. I could easily tailor by user what each user was supposed to see and what they were not supposed to see."
Ince Distributing targeted to go live in early December 2000. To make this goal, Cindy and the controller worked closely with the VAI project manager. They attended the VAI implementation training course to better understand how to roll out S2K Enterprise. Cindy also had VAI provide on site training for her "hard-hitters" -- the department heads and the heavy users. "We wanted to be sure everyone involved understood how the program worked before we went live."
"Friday, on the first of December, we closed out the day and saved our system. We manually reentered open orders, open POs, and open invoices. We restored our old system onto our new 9406-170, ran the conversion program that mapped the data from our old system to VAI S2K Enterprise. We opened on Monday, December 4, 2000 on S2K Enterprise---- almost transparent to our customers. We had our VAI project leader on site for the transition, but by Wednesday, 2 days later, all the user questions were answered."
"Again, I cannot say enough good things about VAI. We are already taking advantage of S2K Enterprise's powerful search engine that allows us to search by key word, item, vendor, location, customer, or any combination - even with partial information!"
Ince Distribution has an appliance division that accounts for 10% of its business. "We only have to make a minor change to modify the entry of shipping information. It is always different for the builders we sell to. Outside of that, S2K Enterprise pretty much went straight in."
"It has been a pleasure working with VAI. I have found Bob Vormittag to be an honorable man and VAI has a fine product with good people at a fair price. I just wish I had known about them 4 years ago." |
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