Case Studies
Enterprise North East Trust provides a complete range of business services, including fully funded support to businesses through Scottish Enterprises Business Gateway initiative, purpose built office solutions and leadership and development programmes.
ENET had previously used a number of databases, both company wide and personal to monitor client relationships.
Euan Blair, Information Systems Manager, explained "Having numerous sources of data proved difficult to manage and audit. Ensuring the consistency of the data recorded was also problematic. We required a Management Information System that could be used to accurately and efficiently monitor progress toward targets and provide a balanced scorecard output from an organisational level, right down to the individual.
The company culture dictated that the system needed to be easy to use and be scalable in accordance with our plans for growth. Data from the performance indicator scorecards are critical to the decision making process of Managers, therefore the input method needed to be reliable. The desired system also needed to be implemented across a multi-user Citrix environment.
Following in-depth consultation with Business Logical on how to best achieve our goals, we opted for a combination of 2 approaches. We purchased Business LOGICAL's core API Management Information System (MIS), which Business LOGICAL customised to match our business and administrative processes. In order to monitor performance targets we undertook a programme of FileMaker Mentor Training, development and strategic business process consultancy, which allowed us to work closely with Business LOGICAL to build a fully automated performance indicator, which integrated with the MIS system. The MIS and Scorecard databases not only met our needs but far exceeded our expectations of what such a system could do for the business. Additional work was spent developing a course booking system as well as integrating legacy data from our pervious systems, all expertly guided by Business LOGICAL along the entire process.
Business LOGICAL also supported us through the deployment stage, working with our IT provider to install the system onto our network.
Business LOGICAL provided us with a fast track route to our objectives. The integration of Business Logical's core MIS software saved us considerable time and money.
We are delighted with the outcome of this critical project and look forward to continuing our relationship with Business LOGICAL."
Mackie Automatic Transmissions Ltd are remanufactures of Automatic Transmissions & Torque Converters for the automobile Industry.
They are widely recognised as one of Europe's leading Automatic and Manual gearbox re-manufacturers, with a partners list including Subaru, Isuzu, Nissan, Cheverlot, Ssangyong as well most franchised and independant garages in Scotland and throughout the UK.
John Mackie, Director of Mackie Automatic, explains " Our success is based on the underlying principle of offering a high quality service, the fastest response times and dedicated dealer support facilities. In order to maintain our high level of service, it was essential that we had a database which provided us with total control of all material and time costs.
Over the past 30 years we have been trading, we have wasted more money on "Off the Shelf" software than anything else. We were using a combination of Sage Manufacturing and a Basic FileMaker 5.5 system. The previous databases were not flexible enough to suit our growing demands. In addition their interfaces were not user friendly, resulting in a longer time taken to complete administrative processes. We needed a system which would provide us with total control of all material and time costs. This was crucial for the operation of our business.
We chose to undertake a Mentor Training Programme with Business Logical to develop a workshop management database. We needed to maintain a level of self sufficiency, but at the same time we needed to get expert guidance and training. This was later integrated with Business Logical's core Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database, which was seamlessly and quickly customised for our business needs.
The workshop database is an enterprise wide tool which covers all aspects of the day to day running of our business, including effortless stock ordering and stock control, time management, Job processing, Invoicing and Profitability. Reporting is obviously crucial, however ease of use and the ability to change layouts and format new reports, have both saved substantial time and errors produced from previous methods of reporting.
The integration of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database offered us a means to improve customer service and profitability by enabling us to manage our relationships with customers, including the capture, analysis and storage of customer information. The CRM also incorporates a powerful information gathering and analysis tool, with the ability to extract and analyse data from anywhere in the system. We use this feature to monitor trends, time management and costs by either employee/department/service or business unit. Because we purchased the CRM under API license, there is further scope for continuing in-house or external development or upgrades as our business grows.
Business Logical are absolute masters at quickly understanding a business, it's processes, and more importantly the human behavioural element of implementing such a system. We received practical advice and guidance on all aspects of the system, its implementation and after support.
The solutions provided by Business LOGICAL offer a robust, flexible, future proof set of tools. Business LOGICAL has surpassed our expectations, and have helped us build solutions that will drive our business forward. What more could you ask for?"
