Heathrow Scientific

RUNNING ERP IN THE CLOUD HELPS HEATHROW SCIENTIFIC ACCELERATE ORDER PROCESSING AND INCREASE PRODUCT OUTPUT WITHOUT ADDING HEADCOUNT 

WESTERN COMPUTER MIGRATES ERP PLATFORM TO DYNAMICS 365 BUSINESS CENTRAL CLOUD 

THE SOLUTION 

As the Dynamics NAV solution at Heathrow Scientific approached end-of-support status, Mo Khan—the Senior Director of Operations & IT—knew it was time to modernize the ERP platform. “Looking ahead, we would need to bring a sister company under the same ERP umbrella, and as we have plans to grow the company, there was the possibility of needing to add an acquired company,” Khan explains. “We wanted to be ready in advance.”  

With an aging system, Khan was concerned about the security of the ERP platform as well as the connected warehouse management system. Another key capability Khan sought in a new ERP platform would be enhanced support for EDI connections with vendor partners and customers plus third-party add-on applications. Gaining tight integration among the various applications would reduce manual data entry. 

But the biggest driver in needing a new ERP platform was finding a way to streamline the customizing of ERP processes. “It required a lot of work to customize NAV to adapt to the growth of our company,” Khan explains. “We wanted to streamline processes to better meet customer demands, which are always changing. We must stay nimble and not force our customers into a one-size-fits-all way of doing business with us.”  

Given how familiar internal software developers and end-users were with the technology, Heathrow Scientific wanted to stay with a Microsoft solution for the ERP platform. Khan identified Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud as the ideal solution.  

“Because Business Central runs in the cloud, it’s easier to modify, and with frequent application updates that add modern technology capabilities, it supports our long-term goals and requirements,” Khan explains. “The solution also eliminates future costly updates compared to using an on-premises solution.” 

For help in deploying Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud, Khan and the internal project team interviewed several potential partners. These included Western Computer, which was highly recommended by the managed services provider supporting the Heathrow Scientific IT infrastructure.   

“Two of their customers went through similar migrations, and Western Computer handled both smoothly,” Khan says. “We met with the Western Computer team and the partnership clicked right away.” 

Western Computer conducted a thorough review of how Heathrow Scientific operates its business and confirmed Khan’s choice of Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud to streamline processes and support future growth. “Given Western Computer’s experience with Dynamics 365 and our industry, they're very good at what they do, and their confirmation gave us peace-of-mind,” Khan says. 

The deployment of Business Central went smoothly with no downtime, allowing Heathrow Scientific to meet its target go-live date. “The entire project was a true partnership between our two companies,” says Khan. “Western Computer helped us understand what was involved on our side so we could get our team engaged. At the same time, they guided us in the right direction to make sure we implemented best-practices and avoided any pitfalls.” 

Western Computer executed the cutover during a weekend and managed the migration of all the master data files to ensure Heathrow Scientific was able to pick, pack, and ship on the next business day. “Western Computer resources were available 24x7, and we did not have any interruptions to our workflows,” says Khan. 

THE BENEFITS 

A key benefit Heathrow Scientific has realized includes improved data accuracy. Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud eliminates many manual data entry processes, and with more accurate data, Heathrow Scientific no longer has to conduct time-consuming manual reviews of sales, purchasing, and production orders. 

Microsoft Power BI, which Western Computer connected to Business Central, has improved the company’s reporting capabilities. “With Power BI connected to Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud, we now have improved visibility into our inventory,” says Khan. “This allows us to make real-time decisions on placing orders with our supply chain vendors. We get sales orders out the door faster and generate more revenue while meeting our customers’ needs.”  

Khan also points to cost savings, since the cloud deployment eliminates expensive upgrades compared to an on-premises solution. In addition, running ERP in the cloud allows Heathrow Scientific to fully utilize new features and updates in Business Central (released by Microsoft twice each year) along with smoother integrations with third-party software vendors. 

Another improvement comes from 365ContainerImport by Western Computer, a shipping container module that provides visibility into supply chain products from international vendors. “This functionality and the others provided by Business Central have streamlined just about every process—from creating production bill-of-materials forms to tracking finished products,” Khan emphasizes.  

For third-party software solutions, Business Central streamlines building and maintaining the connections. These include Insight Works (for managing distribution), Avalara (for calculating sales tax), Lanham (shipping), Shopify (e-commerce), and ChargeLogic (credit card transactions). The connections all work seamlessly, and if one of the extensions is updated by the software vendor, Business Central automatically takes care of any necessary changes on the back-end and resolves any issues with other extensions.  

Business Central is just as beneficial with EDI connections, such as Granger and Amazon, which provide vital sales channels for Heathrow Scientific. “These connections are easier to maintain, and we don’t have to worry about manual quality checks of the data exchange process,” says Khan. “Our EDI processes have improved significantly in managing order confirmations, receipt acknowledgements, and tracking packages. Western Computer did a fantastic job setting those up for and testing them with our customers to ensure everything works on both ends.” 

The Power BI integration has helped Heathrow Scientific generate KPI reports for managing sales targets, revenue targets, on-time order processing, pick-pack processes, and deliveries. “Power BI gives us visibility into everything we need to our business more efficiently,” says Khan. “Analyzing the KPIs and the automated processes in Business Central allows us to decrease order processing time by 20%, and we increased our output capacity 15% without adding headcount.”  

Our customer service team benefits from Business Central by reducing order errors and eliminating manual processes to verify orders have the right dollar value and quantities, and if there are any duplicates. If an error occurs, Business Central automatically alerts the service team. “Another big gain is that Western Computer created a live inventory feed into our EDI system so customers placing orders know what’s in stock in real time,” says Khan. “This is a plus for our customers’ procurement teams—they just click a button, get an update for inventory, and can immediately place an order.”   

In 2023, Heathrow brought a sister company onboard into Business Central that was also running an on-premises version of NAV. With the company continuing to grow, Heathrow Scientific is planning a move to a bigger warehouse. “When events like these take place, we know Western Computer will be there to ensure all of our ERP systems are set up and working correctly,” says Khan.