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ROCKY MOUNTAIN MINERAL LAW FOUNDATION MIGRATES ERP TO THE CLOUD WITHOUT ANY OPERATIONAL INTERRUPTIONS
WESTERN COMPUTER IMPLEMENTS AND PROVIDES TRAINING FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365 BUSINESS CENTRAL
THE SOLUTION
As a nonprofit that brings together law practitioners, consultants, educational institutions, students, and organizations involved in the law related to natural resources and energy, the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation relies heavily on two key enterprise functions—Enterprise Resource Planning to manage financial operations and Customer Relationship Management to communicate with members and customers and manage events. With both functions running on-premises, Executive Director Alex Ritchie set out to migrate ERP and CRM to modernized application platforms in the cloud.
“We wanted to move to the cloud to get away from to managing hardware and software, and to avoid downtimes in cases where servers crash,” Ritchie says. “We also did not want to limit our access to additional resources, such as storage, so we can scale when necessary. The cost to maintain servers on-premises is also higher compared to the cloud, and we discovered the cloud is more secure.”
Previously, the Foundation utilized a CRM platform that was customized with add-on accounting functions. After deciding to replace that CRM system with Salesforce, Ritchie wanted to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as a separate ERP platform that would be simple for the accounting staff to use and connect to Salesforce for automatic data exchanges.
“Our previous system wasn’t designed with accounting in mind, so it was not intuitive and clunky to use," Ritchie says. “That it made it difficult to train new hires. When planning the implementation of Business Central, we hoped to find a partner that could help us apply different dimension codes and train us on how to use the system.”
The answer to Ritchie’s challenge came from—the Foundation’s accounting firm, which recommended Western Computer. Western Computer provided its Rapid Start Implementation methodology to complete the project on time and in sync with the Salesforce implementation—a vital factor for the Foundation so that the two systems could exchange data from day one.
“In addition to setting up Dynamics 365 Business Central to work efficiently for a small nonprofit like us, Western Computer did a great job training our staff,” Ritchie says. “They not only offer technical knowledge on ERP functions, but also general expertise in the best ways to manage accounting processes.”
- Set up Dynamics 365 Business Central so it’s easy to use and generates financial reports quickly.
- Train accounting team on how to use Dynamics 365 Business Central functions.
- Implement Dynamics 365 Business Central to sync with Salesforce implementation to avoid operational interruptions.
- Migrated ERP function to the cloud to reduce implementation and maintenance costs.
- Integrated ERP with CRM to automate customer and event data flows.
- Provided accounting team with process training in addition to software training.
- Rapid Start Implementation completed the project on time and in sync with Salesforce implementation.
- Reduces accounting staff resource requirements.
- Generates end-of-month financial reports on-demand quickly to accelerate decision-making.
- Allows for financial analysis of multiple dimensions—funds, departments, projects, and accounts.
- Consolidates accounts and splits line items for restricted and unrestricted funds.
THE BENEFITS
The transition to Business Central was smooth for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and the board of directors was impressed that there were no interruptions to daily operations. “We did not miss a beat in generating financial statements, which was not the case the last time we changed our accounting system,” Ritchie points out. “Our board was able to interpret the reports so their decision-making was not impeded.”
With Western Computer providing training on more efficiently processing accounting transactions using Business Central, the Foundation was also able to reduce its accounting staff requirements. Key functions the staff can now execute more efficiently include processing account payables and reconciling bank accounts. The Foundation also benefits from consolidated financials, batch downloads from Salesforce, and access to historical general ledger data. Western Computer also assisted the Foundation with setting up account schedules to enable the board of directors to see specific line items on the income statement split between departments, projects, and funds.
“Thanks to Western Computer, it’s now much easier to operate our accounting workflows, and instead of taking days to produce financial reports at the end of each month, we now generate them with little more than the touch of a button,” says Ritchie.
Another key benefit for Ritchie is how Western Computer collaborated with the Salesforce partner to create a data connection between Business Central and Salesforce. Revenue and event management data flows automatically into Business Central so the accounting team does not have to manually enter the information.
“Western also helped us set up multiple dimensions in Business Central to analyze different categories of revenue and expenses,” Ritchie adds. “This is especially helpful for reporting and tracking by different codes, which we have for funds, projects, departments, and natural accounts. We can easily see revenues, expenses and other key data for each dimension.”
In looking back on the project, Ritchie appreciates how Western Computer was easy to work with, which has not always been the case with other IT partners.
“In addition to knowing the technical aspects of the project, Western Computer knows how to communicate with non-technical people, which is vital in a small organization like ours without an IT staff,” says Ritchie. “They explain technical concepts in terms we can understand so we know what is happening. This creates a positive working relationship—we don’t feel the tension of being in the dark because of language we don’t understand.”
Before the D365 Business Central implementation, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation also considered several other firms as well as solo consultants before selecting Western Computer. Western Computer provided the right balance between cost and resources.
“They came in at a lower cost than other firms that also have a large resource pool of professionals,” Ritchie says. “Solo consultants came in with lower bids, but they did not appear to have the resources to get the project done on time so it would coincide with the Salesforce implementation. It was key to have both in place to exchange data, and Western Computer helped us make that happen.”
Ritchie also appreciates how Western Computer was transparent about project plans and progress updates. “Western Computer jumped on issues quickly and created a clearly defined scope at the start so we were clear on when a change order was needed,” says Ritchie. “And once the project was underway, they focused on getting the project completed more than worrying about what was scope.”
The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation is a collaborative, educational, non-profit organization. The Foundation is dedicated to the scholarly and practical study of laws and regulations relating to oil, gas, mining, energy, public lands, water, and the environment in the United States and internationally. Through educational programs, the Foundation brings together lawyers, landmen, managers, consultants, government personnel, law faculty, students, and others involved in minerals and other resources.
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