CAL Business Solutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the senior vice president of Shared Services for Lifeway Mobility. We provide accessibility solutions to allow people with limited mobility to move safely throughout their homes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CAL Business Solutions?

We wanted to implement a unified ERP solution so we could move away from a fragmented system where we were using multiple disjointed platforms. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CAL Business Solutions was integral in helping us select which ERP solution to use. After we chose Acumatica, they led our implementation project which included coordinating customizations, software development, training, and providing ongoing support to us. 

They’ve assisted in rolling out Acumatica to our different branch offices. We started with one office, but have since introduced it to four more branches. 

What is the team composition? 

Our primary point of contact is Stacey (ERP Software Consultant, CAL Business Solutions). She has called on four or five other individuals over the course of our project to support different pieces of the implementation.  

How did you come to work with CAL Business Solutions?

Some members of the Lifeway Mobility leadership team had worked with CAL Business Solutions in the past. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000-$100,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2018, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The quality of their service is exceptional. They are responsive and can resolve issues with minimal communication with us. Stacey has gotten to know our business just as well as any of our staff members.

How did CAL Business Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We had an aggressive timeline, and they managed the project to hit the deadlines that were imposed. They brought on an additional resource but stayed within our budget. 

They drove the initial implementation and were really effective in training our team on Acumatica. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

They’re working in our best interests and willing to help us find the most cost-effective and seamless results. CAL Business Solutions even helped us find a rental solution by engaging with other ISVs. They’ve fostered a strong relationship with us. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

It would be nice if it was a little easier to get a resource exactly when we need it, but I understand that the team at CAL Business Solutions is working with other clients as well. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

It is important to listen to what they have to say and be flexible.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We sell disposable medical products to radiologists, hospitals, specialized clinics – you name it and we do it. We also have a secondary division that manufactures luggage tags for hotels and resorts. 

What is your position?

I'm the systems administrator.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CAL Business Solutions?

We were on the 2010 version of Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains and ERP [enterprise resource planning] software. We've been working with them for a while for periodic support. We then engaged them for upgrading us from 2010 to Great Plains 2013 R2. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Their primary role was getting in remotely, upgrading the database, providing training for our end-users and administrators, and guiding us through the go-live process when switching over from the old system to the new. They built custom fields and custom logic in the background.

Because Great Plains talks to a number of other applications, they've been involved with that integration inside of the project. We have Dynamics CRM 4.0, and we used SalesPad, which fits on top of Great Plains. CAL also supports us with that product. We also use shipping software called Star Ship by V-Technologies. Those are the major ones that work with Great Plains. They only worked on the back-end systems. They didn't deal with any of the front-end user interface stuff on our website.

How did you come to work with CAL Business Solutions?

Prior to their relationship with us, one of our employees had actually worked with them at a previous employer. It was a direct referral. The employee loved their service, and introduced us to them here.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was just completed this past Monday.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I don't have any statistics to share. As far as feedback, they're great to work with, and they have a very knowledgeable staff. Whenever we have an issue with anything, whether it's within our accounting department or from the IT [information technology] side, they can answer any questions we may have. Another key factor is the configuration of our back-end systems. We haven't experienced any defects or malfunctions stemming from the upgraded Dynamics GP, which is fantastic.

How did CAL Business Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We've not had issues with project management. We control it, as far as how much work they did, and they've been very generous from that perspective. They've always remained in budget. If we are going over budget, they let us know immediately.

What distinguishes CAL Business Solutions from other providers?

I'd say their deep understanding of the products, especially Great Plains. A lot of other vendors that we have worked with or considered just didn't possess that deep knowledge that we were looking for. CAL Business Solutions actually uses the product on a daily basis, and it's just been great working with them.

The owner, George [Mackiewicz], is great. He's very down to earth, and he's not an invisible leader, which is often the case with similar companies. He's always in the mix of projects. Getting to know the people at CAL has contributed to a very successful relationship.

Is there anything CAL Business Solutions could have improved or done differently?

I can't think of anything. They've done a great job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a retail tire company. We have 87 locations in five states. We are the largest independent tire retailer in the New England area.

What is your position?

I'm vice president of IT [information technology]. I've been with the company 31 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CAL Business Solutions?

We were operating on an accounting system that was homegrown and written in the early 1970s, and it was reaching the end of its life. We decided to purchase Microsoft Dynamics GP to switch our main engine and the entire accounting environment from the older system, and CAL was instrumental in getting it up and running. It's a multi-phase, multi-year project. We're not live yet, but we're working on it pieces at a time, or stages at a time. We were in the process of looking at point-of-sale programs as well.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Their job is to get the system up and running. One of our main business problems with updating the system was adapting our business rules without changing the way we do business. They have programmers who have been helping us, writing some custom software. They also helped us procure add-ons to GP. We control everything centrally, so they got us an add-on, multi-entity management from Binary Stream, and it allows us to have all our company branches under one GP company. That's the kind of expertise CAL brings to the table. They know how the product works, and they know what we should be doing and what we should not be doing. We rely on them heavily to lead us in the right direction so that we don't waste money or time doing something we don't need.

How did you come to work with CAL Business Solutions?

We found a company that used CAL as their Dynamics provider for that system and we decided to have George [Mackiewicz], the owner, come in. He gave us a very detailed and convincing proposal.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Most of the money that we spent has been on the time analyzing our system and writing some custom functional code. It's not a whole lot of money, it's less than $100,000 so far, but I don't have an exact figure.

What is the status of this engagement?

We're estimating to go live on the expense payable in a couple months. I'm estimating we'll go live in GL [General Ledger] a little bit after that – maybe a few more months after that. It could probably take another year to do inventory because we have a lot of pieces. It's my belief that it's a good two- or three-year project to switch to the new system fully.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It's been totally successful. We're running parallel general ledgers. We have a general ledger running in GP and on our old system. We don't yet have the inventory in sales in GP yet, but everything from our old system is being transferred to GP.

We just went live on Kronos HR & Payroll at the beginning of this year. We had them write a general ledger interface that we're feeding directly to GP. We are always getting more and more components in sync and up to speed on the new system. Some people have been reluctant to switch to the new system but, overall, people are happy. They're all happy – the owner is happy, the controller's happy, and we're just knocking away a bit at the time until we get it done.

How did CAL Business Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

To be fully honest, I have to say we've had some issues. I've had to take over the helm on the project. If you let them go do their thing, you don't hear from them. It's really up to us to drive them, but when we drive them, they're very responsive. They have a lot of people.

We recently upgraded to GP 2015, and we had a lot of problems with the add-on vendors. Even though CAL said they're compatible, there have been a few issues where they're not really working properly.

Part of the problem has been us, because we let the ball drop. We have our regular jobs, and it's very hard to drive a project when I also have a 40-hour workweek. In fairness to them, it's been our issue as well. It's under control. We keep tabs on them. We have weekly meetings and things are going very well. It's going very smoothly. We did have some rough patches in the beginning, but I believe that that's behind us now. We're very happy with them.

What distinguishes CAL Business Solutions from other providers?

CAL Business Solutions been very good at prioritizing what needs to be done, timetabling it, and figuring out when you do what. It's been good, but nothing really unique. Not that we've done a lot of these things, but we've done a few, and they seem to be right in the curve there.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

I wish I had more time to devote to this project. That would definitely get it done quicker because I'm on top of it every day. We have limited resources here on my team, so it's not like I can throw a bunch of people at it and direct all these different people to do all these different things. I wish we had more, but that's just not the way it works. I don't think there would be anything to change.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a cultural exchange company. We run a few different programs, such as collegiate study abroad, providing au-pairs to families who need childcare, and providing camp counselors. We also have a travel insurance company that supports our travelers.

What is your position?

I’m the vice president of finance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CAL Business Solutions?

I started here about six years ago, and at the time we had some problems with our Microsoft Great Plains software and I wasn't too happy with the consultants that we were using. So I went through an RFP [Request For Proposal] process with CAL and a few other local providers. We selected CAL to get us on the right track.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They’ve worked on a number of projects. They upgraded several versions, they built a custom interface for us, they did a data archiving project to enhance performance, as well as providing local support to us. The technology we are using is Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains [GP].

The scope of their work with us has been pretty consistent over time. We consult with them on any big issues we're having or any of the projects we’re working on. They have a very deep knowledge of the products that we use.

How did you come to work with CAL Business Solutions?

I did some research on the providers that we were looking at. I think I called some customers of theirs, as well. I found out that they had a very strong reputation in New England, and also within the Microsoft community.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I would say maybe $20,000 on an annual basis, including maintenance and support.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I don’t really have metrics, other than that every major project we've done with them has been successful and on-budget. The finished projects themselves have made us more efficient and more effective. I think people are pleased with the work CAL has done within the finance group. Outside of the finance group, other users really don’t interact with them.

How did CAL perform from a project management standpoint?

One thing that sets CAL apart is that they have people working for them who are very experienced. They have deep knowledge of the Microsoft stack, so they're not spinning their wheels. They've probably done the work before, that we're asking them to do, so it goes pretty smoothly.

What distinguishes CAL from other providers?

I would say they have a really good mix of business consulting and technical expertise, from how the applications run to how the database is constructed. They have a full breadth of subject matter expertise. In addition, their owner has a long, long history working with Microsoft products, the predecessor ones, like the Great Plains and all the other stuff that came before it.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

I've had some instances where I needed some custom-built stuff and they are too expensive to use to get those things built. Maybe if they had a low-cost development shop under their wing, that might be good. I'm sure they can build the stuff, but it would be pretty expensive.