Dynamics Square

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Omicron Engineering Ltd

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We restore in-house, and supply parts mail-order for, pre-1976 Lancia cars.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Dynamics Square UK to accomplish?

• Implement a replacement accounting (ERP) system

SOLUTION

How did you find Dynamics Square UK?

Online Search

Why did you select Dynamics Square UK over others?

• Pricing first our budget
• Good value for cost
• Other

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

To plan, implement and set up the new ERP system. This included analysing our current needs and practices and fitting them with the new system, cleansing and exporting of the master data, and translating that to the new package requirements. We had to re-create the chart of accounts, and transfer over opening balances to the new system such that all the important things like VAT, profit, loss, payables, receivables etc were all correct.

There was some testing and training thrown in as all, and a little bit of customisation by our implementation partne (although a lot of the customisation was done in-house by me).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• We're still able to run the business!

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Initially I would say they were a little slow... long waits between meetings without any 'work' actually being carried out, and I'd rather have gone a bit quicker at the beginning to make a bit more time for the actual doing.

What was your primary form of communication with Dynamics Square UK?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Firstly, they came and visited me in person. Post-covid that is quite a rarity, and it meant they were able to see what we do, how we operate and the type of business we are. This is almost impossible to get across over email, phone or video calls. Secondly, they were able to do the customisations that we required, and demonstrated them to me fairly early on in the project so that I had confidencewe were heading in the right direction with the right people.

Finally, the person who did most of the implementation (actually based in Nepal, but working closely to UK time) was brilliant, knowledgable, and friendly. They were understanding and hardworking.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Dynamics Square UK could have done differently?

I think there are areas where Business Central can improve. Some of the accounting can be a bit messy because you either have Items or G/L accounts, but you can't set up "Price Records" that have sales/purchase/VAT accounts assigned to them. The jobs module is also not very nice to use at times - it gets the job done, but there is a lot of tooing and froing between screens to makes sense of it, and some annoying limitations that we just have to accept I suppose.

There is an Ideas channel for suggesting improvements to Business Central, but generally they're unlikely to happen, and if they did the lead time is probably years. On the other hand it's quite customisable so it is technically possible to change how BC behaves on a day-to-day basis if you have the skills or money to do it.