MICROSOFT SMALL BUSINESS MANAGER
LAMAR’S DONUTS OF SOUTHERN COLORADO
Solution Overview
Industry
Restaurant
Microsoft Business Solutions Partner
Skotty Consulting Group, Inc.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
Scenario
LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado is
a small business with big plans for
growth. The company searched for a
scalable, full-featured financial solution
that would help them reach their goals.
LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado realized that QuickBooks
lacked the ability to handle multiple store locations or the company’s
accounting system needs. By switching to Microsoft® Small
Business Manager, they now have a flexible financial management
system that will grow with the company.
LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado owns and operates multiple LaMar’s Donuts
franchises in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, Colorado. The popular donuts—first created
by Ray LaMar in 1960—often win taste-test competitions over both local and national
competitors. Currently, the company operates three stores but they have plans for several
Company Profile
LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado is
a growing franchisee of the LaMar’s
Donuts chain of stores.
more stores and strong future growth.
Benefits
Microsoft Small Business Manager
provides LaMar’s Donuts of Southern
Colorado with an efficient, easy-to-use
financial solution that’s scalable and
provides managers with vital, decisionmaking information.
When LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado opened their first franchise store they used
Software Used
Microsoft Small Business Manager
Business Management Suite
US Payroll
Demographic Information
Number of Employees: 60
Number of Sites: 3
Number of Users: 1
Migrated from QuickBooks
QuickBooks Comes Up Short
QuickBooks as their financial software. Ruth Mondragon, CFO for the company, soon
realized QuickBooks lacked the functionality they required and couldn’t easily handle
additional stores. “I had done two to three months in QuickBooks and I told my boss that
this isn’t the software for a growing company. It wouldn’t track separate locations or
consolidate data,” she says.
Mondragon contacted Microsoft Business Solutions and was put in touch with reselling
partner Skotty Consulting Group, Inc. of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Skotty Consultants
implemented Microsoft Small Business Manager for LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado
and the company is enjoying significant benefits.
Small Business Manager is the Right Solution
According to Mondragon, the first area that saw improved efficiency was payroll. “From
start to finish in QuickBooks, payroll would actually take about six hours. In Small Business
Manager, it’s probably only a two-hour process,” she says. Small Business Manager also
easily separates management salary from hourly employee salary.
The US Payroll module is so easy to use that prior to leaving for a vacation, Mondragon
showed an employee with no system experience how to run final paychecks. In the space
of one payroll run, Mondgragon taught the novice how to perform the task flawlessly.
The business is expanding quickly and Small Business Manager easily handles the
changing financial situation. The software manages each store separately through the
individual account number structure and painlessly combines all the data so they have a
complete, overall picture of the company at any time. As the organization continues to
grow, their financial software now easily scales with the business. Mondragon says the
company has an aggressive growth model and she fully expects Small Business Manager
to handle that growth.
MICROSOFT SMALL BUSINESS MANAGER
“Small Business Manager is cost
effective for a small company, but
you still get the same reporting that
big corporations get with their much
more expensive software.”
The variety of reports the software produces provides Mondragon and the company
Ruth Mondragon
Chief Financial Officer
LaMar's Donuts of Southern Colorado
doesn’t mean you should have to compromise on the types of reports you get.”
owners with a detailed view of the organization’s financial health. “The financial reports that
Small Business Manager set up are exactly what we wanted. They are presented in a
format we’re used to and I had to do very little customizing,” she says. “We can look at the
reports and easily tell where we’re at in each store. Just because you’re a small business
“The cash flow calendar is very beneficial. We’re a small company so cash flow is an issue
and we watch it every day,” Mondragon says. The cash flow calendar function shows the
company how much money they have at any given date which allows for improved
budgeting of purchases. This benefits small or startup companies that may not yet have
larger cash reserves on hand.
Positioned for the Future
With Small Business Manager, LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado is ready for
continued business expansion because the software easily scales with growing business
needs. The company is also ready for a future Microsoft Business Solutions software
expansion, if required. If the business grows to the point that they need a financial system
designed for larger organizations, the amount they paid for the Small Business Manager
license is credited towards the purchase of Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains®.
Benefits
LaMar’s Donuts of Southern Colorado receives many benefits from their Microsoft Small
Business Manager solution.
US Payroll—The software automatically processes payroll, allowing the company
to maintain control and respond to employee requests more quickly.
Reporting—Reports are easy to produce, informative and easy to understand
which will allow for improved decision making.
Flexibility—QuickBooks was unable to handle the company’s need for 13 fourweek fiscal periods per year but Microsoft Small Business Manager easily
configures to custom accounting systems.
consolidates data from multiple sites which gives the company an accurate view
For more information about Microsoft
Business Solutions, visit
www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions
© 2003 Microsoft Corp. All rights
reserved. Microsoft and Great Plains are
either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation or
Great Plains Software, Inc., in the United
States and/or other countries. Great
Plains Software, Inc. is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation. The
names of actual companies and products
mentioned herein may be the trademarks
of their respective owners.
This document is for informational
purposes only. MICROSOFT BUSINESS
SOLUTIONS MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
IN THIS SUMMARY.
Ability to handle multiple stores—Microsoft Small Business Manager easily
of financial data and allows them to grow without the need for new software.
Improved access to information—SmartList queries allow for quick access to
account information. Drill-down capabilities allow users to see more information,
print or export the search results or display them on the screen.
