The shoe fits for M. Drummy with
better business decisions from
Dynamics NAV.
The retail sector poses no shortage of
Solution Overview
Organisation
M. Drummy Ltd
Customer Profile
M. Drummy is the wholesale and retail supplier
for the shoe brand ECCO in Ireland.
Industry
Retail/wholesale
Business Situation
The company was expanding its Irish operations
and its old finance package, a bespoke system,
was not up to the task. M.
Drummy needed a flexible, scalable solution that
would make reporting much easier and improve
stock visibility across its outlets. The ERP
package was one part of a wider IT overhaul that
included upgraded point of sale technology as
well as business intelligence analytical tools.
Solution Description
ERP solution to run the financials within the
company, linked to a common point of sale
system across all of the company’s retail outlets
and concession stores. Business intelligence
tools at the back end for querying and reporting
to management.
Benefits



Real-time data for more informed business
decisions
More accurate inventory data to eliminate
duplicate orders
Better management of cashflow and more
effective use of warehouse space.
challenges from an information technology
standpoint. There are multiple items of
stock to handle, as well as the need to
manage accounts for several stores or
outlets. Behind all of that, the retailer’s
management needs up-to-the-minute
information in order to make informed
strategic business decisions. That’s why it’s
so important to choose a solution that is
flexible enough to adapt to a particular
company’s business processes, scalable to
cope with expansion and reliable to present
accurate information quickly, so that staff
can use it easily and management can get
on with running the company.
Microsoft Software
Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics
RMS, Microsoft Business Intelligence using
ProClarity and SQL Server
Country/Region
Ireland
“Before, there used to be an issue
where the system may not have
been right or accurate. Now that’s
not an issue so we can get on with
business.
The information was always in the
system but we always struggled to
get our hands on the information
we wanted. Once we know what
information you need, this tool
allows us to get it. It gives us
unlimited access in reporting”
Paul Lyons,
Operations Director, M. Drummy
Situation
M. Drummy is the Irish wholesaler and retailer for ECCO, the footwear brand. The
family-run company has 12 shops and three concession-run department stores, in
locations such as Arnotts in Dublin. Over the past year M. Drummy has expanded its
operations with the addition of new outlets in Dublin, Cork and its first shop in Northern
Ireland, located in Belfast. The operation also sells to a further 200 stockists throughout
the country. With an ambitious expansion plan looming, M. Drummy found itself with a
problem common to many companies: legacy technology had been supporting the
business until then but it would no longer be fit for purpose as the firm grew in size.
Previously it had a bespoke system that was running the warehouse, the debtors and
the point of sales systems, with a separate system that helped the financial controller to
run all of the accounts such as profit and loss.
“From a finance perspective, a sale transaction that happens in the till has about fifteen
knock-on effects,” explains operations director Paul Lyons. “If you do a transaction in a
sale, that affects all of the bank balances, right down to the P&L, so from the finance
perspective, once that transaction happens at the till, there’s an immediate effect on all
the accounts that relate to that store. That would have all been done manually,
transferring information from one system to the other.” It all added up to difficulties in
getting accurate business information to help manage the company. “It took time to get
reports together, you could never get real-time information from the one system. We
always had to go to two or three different places to see it all. There was a tendency that
they might be conflicting when we produced the figures,” says Lyons. “With the opening
of three new stores we were quite concerned about the scope and the visibility of the
old system. You couldn’t go to one system and tell how much was in stock.”
So the company went to market to source, in Lyons’ words, “a reliable, robust,
internationally known system”. Another problem with bespoke software was the time
and cost involved in making changes, so M. Drummy wanted a complete package with
all of the functions it would need.
Solution
“Microsoft’s business applications
are very scalable, offering
companies an opportunity to start
with a handful of users and then
scale this up over time as the
business grows.
“The implementation took four and
a half months which was
exceptionally quick given the
number of solution components
which had to be implemented.”
Mike O’Regan,
Sales and marketing Director,
Colman Computer Services
The company took close to nine months to review the available packages with the help
of an external consultant, to decide on the most suitable and then undergo a review of
its processes to make the software project fit hand in glove with the business. In
February 2008, M. Drummy chose Colman Computer Services and its partner, the point
of sales specialist provider Store Computer Technology, as its preferred suppliers to
supply and implement Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics RMS. “In the
end Microsoft had the complete package from our perspective, mixing retail,
wholesaling and finance into one,” says Lyons. There was some work required to make
sure Drummy’s business processes aligned closely to the functions in Dynamics NAV,
as this would make any future changes to the software much easier to accommodate in
the business. “We didn’t take the decision lightly and we were fully confident; we knew
what needed to be done within the company to achieve our goal,” Lyons declares.
This was far from a routine installation, according to Mike O’ Regan, sales and
marketing director with Colman Computer Services. “It wasn’t a standard
implementation as such because the scope of the project was much more than ERP,”
he relates. Dynamics NAV was fully integrated with several complementary solutions as
part of the same initiative. The ERP package works with Dynamics RMS located in each
store, allowing transfer to and from head office of information such as sales, stock
issues, transfer orders, receipts, voucher payments and daily totals. Microsoft Dynamics
NAV also integrates with a radio frequency-based handheld system for sales picking
and stocktaking; Colman’s 3G-enabled laptop-based sales force automation system
enabling order taking, printing, stock and customer lookup facilities and a business
intelligence system based on Microsoft ProClarity and Microsoft SQL Server.
“The implementation took four and a half months which was exceptionally quick given
the number of solution components which had to be implemented,” adds O’ Regan.
“The solution had to be delivered on time to meet the opening dates of the new stores in
Dublin, Cork and Belfast and the ordering requirement of the 2009 range of new
products.” He believes the Microsoft technology is very well suited for what ECCO
Ireland wanted to do. “They were already familiar with Microsoft Office. Microsoft’s
business applications have a similar look and feel, which helped to significantly reduce
Cork Office
Dublin Office
Cork Road, Fermoy, Co. Cork,
5 Orchard Business Centre
Ireland
2009 Orchard Avenue
Tel +353 25 32211
Citywest Business Campus
Dublin 24, Ireland
Tel +353 1 429 1977
Email info@prostrategy-colman.ie
Tel 1890 886675
Web www.prostrategy-colman.ie
For More Information
About Colman Computer Services
www.colman.ie
Colman Computer Services is a leading business
and information technology company with offices
in Dublin and Cork. Established in 1985, the
company has built up a blue chip customer base
comprising private and public sector clients
throughout the island of Ireland. Colman is the
chosen partner of some of the world’s leading
business software developers. Coupled with its
25-strong consulting and development team, this
means the company can deliver solutions
designed to optimize return on investment and
provide tangible business benefits.
About Microsoft in Ireland:
The Irish Sales, Services and Marketing
Operation of Microsoft was established in 1991.
The full-time team market all Microsoft products
and services in the island of Ireland, targeting
customers both North and South. The team
services customers across all segments
including enterprise, small and medium sized
businesses and home computer users. In
addition to developing desktop products,
Microsoft provides tailored consultancy services
and solutions to suit enterprise businesses.
Microsoft is continuing to concentrate on its
relationship with the Irish enterprise market - the
top 100 companies in the island of Ireland.
Enterprise customers of Microsoft include the
Department of Education in Northern Ireland and
the Civil Service Commission, Dublin.
implementation and training costs,” he notes. The flexibility of the software is another
important selling point. The applications come with the source code, which meant that
Colman and Store Computer Technology were able to customize the applications to
meet ECCO’s specific requirements.
Lastly, scalability was essential for a company that had been in expansion mode – far
too many companies outgrow their legacy business software but that’s not an issue with
the Dynamics product set. “ECCO also wanted a solution that could grow with the
business. Microsoft’s business applications are very scalable, offering companies an
opportunity to start with a handful of users and then scale this up over time as the
business grows.”
Benefits
Better business decisions
Lyons points to the real-time availability of data as a key element of the system.
“ProClarity sits on top of Dynamics NAV and tracks all the movement we want within the
company. That is a reporting tool that allows you to pluck pretty much any piece of
information that you want out of the system. The information was always in the system
but we always struggled to get our hands on the information we wanted. Once we know
what information you need, this tool allows us to get it. It gives us unlimited access in
reporting.”
Tighter control of purchasing
“We used to refer to the ‘black hole’ with what we purchase versus what ended up at the
door but now every purchase has to have a purchase order so we know exactly what’s
been ordered and what’s outstanding,” Lyons states. “Dynamics NAV closes that loop.
Now we can see the outstanding balances on goods in transfer.”
Accurate inventory
Before Dynamics NAV was implemented, the lack of accurate stock information meant
reordering products was a frequent – and unnecessary – occurrence; not so now. “It’s
more systematic and the software checks if we have the product in the building before
we order it again,” says Lyons. “We used to find it difficult to prove whether something
had been shipped to us and then maybe just thrown in the pile. And Dynamics NAV also
allows us to catch late deliveries or even early deliveries because we can tell from the
PO.”
Improved cashflow management
For more information on Microsoft’s products and
solutions, please visit
Two knock-on benefits from the greater control within Dynamics NAV are a saving on
warehouse space and more importantly cashflow. “Before, we may have bought a
product that we didn’t need to purchase. This becomes an issue that affects our margin
if you’re left with excess stock that you didn’t need and didn’t want,” says Lyons.
www.microsoft.com/ireland
Ease of use
About Microsoft:
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is
the worldwide leader in software, services and
solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.© 2009 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved. This case study is for
informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
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trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. The names
of actual companies and products mentioned
herein may be the trademarks of their respective
owners.
The familiar interface means that M. Drummy’s employees don’t have to grapple with
complex screens or commands. This also helped to reduce the staff training time on the
system. “It’s one of the main benefits,” agrees Lyons. “The package itself is very
Microsoft Office-friendly. It’s easy to use: if you open Dynamics NAV, it looks exactly
like Outlook and all of our company use Outlook so it wasn’t a big thing.” The
compatibility with Microsoft’s Office productivity suite means that exporting data into
Excel is another welcome function, he adds.
Summary
M. Drummy has made a significant jump forward from where it had been from an IT and
business applications standpoint. “Not many companies of their size have implemented
all the systems they have in such a short timeframe – ERP, POS, RF-based handheld,
sales force automation and business intelligence – all fully integrated with real-time
updates to a single database,” O’ Regan points out. What’s more, the ability to analyse
this database using the ProClarity business intelligence tool will improve M. Drummy’s
decisionmaking. “Many companies of their size – and bigger – strive to implement a
single database to drive better decision-making but not that many companies actually
achieve it,” O’ Regan adds. Paul Lyons is in no doubt that the money spent on
Dynamics NAV was a good investment. “Before, there used to be an issue where the
system may not have been right or accurate. Now that’s not an issue so we can get on
with business. We don’t have to second-guess what it’s doing and that is key,” he says.
Cork Office
Dublin Office
Cork Road, Fermoy, Co. Cork,
5 Orchard Business Centre
Ireland
2009 Orchard Avenue
Tel +353 25 32211
Citywest Business Campus
Dublin 24, Ireland
Tel +353 1 429 1977
Email info@prostrategy-colman.ie
Tel 1890 886675
Web www.prostrategy-colman.ie
Having a more efficient business model supported by IT is crucial in the current
economic climate, he adds. “I think in the environment we’re in at the moment we would
have been under a lot more pressure if we did not have the package we have today,
that’s for sure.”
Cork Office
Dublin Office
Cork Road, Fermoy, Co. Cork,
5 Orchard Business Centre
Ireland
2009 Orchard Avenue
Tel +353 25 32211
Citywest Business Campus
Dublin 24, Ireland
Tel +353 1 429 1977
Email info@prostrategy-colman.ie
Tel 1890 886675
Web www.prostrategy-colman.ie