Accelerated Microsoft Dynamics NAV deployment: How scope limits fostered ERP success for one distributor

Twelve months - that is all the time Wilkinson Healthcare had to implement its own back-office systems after spinning off from AAH pharmaceuticals.

"We needed to get something in quickly and accurately," says Russ Melrose, managing director and IT director with the company, which supplies stoma, continence, and wound-care products to 9,500 pharmacies within the United Kingdom, as well to UK's Dispensing Appliance Contractors, which serve the country's National Health Service (NHS).

This wasn't a standard systems implementation in which a company has legacy systems and needs more functionality, Melrose adds. "I had a business and in twelve months, would have absolutely no systems."

During the transition, Wilkinson could continue using the finance, human resources, inventory and other systems of its former corporate parent. "As part of the purchase agreement, I had a twelve-month window to get self-sufficient," Melrose says. Once the company switched systems, Wilkinson needed to be able to continue processing the 500 to 800 orders it receives each day - without any interruption.

On top of that, Wilkinson had recently launched Apogium, an online retail shop that currently focuses on incontinence products. The system would need to handle these orders, as well.

In making its system selection, Wilkinson's leadership team considered functionality, price, and speed of implementation. Melrose notes that Wilkinson is not a large corporate entity with an unlimited budget. Instead, they need to look for functionality and value. "NAV came in at the right price, with more than enough functionality to meet our needs now and for the foreseeable future," Melrose says. And rather than spend months on an implementation, Microsoft ...