CASE STUDY
Purpleline Ltd
A migration from Sage 200 to Dynamics 365 Business Central (Software as a Service)
Who are Purpleline Ltd
Purple Line are a leading manufacturer of accessories for caravans and recreational vehicles.
Purple Line’s portfolio of innovative products includes Caravan Motor Movers, Security Devices,
Lifting & Levelling aids and the multi-award winning AIR OPUS Folding Camper.
Purple Line’s design hub and head office is based in Rural Suffolk – the sales team are renowned for creating relationships and supplying product to local and national retailers in the UK. Purple Line Ltd also have a dedicated European Sales Team dealing with key accounts and supplying product throughout Europe.
Enduro and e-go Caravan Movers are at the forefront of the business and well known by the target audience. Purple Line pride themselves on the company ethos to “design…innovate…improve”.
The e-go Titanium Caravan Mover launched in late 2015 focused on weight saving – a key consideration of any caravan owner wishing to make the most of their available payload. The product is up to 28% lighter than caravan movers from other manufacturers.
Full Stop Security is a market-leading brand of caravan security devices.
The Kojack range of caravan lifting and levelling aids lead the way in caravan and trailer specific jacks and tools.
OPUS is a division of Purple Line Ltd and is well known for manufacturing a range of stylish and innovative folding campers. experience.
The challenge
The primary reason for Purple Line to review its historic use of Sage 200 was the need to ensure it was ready for making tax digital changes in April 2019. To achieve this in Sage 200 an upgrade was required which in turn required a new server to support it. The 20K suggested cost of this triggered a wider management review into whether Sage 200 was in fact the best solution for Purple Line and Opus moving forward.
Whilst the server at Purple Line was only just over 3 years old, the business was already being forced to replace it. As part of the wider business strategy the senior management team wanted to understand the scope of a cloud based system.
If Purple Line were going to make a migration from Sage 200 then a replacement ERP needed to have a clear and confirmed roadmap and meet not only their current needs but be scalable for the future as the business continues to grow. A move had to come with the assurance of being future proof.
Any solution for serious consideration would have to at least include existing Sage 200 functionality but needed to provide:
• Configuring assembly orders for standard packages and customer package customisations.
• Multiple stock locations and stock transfer
• Serial number recording within the central system to provide a full audit trail
• An integrated CRM module to support the central team and field sales
• Trouble free remote/mobile use from IOS, Android and Windows
• An option to enable staff to read information even if the need to update the system was minimal without having to pay for a full user licence
• A full data migration of Sage 200 data to include historic transactions
• A project cost that clearly returned a value on their investment and that was not 20K!
The solutionA migration from Sage 200 to Dynamics 365 Business Central (Software as a Service)
Migrating from Sage 200 to Dynamics 365 Business Central (Essentials) SaaS
Purple Line was introduced to Qi via QBS Group a leading Master VAR in the UK, based on the vast experience that we have in working with manufacturers, assemblers and distributors. Purple Line had already identified the benefits of exploring a Microsoft product, understanding that with the magnitude of the corporation would come a wealth of research, development, solution excellence and a wide support network.
Following demonstrations, discussions and succinct planning, Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS was implemented to include training and support for the Purple Line team. Services were delivered with a mix of remote and on-site resources to provide maximum impact and minimum disruption during training. Processing downtime was negligible and Qi were on site with Purple Line for their Dynamics 365 Business Central Go Live – which went smoothly and to plan.
By using a mix of full and team member licensing the business pays licensing costs that takes into account what staff need to see and areas they need to update rather than a full licence for users with far less demands on the solution.
Full Sage 200 data migration was achieved via our QiMigrateNow! Software.
The outcome
40% Time Saving on entering Assembly orders with enhanced accuracy
An automatically MTD compliant cloud ERP solution delivering enhanced and additional functionality over Sage 200. The project quoted was a fraction of the costs quoted for upgrading Sage 200 to achieve compliance for the HMRC VAT changes in 2019. (The project actually came in just under budget.)
Dynamics 365 Business Central is providing enhanced functionality in assembly orders, stock control and serial number recording. The solution allows remote access from any device with an internet connection. CRM sits on the same database as accounts and operations providing a 360 view of across customers and suppliers. The sales team have control and visibility of their quotes and sales orders and the reliance of central office staff is reduced in these areas.
Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS will be automatically updated to meet any future legislative requirements.
Purple Line will benefit automatically from the comprehensive list of automatic inclusions in the Microsoft April 2019 and beyond without the need to ‘upgrade’.
The project went to plan and went to budget. Qi went the extra mile to develop their data migration software to enable Purple Line to include historical data migration which was key for us. Steve told us that we would automatically receive additional functionality as it was released. After just a couple of months we are noticing the continued, intuitive additions. The vast improvement on entering assembly orders was actually quite unexpectedly marked and is providing welcome time savings and accuracy . The system automatically recognises the components parts required for an Opus package - so we enter one line instead of up to 20! There is less scope for human error so order entry is now reliably accurate.