Background

Founded in 1979, Hospital Food Services Ontario, Inc. (HFS) was created to provide a complement of food products and services to hospitals in the Ottawa region. Since then, HFS has grown to service over 130 clients, including hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities throughout Ontario. The company manufactures quality food products and services, including chilled foods (salads, sandwiches, etc.) and frozen foods (casseroles, meats, desserts, etc.). HFS has more than 120 employees and more than $10 million in annual revenues. Hospital Shared Services functions as the administrative and managerial entity over both Hospital Food Services and Healthcare Linen Services. HFS has maintained its own manufacturing-based information technology system.

The Challenges

Since the mid-1980's, HFS grew with the use of an old MRP (manufacturing resource planning) system that was developed nearly fifteen years ago. The proprietary DOS-based MRP system, written by HFS in the BBx language, proved the best solution for its time, but with increased business demands, it quickly outlived its product lifecycle.

Furthermore, the MRP system was not designed to be Year 2000-compliant, or to handle the complex scheduling and production tasks demanded from a twenty-first century customer base and made-to-order production routines and schedules.

"The best word to describe our old system is cumbersome" said David Pynn, chief executive officer of Hospital Shared Services. "When it was first implemented in 1985, our organizational needs were much smaller, and the Year 2000 problem wasn't even a blip on the global radar screen. Just as our company and customers have grown, so have our needs; they are much more complex now, and we expect them to become even more sophisticated as we continue to grow"

HFS used its DOS-based system to place orders, develop production schedules and generally handle the operations side of the manufacturing process. HFS also devoted an entirely different financials package to the billing aspects of the business. The attempts to consistently integrate these two systems further complicated an already difficult situation.

"We had virtually zero percent faith in the system's integrity during the last few months before we chose Navision software" said Donald Smeth, chief information officer for Hospital Shared Services.

The system presented several other challenges as well:

"In the old system, we had to run entire reports rather than being able to choose and print from a specific set of criteria" said Jean-Pierre Maheu, manufacturing manager for HFS.

To add to HFS' problems, the organization's full-time database programmer retired from the organization. Without her expert knowledge of the proprietary coding and flat file structure, HFS suffered from a lack of IS support and on-site maintenance.

"We needed a robust system which would provide a single menu from front to back" said Rocco Romeo, chief financial officer of Hospital Shared Services. "We were also looking for a system that would cover our manufacturing needs as well as provide the company with the tools to succeed, not as we once - were small enterprise - but as what we were becoming - growing, mid-sized business"

"HFS could have paid someone to rewrite the code for a new MRP system, or repair the old system" said Romeo. "Although it was a consideration, it just didn't make sense if we were able to find a viable 'off-the-shelf' solution. This was a fantastic opportunity to make an educated investment in the future of our customers and our company."

The Search

Problems continued to compound and, in the second quarter of 1998, HFS began searching for a system that would replace their older system and provide the functionality necessary to take them into the next millennium. After more than six months of sitting through in-depth presentations and product demonstrations, HFS selected a "Short list" of two vendors.

In November 1998, Toronto-based Charon Systems, a Navision Solution Centre (NSC), presented Navision Financials and showed Navision Software's unique ability to customize and expand, as well as easily navigate through drill-down screens and filter data for concise manipulation and reporting. In December, Charon Systems returned to show Navision Manufacturing. This presentation was equally intense, comprising a full day of user requests and vendor demonstrations.

"They even used our own data in the presentation," said Pynn. "That was very impressive because it showed their desire to know our business and speak our language. Plus, Charon Systems let us 'test-drive' the software for free. No other vendor allowed us to take the software, make copies for our power users and use it in real-world situations. Our Navision Solution Centre actually challenged us to try and break it - not that he wanted us to succeed, but that gave me an even greater sense of comfort with, and confidence in, both Charon and Navision software."

The Solution

HFS selected, Navision Manufacturing and, on February 15, 1999, the contract was signed. Hospital Food Services was now an official partner with Charon Systems in implementing Navision Manufacturing.

"We were all very excited and even more relieved that we would once again have a reliable MRP system able to keep up with our fast pace of production, distribution and delivery," said Romeo.

"After the implementation we could finally get back to focusing on growing our core business and not worrying about having to correctly hand-key purchase orders from one system into another."

The Implementation

Due to the timing of the deal, HFS only had six weeks until the start of its next fiscal year (April 1, 1999) in which to implement the new solution. The NSC team and HFS therefore decided on an aggressive implementation process.

From that point on, the NSC and HFS worked hand-in-hand to migrate all the data and coding.

"That's another thing that really impressed me about Navision Software overall," Pynn continued. "They weren't like some of the other vendors who claim to be able to do anything, anytime, anywhere. Our NSC was always up-front and honest. If they didn't know the answer immediately, they would go and find out. "

Considering the aggressive timeline, the unique customizations that had to be made, and the complexity of the overall project demands, Charon had quite a task in front of them. They dedicated two "implementers" to the HFS installation in addition to a programmer. During the last two weeks of implementation, the NSC's staff virtually lived at the HFS headquarters.

"Charon's performance was outstanding," said Smeth. "The intensity was what really impressed me. These guys were amazing. We would work all day long - 10-hour days - they would go to the hotel for dinner, rewrite some code, come back later that evening and then work some more. Sometimes they only slept two or three hours a night. In the end, though, we had a seamless and successful implementation, and we are now reaping the benefits of six long weeks of hard work."

The Results

Hospital Food Services went live with Navision Manufacturing on March 28, 1999 and made the April 1 deadline. Although they wouldn't recommend this type of aggressive implementation, HFS does find it encouraging that its NSC was willing and dedicated enough to reach their first major goal. This served as a good indicator for a long-lasting and successful partnership.

While HFS selected Navision Manufacturing based on its functionality, one of the solution's strongest benefits lie in the ability of HFS' employees to work smarter with faster information access.

"I can see a big difference after using Navision Software" said Maheu. "With Navision Manufacturing, reports that once took forty-five minutes to an hour, now take less than a minute - some are instantaneous."

HFS is very pleased with Navision software's 'Drill down' abilities allowing them to track sales, inventory or production discrepancies from any screen. HFS also no longer has to worry about excessive system crashes or reorganizing a production schedule to fit the system's limitations.

"With the way we ran the business before, our old MRP system dictated the steps we took in manufacturing our products and distributing them to the marketplace," said Maheu. "These steps confined us to certain procedural limitations. With Navision Manufacturing, we can run our business more effectively because the enterprise business solution is flexible, expandable and totally customizable. It's as if Navision Software and Charon took off our handcuffs and opened our arms to embrace growth again."

Furthermore, with a business solution that solves any Year 2000 concerns, Hospital Food Services customers can rest assured that they will continue receiving high-quality food products and services well into the next century.

"We had several challenges to overcome," said Pynn. "I feel confident we partnered with the right people at the right time."