The new ePHR app takes the children’s support services provider from a paper-based system to a modern, mobile and customer-centric process. It is built using a wide array of Microsoft cloud technologies, including Dynamics CRM Online, Azure Active Directory, Exchange Online, Skype for Business, and Microsoft System Centre.

In addition to the development of the ePHR application as part of the larger technology programme, Plunket will deploy around 800 Windows tablets to clinical nurses across New Zealand.

Journey to cloud
Plunket COO Andrea McLeod describes the decision to begin its technology journey to the cloud, and ultimately transform the way it does business with its customers: “Our paper based systems had become cumbersome, and we recognised there were a number of opportunities to improve our overall service such as data quality, reporting, compliance and auditing,” she says.

“You can imagine how difficult managing and auditing over 60,000 clinical records per annum is – being electronic means we will have real-time data to enable us to provide a more efficient and effective service to our customers – the children and families of New Zealander,” says McLeod.

“Our service is about protecting and improving the health of New Zealand children. We realised that our current system wouldn’t allow a quick response to negative population health trends, such as an outbreak of an infectious disease. With real time data, Plunket will be well positioned to monitor and respond to these events ensuring health messages can be targeted and families quickly contacted with information and advice.”

Microsoft and partner companies Marker Metro and Koorb are celebrating with Plunket, proud that the technology they have developed for the project is helping Plunket lead healthcare innovation in New Zealand.

Teamwork
Koorb Consulting tailored Dynamics CRM to support the ePHR system, while Marker Metro’s team of local specialist Windows app developers were contracted to design and build the app.

Microsoft Public Sector Architect Terry Chapman says the Microsoft cloud platform was chosen because of its ability to meet business needs without extensive and costly customisations.

“Leveraging the cloud for the core of ePHR has enabled Plunket to rapidly move from idea to prototype to a fully functional line of business system,” says Chapman.

“More than just a new app for the frontline, ePHR represents a journey from being a paper-based organisation to being a digital organisation. Not only will the move help keep Plunket relevant for the next generation of Kiwi families, Microsoft sees Plunket taking advantage of the technology to spend more time with the communities that it serves.”

Leading healthcare innovation
Chapman says Plunket is leading innovation within the healthcare sector by being among the first public healthcare services providers in New Zealand to move its business to the cloud.

With any technology change, user adoption amongst nurses was also a critical challenge. With the average Plunket nurse aged 50, many were new to using technology as a work tool so it was important that any application was highly intuitive.

To address this, Koorb and MarkerMetro created a clean and simple user experience for the ePHR app to encourage user adoption, but included the ability to add rich content like adding a photo of the child at particular stages.

Privacy and security were also considerations for moving core business data to the cloud, and for Plunekt CEO Jenny Prince especially, the technology case was compelling.

“Dollars did drive our decision; that is definitely part of the story. But privacy and security have always been a priority for us. The question was why should we store data when there is a credible, reliable option available which holds our customer data more securely than alternatives?” she says.

Supporting the CEO and Plunket’s Board were skilled senior managers, among them chief information security officer Chris Blunt. “The key was to get people to understand what we were doing and why we wanted to use offshore cloud services – communicating that early and being transparent throughout was critical,” he says.

The team’s analysis found that Microsoft’s cloud platform would deliver benefits not found elsewhere, namely independent certification and adherence to international privacy standards.

“If there is one thing you want a provider to be it is to be as transparent as possible without undermining their IP. The great thing with Microsoft was that they put up few barriers to get this information so it was painless,” says Blunt.

A blueprint for collaboration
Ultimately, Microsoft’s Public Sector Director, Jeff Healey says that the elect ePHR should be seen as a blueprint example of effective collaboration and successful cooperation between the New Zealand IT and public sectors.

“There’s no doubt that the challenges of the mobile-first, cloud-first world are just as significant for New Zealand NGOs as they are for all businesses, be they small, medium or large enterprises,” he notes.

“What Plunket has demonstrated through this transformative project is that the capability for creating world-class, innovative cloud solutions exists right here and right now in New Zealand when we work together to reimagine what is possible.”

The post Plunket steps into the cloud with new Health Record app appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

The post Scoping IT out: 5 essential steps to success appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

Now in its eighth year, the annual Partner Awards exists to recognise excellence in the IT sector from those companies that integrate Microsoft solutions into their products and services to accelerate innovation and go above and beyond customer expectations.

Brent Kendrick, Microsoft New Zealand’s SMB and Partner Lead, says there was an impressive range of entries for the 2015 Awards, with a significant increase in new partners who have never competed before pitching their business solutions for consideration.

“The quality of entries this year has been truly outstanding, and shows the extent to which partners have been joining Microsoft on our journey of transformation towards becoming the productivity and platform company for a mobile-first, cloud first world,” he says.

Kendrick congratulated all finalists, and says he looks forward to seeing them at the black tie gala event to be held on 19 March. The event is open to any and all businesses to attend, and tickets can be purchased through the Partner Awards web site, http://www.microsoft.com/nz/partnerawards/

A full list of awards categories follows:

Cloud Awards
• Cloud Enterprise
Finalists: Datacom, Enlighten Designs, Sitecore, SoftSource
• Cloud Platform
Finalists: NV Interactive, Provoke Solutions, Timely, VMob
• Cloud SMB
Finalists: Atmospheric, Kinetics, SoftSource, The Full Suite
• Hosting
Finalists: OneNet, SoftSource, MHA Cloud Computing

Competency Awards: Application Platform
• Data Analytics
Finalists: Enlighten Designs, Montage, Stellar Consulting, Theta
• Windows App Developer
Finalists: Lazyworm Apps, Marker Metro, Joint (NV Interactive and Intergen)

Competency Awards: Business Applications
• CRM
Finalists: Adaptable Solutions, Datacom, Intergen, Koorb
• ERP
Finalists: Intergen, Koorb, Sable37

Competency Awards: Business Productivity
• Collaboration and Content
Finalists: Datacom, Enlighten Designs, Intergen, Leapthought
• Communications
Finalists: Dimension Data, Lexel, UCFX

Competency Awards: Core Infrastructure
• Datacenter
Finalists: Datacom, Spark Digital
• Devices and Deployment
Finalists: Datacom, Dimension Data, Fujitsu

Individual Awards
• Presales Technical Specialist
Finalists: CodeBlue: Henry Min, Provoke Solutions: Alan Marshall, Spark Digital: David Ollason

Segment Awards
• Education
Finalists: Cyclone, New Era IT, pcMedia
• Innovation Technology for Good Citizenship
Finalists: IT Engine, Koorb
• Learning
Finalists: Ace, Auldhouse, Kinetics, pcMedia
• Marketing
Finalists: Intergen, Kinetics, Origin IT, Provoke Solutions
• Rising Star
Finalists: Lazyworm Apps, Origin IT, Timely, VMob
• Volume Licensing
Finalists: Fujitsu, Insight, Northcom ICT, Spark Digital

For more information on the 2015 Microsoft NZ Partner Awards, visit http://www.microsoft.com/nz/partnerawards/

The post Finalists for Microsoft NZ 2015 Partner Awards announced appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

Now Microsoft – and its customers – faces the challenge of sorting through the various applications in the Microsoft Dynamics family.

We decided to shed some light on the Dynamics product family.

For starters, here is a chart that shows the target market for each product. Industries are down the side, business sizes are across the top, products lie in the middle.

Understanding the Microsoft Dynamics portfolio In 2001, Microsoft entered the server-based business applications market with the acquisition of Great Plains software. While it originally claimed otherwise, the acquisition was a strategic move to compete with enterprise software providers like SAP and Oracle. At stake were not only ERP applications revenues, but the database and operating system sales that are driven by new ERP projects.

As a result of this US$1.1 billion acquisition, Microsoft gained Great Plains Dynamics and Solomon, two accounting and business management systems, with 45,000 customers and 2,200 channel partners. This would give Microsoft a strong presence in the US, but the acquisition wouldn’t satisfy its global ambitions.

So, in 2002, Microsoft acquired Danish software company Navision, which offered enterprise-level accounting, human resources and CRM software.

Through this acquisition, Microsoft also gained the Axapta product, another enterprise system, which was originally developed by Damgaard – a company acquired earlier by Navision. Navision currently has roughly 70,000 installed customers with over 1.3 million users.

These four products – Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta – would make up Microsoft’s Business Solutions Group, later renamed ‘Microsoft Dynamics’. Of course, there were other smaller footprint products that had been acquired by each of these companies. Meanwhile, Microsoft has made subsequent acquisitions of related companies or technology assets.

Project Green – denied the green light
Microsoft now owned four different enterprise suites, each written in a different language, using a different development environment and sometimes running on different databases. Project Green was the code-name given to the task of converting all four products to a single code-base.

On one hand, Project Green would allow Microsoft to deeply integrate all four products with each other – and with their desktop and server software. This would extend the capabilities of each product, give users a shared experience and reduce the burden of support.

On the other hand, Microsoft would be faced with a very big technical challenge, and a customer-service challenge. The upgrade path for customers would be split – NAV customers might be three releases back, while GP customers might on the last release – and customers would face all the demands that come with an upgrade (training, implementation, etc).

Not to mention the fact that Dynamics partners that built their offerings around one of the products would also face a migration challenge.

So, Microsoft, eventually, changed its development strategy. Instead of rewriting the code-base from the ground up, it opted for a top-down approach of integrating existing technology from the Microsoft stack.

Subsequently, the company re-branded the products to the current nomenclature:

Dynamics GP, Dynamics SL, Dynamics NAV and Dynamics AX. For a detailed history of Project Green, we suggest reading Frank Scavo’s blog (http://fscavo.blogspot.com).

Natural selection
Over the years, each Dynamics product has naturally become popular in certain industries. For example, Dynamics GP – known for its strong general ledger and human resources (HR) capabilities – has become popular for professional services and the public sector.

Here is a quick breakdown of how the others have evolved:

Keep in mind that there are roughly 9,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) that provide support and customisations for Dynamics products.

These partners have developed hundreds of industry solutions with deep vertical capabilities. So, it’s possible to find any of the above being used in any size or type of business.

Today, Microsoft is extending functionality outside the traditional scope of some products. For example, in the next release of Dynamics AX, it plans to add functionality for the public sector. This may be an indication of a move towards a single product – or fewer products – which would help save on future development and support costs.

Moving towards one or two products is more conceivable when looking at an illustration like the chart below. Here is an apples-to-apples comparison of the modules within each product:

Where will it end?
The Dynamics’ roadmap stretches out to 2017, with all four products extending three versions out from the current release. What happens then? Will Microsoft move the products down market or up-market? Will users be encouraged to migrate to one system over another?

Speculation aside, we expect Microsoft to continue supporting and investing in each Dynamics product. New versions of each ERP product are due out in 2010 and new features (for example, ‘Environmental Sustainability Dashboard’) are being added on a regular basis.

Re-printed in edited form from Software Advice, an independent software analysis service(www.softwareadvice.com).

The post Microsoft’s four ERP systems – what’s the story? appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

Business needs
BNZ is one of the largest and oldest banks in New Zealand. Founded in 1861, BNZ operates 180 branches that provide banking services such as checking accounts, credit cards, and home loans. BNZ, which is a subsidiary of the National Australia Bank Group, also offers a full suite of insurance services and provides financial services to commercial and agricultural businesses.

The Business Intelligence Centre of Excellence at BNZ provides vital data, including performance management reporting. Local branch managers receive monthly profit-and-loss statements and other financial information so they can compare their branch performance against targeted goals.

National Australia Bank used to provide this information, but in 2005 BNZ took over the process to speed up the delivery of data. For about four years, BNZ used features of the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 data management software, including SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services and SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services, to deliver information to branches.

Employees also relied on various tools to analyze data, including Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet software, Microsoft Office Access database software, and SAP BusinessObjects.

As the bank continued to grow, the tools used for delivering and analyzing monthly business intelligence (BI) became inadequate. “Network performance suffered because of the sheer volume of information,” says Shawn Lewis, Data Architecture Manager for Business Intelligence in the Finance Department of BNZ.

The different software programs used by employees for analysis created more problems. John Andrews, Project Manager for Business Intelligence in the BNZ Finance Department, says, “The data analysis tools were quite fragmented and they created manual, time-consuming processes. We needed unified tools that could provide better self-service business intelligence capabilities to our employees.”

Solution
The BNZ BI Centre of Excellence decided to run a pilot program to test the new business intelligence functionality of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, including its support for Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel and SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft SharePoint. PowerPivot for Excel makes it possible for users to perform BI tasks on hundreds of millions of rows of data using Microsoft Excel 2010, which is part of Microsoft Office 2010 Professional.

BNZ plans to deploy Excel 2010 in the Finance Department in late 2010.

BNZ also plans to implement Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 as part of the overall solution. This will let employees use PowerPivot for SharePoint. Users will be able to share and collaborate on their analysis by publishing it directly on the intranet; automated feeds from BNZ core systems will update information at specified intervals. By using these tools, IT administrators can carefully manage the distribution of information.

The bank began testing a beta version of SQL Server 2008 R2 in late 2009, with 10 employees, including IT staff and finance analysts, participating in the pilot. They are focusing on streamlining the reconciliation process, in which data feeds from several sources—Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases, an SAP data warehouse, and transactional banking systems—are imported into Excel 2010. Users work with an average of 5 million records a month.

Benefits
The powerful BI tools supported by SQL Server 2008 R2 are expected to improve vital business processes for BNZ. With the self-service BI functionality provided through SQL Server 2008 R2 and the PowerPivot tools, bank employees will be able to do much more of their own analysis. The BI tools will deliver more detailed information, helping to uncover data that may have been overlooked in the past.

The technology is also expected to make information easily accessible to more employees, which will lead to greater collaboration across the bank.

Delivers managed, self-service BI
PowerPivot for Excel will provide powerful data analysis functionality inside the familiar spreadsheet software that BNZ employees use every day. It will also help to reduce or completely eliminate the manual processes involved in moving data back and forth between various applications used for analysis.

Additionally, IT managers have access to tools that they can use to carefully manage how data is distributed and who can access it. “The BI capabilities of SQL Server 2008 R2 are a huge step beyond what has been traditionally used in the bank. We have already identified several key areas where we can empower BNZ employees with self-service business intelligence,” says Lewis. “It also relieves branch staff and other subject matter experts from having to rely on the BI department for information.”

Provides more detailed information
With the new BI functionality in SQL Server 2008 R2, BNZ employees can discover much more data than in the past.

“With PowerPivot for Excel, I can import very large data sets from different sources and start analyzing information immediately—there is no need for coding or technical knowledge to make it work,” says Andrews.

“The PowerPivot tools help to expose more data than what was available before, which greatly enhances the level of business intelligence that executives can use to make important decisions.”

Improves data delivery
Ken Christie, Chief Financial Officer for BNZ, says he expects that the SQL Server 2008 R2 technology will spread beyond the Finance Department. “SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel aligns well with our strategy of empowering bank staff with pervasive business intelligence,” Christie says.

“Eventually we’ll promote the new SQL Server BI capabilities, to a much wider audience. The BI capabilities of SQL Server 2008 R2 are a big step forward, and we know that many departments can benefit from the insights gained by using the PowerPivot tools.”

// FOR MORE INFORMATION
> Microsoft
W: www.microsoft.com

The post New Zealand bank turns to new BI tools appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

AT A GLANCE

• Wickliffe NZ Limited

INDUSTRY

• Print and Supply Chain Management Company

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

• Need to update the existing ERP system
• Gain better visibility across the business and manage financials.

SOLUTION

• Microsoft Dynamics AX

THE BENEFITS

• User-friendly, reliable and efficient ERP system
• Greater visibility over inventory and logistics streamlined processes
• Improved efficiency and productivity
• Cost savings

Wickliffe provides large corporations and government departments throughout the country with complex print, print management, warehousing and supply logistics solutions…

Wickliffe NZ Limited is an integrated print and supply chain management company that needed to update its existing ERP system to gain better visibility across the business and manage financials. This requires sophisticated scheduling, inventory management and billing systems which can support varying customer needs and a range of different inventory ownership models. With Microsoft Dynamics AX they have achieved this and more, with clearer reporting, real-time inventory tracking and cohesive data management.

The ERP challenge
Steve Silvey, chief operating officer at Wickliffe NZ says his company delivers customers a complete end-to-end solution, everything from managing orders, manufacturing/printing products and storage, to sourcing inventory and distributing around the country.

“The company has gone through a major restructure over the last few years, and we needed to expand our legacy system which had been customised to a point where it could no longer be easily upgraded. We just wanted a clean, fresh start. We needed an ERP system that could seamlessly integrate with our existing manufacturing system, PRISM, and online ordering tool, ECOS, while retaining the ability to be adapted and upgraded in the future.”

He said the system also needed to manage core financial functions, such as General Ledger, e-billing, purchase orders, accounts payable and accounts receivable, provide clear, accurate reports for inventory and stock management, be customised for specific processes and improve visibility across the supply chain

An end-to-end solution
Wickliffe worked with the Adaptable Solutions team, a gold certified Microsoft Dynamics partner to help scope, develop, customise and implement the Microsoft Dynamics AX solution to meet their requirements.

“Because Microsoft Dynamics AX uses the Microsoft Windows environment it’s more user-friendly for our team, quickly adopted and makes it much faster to train staff on. It’s also far more intuitive than our previous system, and allows us to combine information and create reports quickly and easily.”
It was an 18 month process due to the huge amounts of data that needed to be uploaded, integrated and cross-checked at each stage to ensure viability throughout the process.

One of the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics AX is it has the flexibility to enable deep levels of customisation to fit a business’ needs. For Wickliffe this included:

• Ability to manage customer-owned inventory alongside Wickliffe-owned inventory Warehouse manifests
• Courier ticket production and tracking
• Warehousing fee calculations, such as storage and order charges

The added value provided by Microsoft Dynamics AX to the Wickliffe team included a user-friendly, reliable and efficient ERP system, smooth integration with existing systems, greater visibility over inventory and logistics, streamlined processes, crisper, robust and accurate reporting, advanced inventory and warehousing management , improved efficiency and productivity and a solution which enables them to pass a number of the benefits onto customers.

“In the short term the solution has meant greater visibility for both us and our customers in the way we handle major projects, like printing, distribution and collection of Census and Election materials. In the long term we anticipate seeing significant cost savings through improved efficiency and staff productivity.”

Overall the company considered Microsoft Dynamics AX allows the team to manage its current processes more effectively and efficiently, and will also enable the company to continue customising the software as the market and customers needs change as well as support their continued growth.

FURTHER READING

About This Vendor

More Case Studies

Digital disruption in the trans-Tasman dental industry

November 14, 2019 | Intergen

Taking the ‘pain’ out of dental care with the Lumino Dental Plan…

ChristchurchNZ takes on cloudy financials

March 14, 2019 | Intergen

City promoter’s journey to the cloud lays down some important lessons in resilience…

How upgraded ERP sows the seeds of success

May 10, 2018 | Intergen

Seed producer boosts operations with first Kiwi-led Dynamics 365 for Operations and Finance implementation…

Building efficiency and better utilising Office 365 with SNAP 365

April 30, 2018 | Intergen

Needing to retire an end of life intranet and wanting to leverage their Office 365 investment, AsureQuality agreed SNAP 365 was the solution…

A bold move into the future with Dynamics and Cohesion ECM

April 20, 2018 | Intergen

With a rapidly digitising environment and soaring customer expectations – but chained to outdated legacy systems – Public Trust had a sweeping modernisation project on their hands…

The post Printing company can see clearly now appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..