MSPC Guides Gaspari Nutrition to Success with Microsoft Dynamics GP
When Gaspari Nutrition needed a Microsoft Dynamics GP consultant to properly configure their ERP system and train their staff, they called MSPC.
BACKGROUND:
Gaspari Nutrition, located in Lakewood, NJ develops and manufactures sports nutrition supplements. In 2010 they purchased Microsoft Dynamics GP along with a warehouse management system that was recommended by the GP vendor. Shortly after its implementation, a new management team was brought in, including a new CFO/COO. One of her first tasks was to evaluate financial operations and the staff that she had. She immediately discovered that her staff was trained for bookkeeping tasks, but were charged with managing an ERP system. She reached out to the original team who implemented Microsoft Dynamics GP, but they were unresponsive and unwilling to assist with proper staff training and needs assessments. The COO had experience working with MSPC in the past, and gave them a call to see if they could help.
THE SOLUTION:
MSPC visited with Gaspari and conducted an initial evaluation. During this assessment they quickly discovered that the majority of the system was not configured properly and was wrought with set-up errors. Rather than configuring GP to maximize its value, it was configured to mimic their legacy system, QuickBooks. Having paid $225,000 for the initial implementation (which was significantly higher than the proposed estimate) the new team at Gaspari was shocked to learn about the condition that the system was in.
Within two weeks of beginning their work at Gaspari, the MSPC team fully discovered that journal entries were quite disorganized. Inventory counts were grossly inaccurate and costing was completely wrong. There was no consistency with inventory management – some items were valued using LIFO, others by FIFO and other were even weighted average. The staff was overriding inventory levels to beat each other in order fulfillment – the current system wasn’t configured to allow for proper security and internal controls.
- To make improvements, MSPC mapped out what worked right, what was wrong and how they would fix everything. This included:
- Proper setup configurations of the system and individual modules.
- Replacing the warehouse management solution with an integrated, real-time solution to reduce and eliminate item shortages, overrides.
- Proper security settings.
- Training of all internal staff across all departments who used the system including an internal liaison.
- Collaborating with management to make sure the ERP system meshed with actual operations.
OUTCOME:
Financial and operations went from chaos to calm. The company is planning to upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics GP and all departments are looking forward to learning the new features that the upgrade brings. Overall, user confidence and user efficiency increased. The management team now has more confidence in the system, is able to provide better financial reports and business analytics.
WHAT GASPARI NUTRITION SAYS ABOUT MSPC:
“There are not enough good things to say about MSPC. We didn’t think that it was possible for our company to run so smoothly. Without MSPC, we didn’t know if we were even profitable. From custom reports to training, no other firm provides this level of customer service for Microsoft Dynamics GP or any software package.