School division improves productivity by 25%

Encore helped Mountain View School Division implement Microsoft Dynamics GP to better manage their expanding district. 

With Microsoft Dynamics GP we’ve been able to step outside our comfort zone with confidence knowing that we’ve built a system to help accommodate our needs today as well as into the future.

—Marilyn Yurkiw
MVSD

Client Profile

Mountain View School Division is a centre of educational excellence that fosters an inspired, respectful and safe learning environment for every student.  As a governing educational entity, it is their responsibility to create an environment in which students are motivated to be enthusiastic learners, promote physical and emotional wellness and encourage the support and participation of all its communities.

Situation

In 2002, Mountain View School Division was established as a result of an amalgamation between three school divisions.  With 17 schools and four bus garages covering a large geographic area, the three existing school divisions saw their organization quickly transition into a larger, more complex business entity.  

Prior to the amalgamation, administrative staff at Mountain View School Division foresaw a few problems that could transpire as a result of the change.  A particular area of concern existed within the financial department.  Staff questioned the  performance capability of the current technology because at the time, the existing school divisions were using systems that could easily satisfy business requirements on a small, simplistic scale.  However, whether the systems were strong enough to handle the amalgamation and perform efficiently thereafter was questionable.  

Such uncertainties led the planning team to discuss and evaluate how they’d benefit from a more powerful, robust system that was cost-effective and within their School Division knew they needed a system that could easily manage large volume transactions, scale to meet their changing needs, streamline business critical processes and procedures, reduce operating costs and empower their employees with access to real-time data.  It became clear to the administration of Mountain View School Division that the current systems fell short of meeting those performance requirements without a significant investment of time, money, and human resources.

Therefore, during the final analysis stage Mountain View School Division decided that a change was essential to manage their growing needs and improve their business efficiency.

Solution

During the technology evaluation process Mountain View School Division was looking beyond what they needed today.  They were much more interested in finding a solution that could easily adapt to meet their long-term business needs and specific industry requirements.  Having a reputation in the education industry for being intuitive, userfriendly, scalable and adaptable, the decision to implement Microsoft Dynamics™ GP was an obvious and natural one.  After using the same applications for years, the staff at Mountain View School Division were a little apprehensive at first as they did not know what to expect.  The results achieved after three months quickly alleviated any potential feelings of uneasiness.  

“Because there are a few things that each school division handled differently it was important for us to choose a software system that was adaptable and flexible enough to meet everyone’s requirements,” states Marilyn Yurkiw, Assistant Secretary Treasurer.  “As well, we were thinking into the future.  We did not just want a product for today but rather a product that would give us the results beyond present time.  With Microsoft Dynamics GP we’ve been able to step outside our comfort zone with confidence knowing that we’ve built a system to help accommodate our needs today as well as into the future.”  

Mountain View School Division contacted Encore Business Solutions shortly
after their business was set for growth and expansion.  To date, Mountain View School Division uses a range of services from Encore including consultation, training and custom development to meet unique business processes.  They’ve also added FRx Financial Reporter, Crystal Reports, Canadian Payroll, GST/PST and Auto Reconciler to their system.

Through change management Encore has helped Mountain View School Division take full advantage of their Microsoft Dynamics GP system with regular customer training sessions specific to their industry developments, issues and trends.  As well, the proactive approach taken by the Encore team to ensure success at each and every stage of their business has helped Mountain View School Division overcome any issues with confidence. 

“Encore became involved right when we were initiating huge changes and have been with us ever since,” remarks Yurkiw.  “They have always been very flexible with us, courteous and whenever we’ve got an issue to work out Encore has always done whatever they could and as quickly as they could to provide the right solution.”

Benefits

FRx Financial Reporter & Crystal Reports Building FRx Financial Reporter and Crystal Reports into their system has helped Mountain View School Division save time by easily extracting valuable data from their system to generate ad-hoc reports. 

The data that you can pull from the system is awesome,” claims Yurkiw. 
Because it is so adaptable and easy to manipulate we’ve been able to quickly export the data into Excel and run numerous budgeting reports on the fly which have helped us save huge amounts of time.” 

Along with having easy access to critical business information, FRx Financial Reporter & Crystal Reports have also helped Mountain View School Division streamline their business processes and procedures resulting in a significant improvement in their productivity levels.   

“Before, everything was duplicate data entry which was very cumbersome, but not anymore,” states Yurkiw.  “We’ve finally been able to streamline our processes and eliminate the need for the unnecessary paper trail.  As a result, we’ve been able to improve our productivity time by a minimum of 25%.”   

Canadian Payroll

With Canadian Payroll, Mountain View School Division is able to complete their entire payroll process in-house thereby saving a significant amount of time and money from not having to out-source this operation.  

“Because we now have the ability to perform payroll in-house we’ve been able to pull 50% out of our data services budget,” states Yurkiw.  “This has obviously been a huge benefit to us.”

Drill down capability 

The deep drill down capabilities within Microsoft Dynamics GP has helped employees at Mountain View School Division make empowered decisions because they now have quick and easy access to detailed information required to complete their jobs.  Byhaving the right information and tools at their disposal to leverage whenever needed, Mountain View School Division has seen an increase in employee satisfaction.

"In several inquiry screens within the software you can access very detailed and specific information quickly by simply clicking to drill down one step further,” states Yurkiw. “This is an outstanding feature that has saved employees a great deal of time and has made them quite happy.  Employees now have pertinent information at their finger tips rather than having to go through the cumbersome process of digging up original documentation.”

The Microsoft Brand

Using a product that is part of the Microsoft suite of software applications has given Mountain View School Division the confidence that not only are they using a quality product but they are also part of a unique community where the support and resources available is truly beneficial.

“Microsoft alone is a huge name,” remarks Yurkiw.  “Knowing that we have invested in a product that is part of the Microsoft family is very reassuring to us because we know that they have and will continue to be around for a long time.  Also, with the help of CustomerSource we’ve been able to answer some of our questions on our own.  This is just another testament to how user-friendly this product really is.”  

Since working with Encore and implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP, Mountain View School Division has realized substantial business efficiencies such as saving valuable time and money, streamlining business processes and improving productivity.  Mountain View School Division now has the ability and capacity to manage successfully today, tomorrow and in the future.