Congratulations to the Business Improvement Award Winners for 2007!

Now in its fourth year, the Business Improvement Awards have completed another successful edition! The awards were open to all customers that implemented Microsoft solutions in partnership with Professional Advantage, with over 350 customers eligible. There were two overall winners this year; AUSTAR, which has now won the award two years running, and Roland DG.

We would like to congratulate the winners and also thank all customers who participated in this competition for their contributions.

Overall Winner - Best New Implementation

AUSTAR

AUSTAR is the leading provider of subscription television services in regional and rural Australia. AUSTAR worked closely with Professional Advantage to create a complete Customer Relationship Management tool to manage its commercial and multi-dwelling unit segments. With Professional Advantage’s help, AUSTAR was able to custom design a pipeline management tool enabling the business to pinpoint pipeline visibility of all business activity exactly and in real-time. The new system is based on Microsoft Dynamics AX CRM module to create AMBuS (AUSTAR for Business, Multi-Dwelling Units Business Solution).

Primary benefits received

• Increased sales by 18% in the first twelve months of AMBuS implementation. Nearly double the forecast

• Return on investment achieved in seven months, two months less than it was projected in the business case

• Systems consolidation. 24+ disparate spreadsheets, one Lotus application and one Access Database were replaced by a single CRM system

• KPI’s measurement ability for the first time. Staff is able to manage outstanding work by using the CRM Workbook

• Improvement of sales per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and sales activity per FTE have throughout the AMBuS community

Overall Winner - Best New Implementation Strategy and Best Reporting and Business Analysis

ROLAND DG

Roland DG worked with Professional Advantage to implement an end-to-end business system to help them overcome the reporting and stock control/management problems.

The implementation included a combination of Microsoft Dynamics GP and Wennsoft Service Management to provide integration to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, reporting capabilities and the streamlining of the entire company’s processes.

Primary benefits received

• Improved management reporting capabilities, including reduction in reporting times

• Time saving in reporting analysis (1.5 days per week), stock reconciliation between GL and stock sub-ledger and monthly P&L reporting (3 days per month) and payroll administration (½ day per month)

• Real time reporting to assist with management’s decision making capabilities

• Reduction of manual paper processes

• Major improvements in overall productivity

Electroboard - Winner Team work

Electroboard worked with Professional Advantage to implement an intranet based front end for the Wennsoft Service module in Microsoft Dynamics GP, built in ASP.Net and expanding on the structure and processes provided by Wennsoft.

Primary benefits received

• Elimination of manual stock adjustments associated with the old system, reducing work for the Logistics staff and improving stock accuracy substantially in this area

• Full access to information by the service and project staff, as a result of the tight integration of the intranet to Electroboard’s project management system

• Direct access to service records by the sales and sales support staff, improving their ability to provide
  feedback and information to customers

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute - Winner Operational Excellence

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute worked with Professional Advantage in the implementation of Workplace Requisitions for Microsoft Dynamics GP, Purchase Order Processing, Inventory Control and Multi-currency Management for a complete PO and approval routing system.

Primary benefits received

• Reduction of direct costs of ordering, receiving and distributing stock

• Overall savings of $70K. Including savings from printing and stationary, associated costs of placing requisitions and track orders and associated costs of converting requisitions, place orders and match invoices

• Ability to develop a sustainable and ongoing relationship with vendors. Orders can be placed under Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute own name rather than ordering through a third party, increasing the likelihood of attracting sponsorship to the Institute’s events

Philip Island Nature Parks - Winner Financial Excellence

Phillip Island Nature Parks worked with Professional Advantage to achieve the total integration between Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System and Microsoft Dynamics GP using PA’s ConnectPro as an integration piece and Business Intelligence Reporting tools to manage critical information.

Primary benefits received

• Better management reporting through reduced reporting times and improved reporting capabilities

• Integrated financial accounts and removal of manual processes

• Increased accuracy of information stored in accounting system

• Streamlined business operations

• Time saving through the reduction of duplication of data entry and manual paper processes in existence

• Fully integrated system

• Strong, scalable, robust and easy to use solution

• Improved cost / sales analysis reporting flexibility and capabilities

• Improved reconciliation and integration from the retail operations into Microsoft Dynamics GP