RSMUS.comWhile being able to quickly retrieve and consolidate critical data across a variety of business activities is an
essential function of any organization, these capabilities are especially important in the pharmaceutical industry, where traceability, visibility, and scalability not only make work easier, but are necessary to meet
both rigorous legislative and regulatory demands as well as strict customer expectations.
Faced with the prospect of upgrading its in-house process management systems with a centralized
ERP platform, a global leader in immune cell therapy turned to RSM to design a custom ERP solution, specifically using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. The approach streamlined operations and simplified
management while supporting financial, supply chain, and service initiatives, as well as company plans for
global expansion.
Setting the Stage: From Disparate Systems to Custom ERP Solution
With more than 1,000 medical devices installed worldwide and more than a million treatments conducted,
the client needed an ERP implementation that joined together the processes and data scattered among
its various in-house resources. To meet these requirements, it was determined that a Dynamics AX solution would be the perfect fit, providing the business intelligence and process insights required to maintain regulatory compliance, while also remaining adaptable and scalable enough to support continued growth.
One-Stop-Shop for Process Improvement: Why Microsoft Dynamics AX Fit the Bill
Focused around the client’s pain points and objectives for expansion, a custom Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP solution was designed that provided long-term benefits in the following areas:
Finance: Dynamics AX seamlessly joined accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, and fixed asset accounts into a synchronized model that provided executives with direct access to critical financial knowledge while also safeguarding and securing sensitive information, including data from more than a dozen legal entities for whom the client manages financial activities.
Supply Chain: Key intermediaries along the client’s supply chain included procurement, sourcing, sales, marketing, and inventory management personnel, so keeping up with products and services as they
traveled around the world proved challenging. By streamlining data management and organization across each touch point, Dynamics AX provided deep operational insight that allowed executives to identify and respond to key issues more quickly.
Maintenance and Support: A major client requirement was to more clearly track equipment as it moved across geographic borders, helping service representatives quickly respond to support issues. Dynamics AX met this need with its robust global services capability that enabled employees to quickly track and manage all field devices with ease. The software’s call center functionality was also merged with the RSM Instrument Tracking Accelerator, assigning pertinent details, such as spare parts, warranties, and fixed assets, to each device, so personnel could quickly access a 360-degree project view at the click of a button.
Business Intelligence (BI): While valuable customer input traveled through the organization daily, the client lacked the ability to accurately capture and organize feedback data, sales statistics, and quality
reports into meaningful formats that could be interpreted for trends and areas of improvement. With Dynamics AX, data is now tracked and retrieved across work streams so it can be quickly reviewed, managed, then analyzed using the software’s built-in BI capabilities.
Moving Forward: Positioned for Growth, Optimized for Success
The RSM team understood its client required a custom ERP solution that would centrally unite a set of disparate in-house functions, while at the same time be agile enough to adapt to evolving user needs and industry demands. The Dynamics AX implementation that was designed to meet these requirements centered around the software’s robust capabilities not only in realigning operations—but in truly revolutionizing them, setting the stage for the client’s long-term success.
