Multinational company implements EFACS with 600 users worldwide

SELEX Communications

Customer Profile SELEX Communications, a Finmeccanica company, is a communications systems supplier for military and civil customers. Uniquely placed to lead the delivery of Network Centric Communications, the company’s capabilities encompass solutions for joint land, sea and air applications, secure and mission critical communications.

The Challenge

The company’s most high profile customer, the UK Ministry of Defence, dictates the way contracts are managed, so the IT system that was best able to accommodate this would earn most recognition.

The Solution

Ultimately EFACS was better equipped to manage SELEX Communictions’ elaborate contract requirements.

The Benefits

“For the first time we have common processes across the group with system-wide visibility and access to data.”

Multinational company implements EFACS with 600 users worldwide

SELEX Communications is a communications systems supplier for military and civil customers. Uniquely placed to lead the delivery of Network Centric Communications, the company’s capabilities encompass solutions for joint land, sea and air applications, secure and mission critical communications. A leader in advanced technology with over 100 years of experience, the Finmeccanica-owned company develops state-of-the-art communications solutions meeting customer requirements and exceeding their expectations.

SELEX Communications employs more than 5,000 people worldwide, with offices and plants in Italy, the UK, USA, Germany, Turkey, Romania and South America. With a formidable UK turnover of well over £100 million in 2006, the company continues to draw in much of its revenue from large, lengthy contracts, including contracted work from their biggest customer, the UK Ministry of Defence.

When SELEX Communications needed to replace its outdated bespoke IT system and implement new software able to manage business across its 21 regional offices and seven worldwide sites, EFACS E/8 from Exel Computer Systems was selected.

Installed in 1984, SELEX Communications was previously reliant upon a bespoke system called Mecca MRP, which was written for GEC-Marconi. However, no further upgrades were available and the financial implications of supporting Mecca made it less than cost-effective. The absence of full ERP and Sales Order Processing (SOP) added to the consensus that the company now required a fully integrated ERP system.

SELEX Communications’ Business Systems Manager, Kym Morris, was at the forefront of its search for a new system. A steering committee was established consisting of the Managing Director, the Senior Divisional Managers within the group, and Morris, and – in June 2002 to March 2003 – a systematic and highly rigorous selection process was executed.

The committee immediately decided that it would be the organisation as a whole, and not the IT Department, which would select the ERP system. An external consultancy, MMG Consultants, was drafted in to assist in the selection process, and 12 potential software suppliers were nominated. Baan software, which was initially favoured when SELEX Communications had wanted a new system in 2000, was now ruled out due to Baan’s uncertain financial position.

Twelve potential vendors soon became four. SAP, Oracle, Geac and EFACS were each called upon to do focused demonstrations to the committee members and 50 departmental managers, who recorded their thoughts on the merits and flaws of each system in a comprehensive questionnaire. A second round of demonstrations required all four vendors to present on managing contracts, a function which lies at the heart of what SELEX Communications does. Morris explains: “We are heavily into Contract and Contract Reporting, in particular where contracts are traded at contract margin rather than wcp margin. We also have contracts where no goods are traded, i.e., development.” The company’s most high profile customer, the Ministry of Defence, dictates the way contracts are managed, so the IT system that was best able to accommodate this would earn most recognition. The questionnaire results were collated, and MMG’s appraisal of the most suitable IT system for the company left EFACS and SAP shortlisted for further evaluation. Ultimately, EFACS was better equipped to manage SELEX Communications’ demanding contract requirements, and was deemed the best overall fit. The ease of customisation and ability to define the company’s own system parameters also helped tipped the scales in favour of EFACS, as Morris elaborates: “The fact that we could adapt aspects of the system’s operation to meet our specific requirements was a distinct advantage over the competition.” Thereafter the steering committee recommended EFACS to the board, and a nine month long meticulous selection process was brought to a close.

In September 2003, SELEX Communications began a three-month parallel run of its old financials and EFACS financials, and went live with Sales Orders, Sales Invoices and Journals in the New Year. In April 2004, an in-depth process review was conducted, and a programme of co-ordinated workshops was launched. Morris describes the company’s implementation methodology; “A small team comprising myself, a financial analyst and a manufacturing analyst ran the workshops across the country, testing and demonstrating the software. We later returned to each site to implement EFACS and provide training and go-live support. The Exel implementation team gave input where required, but we really wanted direct ownership of the implementation from the outset.”

In October 2004, the York site went fully live with end-to-end EFACS, from Sales Orders to Despatch and Invoice, including MRP and standard Timesheet entry. This first implementation was closely followed by the Liverpool site in February 2005, the main Marine site and 21 regional offices with Purchasing and Goods Receipt in June 2005, and the main Chelmsford site with full EFACS in October 2005. This signified an initial implementation of 25 concurrent users across the group. In January 2006, EFACS was rolled out across all newly acquired sites, and today a total of 600 users across seven sites and 21 regional offices have access to EFACS.

SELEX Communications has since exploited the inherent flexibility within EFACS with four main areas of bespoke. Sales Order (SO) entry has been customised to now automatically create Contract and Nominal Ledger (NL) codes when SO’s are created. Purchase Order Entry has been modified to ensure that the new NL codes are used, and both Sales Order Despatch and Match Purchase Invoices have been customised to SELEX Communications’ own requirements.

The company’s entire EFACS network is now supported by five people including two developers. Morris explains: “A team of five run a first-line support service for the group, and they only forward queries to Exel that they’re unable to resolve themselves.” SELEX Communications’ use of Dell Blade servers provide enhanced performance, resilience and scalability, reinforcing SELEX Communications’ already powerful EFACS business system.

Amongst the many benefits EFACS has brought is accessibility of data in terms of the ability to drill down and tap into previously impenetrable data sources. In particular, Morris applauds the reporting tools within EFACS: “The use of reporting services within the SQL Server is an excellent way of looking at data. For the first time, we have common processes across the group with system-wide visibility and access to data.” The power of EFACS enables SELEX Communications to run applications in real-time, generating current data from the shop floor. This subsequently allows the company to compile accurate reports and forecasts, ultimately facilitating business acumen.

Looking forward, the next main area of development is to migrate to the latest version of EFACS to take advantage of its browser-based capabilities. As Morris says: “This will enable our users to log on to EFACS from anywhere in the world with a computer and broadband internet connection, without having to have EFACS loaded onto their local machine.” SELEX Communications is also keen to exploit the full potential of the additional functionality available within the latest version of EFACS. The company already has a five-user Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system running on the latest version of EFACS and, if the promise of this is anything to go by, SELEX Communications can expect continued benefits from its EFACS ERP system.