SRCL needed to replace its outdated legacy finance system across multiple countries in Europe to reduce business risk and gain benefits like multi-currency support. They chose eBECS as their implementation partner to complete the project within the tight six month deadline. eBECS successfully implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for SRCL in the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland on time and on budget in January 2015, eliminating risks and streamlining financial procedures.

1. SRCL CaseStudy for eBECS, prepared by MalcolmWheatley
SRCL goes live on time and within budget with Microsoft Dynamics AX
Businessneeds
Withcritical parts of itsfinancial accountingcapabilitiesreliantuponanunsupportedlegacyfinance
system,UnitedStates-basedhazardouswastedisposal specialistStericycle Inchadtakenthe decisionto
globallyreplace the legacysystemwithmodernfunctionalityinthe formof MicrosoftDynamicsAX2012.
Accordingly,amongitsEuropeanoperations,MicrosoftDynamicsAXwasdulyimplementedinEire,with
the implementationmanagedbyanAmericanimplementationpartner.
The implementationtimescale,however,hadexceededexpectations.Likewise,the costwasseenas
disproportionate.Andamongseniormanagement,afeelinghademergedthatsome of the sought-for
benefitshadalsonotbeenfullyachieved.
A decisionwastakentoabandonthe plannedcountry-by-countryrollout managedbythe American
partner,and insteadmove toa regional implementation.SRCL,Stericycle’sUK-basedoperation,was
giventhe taskof managinga Europeanimplementationstretchingnotjustacrossthe UK, Spain,and
Portugal,butalsoEire—ineffect,anentire re-implementationof the systemthatwasinuse there.
The goal: a firm‘go live’inJanuary2015—justsix monthsaway.
Challenge
Clearly,the tightdeadline wasachallenge,saysJonathanDuffin,ITproject manageratSRCL—
especiallyinthe contextof afour-countryimplementation.Nevertheless,he explains,continuingwith
the previousunsupportedlegacysystemhadbecome toomuchof a businessrisk.
Moreover,a move toMicrosoft DynamicsAXwouldunlocksome importantbusinessbenefits.Asa
multinationalcompany,forinstance,the previouslegacysystem’sinabilitytoworkwithmultiple
currencieshadbecome aseriouslimitation,forcingcomplex workarounds.
Evenso, withthe ‘golive’date justmonthsaway,there wasa lotof workto do. Andtopof the list:
locate a European-basedimplementationpartnercapable of undertakingthe task,andundertakingit
inthe timescale available.
Accordingly,explainsDuffin,SRCLbeganreachingouttoprospective partners,assessingtheir
capabilities.ByAugust,ashortlisthadbeendrawnup,fromwhicheBECSwas dulyselectedasthe
implementationpartnertogowith.
In earlySeptember2014, witha planned‘golive’date justfourmonthsaway,the projectbegan.
WhyeBECS?
“It was essentiallyafinance project,andrightfromthe start, eBECShad impresseduswiththeir
finance capabilities,”explainsDuffin.“A memberof the pre-salesteamwasaqualifiedaccountant,
whowas clearlyverystrongtechnically,andwhocouldtalkveryknowledgeablytoourownfinance
people.”

2. What’smore,he adds,eBECShad made it veryclearthat,if awardedthe contract,the maineBECS
consultantwouldalsobe a qualifiedaccountant—whichDuffindescribesas“anotherhuge plus.”
“eBECShad the skills,the capacity,andthe geographicreach,”he sumsup. “The more we thought
aboutit, the more the decisionreallymade itself. eBECSgave usthe confidence thattheycoulddeliver
whatwe wanted,reliably,onbudget,andontime.”
Solution
The plan wasto install the AccountsPayable andGeneral LedgermodulesfromMicrosoftDynamicsAX
2012 release 3,across Stericycle’sUK,Spain,Portugal,andEire operations,withthe AccountsPayable
module beingimplemented later.
Early on,says Duffin,itbecame clearthatissuespeculiartothe Spanishoperationmeantthatthis
wouldneedtobe consideredseparately,andwouldneedtogolive ona differenttimescale tothe
othercountries.
“Giventhe shorttimescale,thisactuallyhelpedus,”he explains.“Itmeantthatwe couldredeploy
resourcestohelpwiththe Portuguese implementation.”
Evenso, he adds,timingswere tight,withlittle roomformanoeuvre.Andwhenitbecame apparent
that itwas desirable forsome additional piecesof worktotake place alongside the main
implementationtask,anawkwardchoice asnecessary:move the ‘golive’date,orproceedwithoutthe
additional workbeingdone?
“In the end,we were prettyclearthat itwas bettertopushthe buttonon January1st, ratherthan
delaythings,”he sumsup.“Whichis whatwe did—goingliveonbudgetandontime—anddoingthe
remainderof the workpost-implementation,inJanuaryandFebruary.”
Benefits
Andthe resultsspeak forthemselves,addsDuffin.
“At a stroke,a significantbusinessriskhasbeeneliminated,andmajorareasof finance functionality
migratedawayfroman unsupportedlegacysystem,”he pointsout.“Youcan’t reallyputa price on
that.”
Likewise,the abilitytoaccountin multiplecurrencieshashelpedtosignificantlystreamline the
business’saccountingprocedures.
“Insteadof a complex setof sub-accounts,we’re usingMicrosoftDynamicsAX’s‘financial dimensions’
capability,with one mainaccount,andviewedinfour‘dimensions’,”he adds.“We alsoneedto
transact ineuros,and we couldn’teasilyreflectthatbefore.Now we can—andinstandardDynamics
AX2012.”
What’smore—andasexpected—the businessisbenefitingfromamodernup-to-date reporting
capability,combiningarichreportingfunctionalitywithtimelypublishingcapabilities.
“In six months,we wentfroma legacysolutionthathadbecome arisk to the business,toastate of
the art implementationof the verylatest release of MicrosoftDynamicsAX2012,” sums upDuffin.
“Andwe did iton time,andon budget.”