Case Study: i-Neti Modernized the ERP System of a Large Retail Chain

i-Neti specialists migrated Emmezeta – the international hypermarket chain of home goods – from the outdated version of Microsoft Axapta 2012 to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations

Emmezeta is a large international trading network which has a widespread presence in Serbia and Croatia and is a leader in furniture sales in both countries. The financial performance of their distribution network shows steady growth, with the company’s revenue reaching 152 million euros in 2019. Emmezeta uses Microsoft products as an ERP system, and until recently, their main business processes were automated with Microsoft Axapta 2012. However, the development of Microsoft ERP solutions, and the Dynamics 365 platform in particular, towards cloud technologies required a revision of the approach to retail business automation systems.

Challenges

• Business development required the modernization of their ERP system
• New reporting formats required refinement or modernization of ERP
• New requirements for improving customer relation processes
• Change resource planning mechanisms 

Solution

 Over the past 2 years, i-Neti has been providing Emmezeta with IT system support and development services for AX 2012. Throughout this period, i-Neti experts aided the customer in developing new system components and optimizing performance of AX2012. i-Neti specialists helped to ensure smooth operation of the entire ERP system. Their consultants were also brought in to automate new areas of importance to the business.

 An audit showed that migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (D365FO) would be a more appropriate solution than refining AX 2012.  Although the outdated system included a number of necessary functions, even further improvements to AX2012 would increase the difficulty of supporting the system in the future. Therefore, the decision was made to conduct the update process using standard Microsoft tools, as well as adapt additional components to work in the new system.

As a retailer, we strive not to create and develop our own business automation systems, but to use ready-made solutions recognized in retail. The ability to constantly update our system to the latest version is a critical factor for the company. This allows us to use the latest improvements in standard modules, rather than invest in deep development, especially in the AX2012 system, which will not be supported by Microsoft after 2021. For a long time however, Microsoft did not come out with the on-premises version of D365 FO that we needed, and this kept us from migrating. We even intended to implement several new improvements necessary for our business in AX 2012, before moving to a new version. But everything turned out much more successfully. Microsoft released an on-prem version, and together with i-Neti we estimated the complexity of the upcoming improvements (which happened to not be the most trivial). After that, it became obvious that it would be best to first complete the migration project and then implement all the new features on the latest version of the system. Thanks to the i-Neti team, migration was completed within 4 short months and on budget.”

– Igor Öhlhofer, CIO at Emmezeta

Migration

 The migration process of the client solution to Microsoft Dynamics 365 was entrusted to i-Neti specialists. During the transfer of business processes to the new system, custom and specialized components were transferred, and the adaptation and verification of all transferred program code were performed. As the Application Integration Framework (AIF) platform is no longer available for use, the decision was made to develop a new Electronic Document Interchange (EDI), that will allow the implementation of integration based on D365 FO, that existed in AX2012.

 At peak load stages, due to the processing of a large volume of additional modules created specifically for Emmezeta, i-Neti doubled the number of developers on the project. As a result, the entire migration process took little more than three months.

 All throughout this period, i-Neti worked in close association with a local system integrator who simultaneously localized D365 FO for the Balkan region.

Project results

 As a result of the project, all AX 2012 business processes were transferred to the D365 FO platform.

 The next demand of the customer was POS modernization. Upon completion of work on the D365FO back office, adaptation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Retail was commenced, for the operation of store equipment in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ecosystem.

 In parallel with this, the development of the EDI module in D365 FO is being completed, and the development of new business tasks has begun.

Read the Emmezeta case study to learn more about the project.

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