tvsdesign is an architect and design firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Established by three founding partners, tvsdesign is a group of makers, thinkers, techies, and artists who have been shaping skylines since 1968. The company has grown over the last 50 years, completing 20% of its projects internationally and is renowned as one of the top three firms considered for the proposals and designs of convention centers nationwide.
Over the last year, tvsdesign brought Sage Intacct on board as their best-of-breed financial management software. Sage Intacct’s flexible reporting capabilities and unique project management tracking abilities are proving absolutely invaluable to tvsdesign. Dean Dorton, a top VAR Partner for Sage Intacct, spoke with Karen Roy, Controller at tvsdesign, about the company’s deployment and implementation process of their cloud-based ERP software.
THE CHALLENGE
Before Sage Intacct, tvsdesign was using a fully integrated system for its project management and accounting needs called BST Software. However, tvsdesign’s finance team found BST’s data management and reporting processes to be extremely time-consuming and cumbersome.
tvsdesign was introduced to CMAP software, a cloud-based solution for project management. CMAP is progressive with keeping screens simple for input, so tvsdesign made the decision to move away from BST and utilize CMAP. The need for good, solid accounting software to handle all core financial activities led to the organization’s decision to purchase Sage Intacct.
However, the specific challenge for this ERP implementation was creating a proper and functional integration, capable of accurately mapping the information inputted into CMAP over to Sage Intacct. CMAP is coded in a certain format, while Sage Intacct’s software also has a set routine for how information from other systems migrates to it, which did not particularly coincide with CMAPs formatting.
Dean Dorton needed to customize and write the full integration in order to ensure that Sage Intacct would be able to map and properly represent all financial data inputted into CMAP.
The Implementation
The first step of the implementation was a discovery process with tvsdesign to understand their specific needs. “It was critical that the partner we chose to work with aligned with our timeline and had a good understanding of what tvsdesign and CMAP were about,” said Roy. “We’re here in Atlanta and our Dean Dorton team is in Raleigh; we hadn’t gone through a process like this before so it was an important exploratory discussion in order for us to get to a good comfort level.”
The implementation process at Dean Dorton starts with a discovery call, during which the consultants are present, to uncover the volume of work needed to be done, what the timeline is, and for everyone to get straightforward answers to all their questions. The project then gets handed to the implementation team and a kick-off meeting is scheduled.
“A proper understanding of accounting was extremely critical to us. Philip Massey [Director of Software Consulting] explained the background of his team and that they were very knowledgeable and experienced with both accounting and implementations.”
— KAREN ROY, CONTROLLER, tvsdesign
After a clear-cut and smooth discovery process, Massey and tvsdesign were ready to move forward with the implementation. tvsdesign worked with Stubanas, along with Ian D’Amelio, Dean Dorton Software Consultant, who was continuously involved directly behind the scenes with tvsdesign’s software database professional.
Although the basis of Dean Dorton’s implementation is done the same as Sage Intacct’s, Dean Dorton is able to offer customers a quicker implementation and a more personable approach when it comes to support. Additionally, the consultants make sure to be with the client every step of the way, from discovery to the end of implementation.
“I strongly recommend Dean Dorton. Their team tailors their service to meet the needs of the client. They are professional, accountable, very organized, and extremely knowledgeable in the industry and with Sage Intacct software. I have absolutely no reservations recommending them and their services.”
— KAREN ROY, CONTROLLER, tvsdesign