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After implementing an accounting software package that just duplicated paper processes and an industry-specific solution that just wasn't up to the task, Dennis Di Franco finally found what he was looking for with a Microsoft Dynamics NAV-based solution from partner EC Advance.

Di Franco is the controller of Mississauga, Ont.-based Peel Truck & Trailer Equipment Inc. (PT&T) and a newly-created subsidiary business, Innovative Trailer Design Industries (ITD). PT&T was founded in 1971 and specializes in truck and trailer repair, while ITD manufactures mobile expandable facilities designed to fold for transport by truck. They can be used by trade schools, for example, as a mobile training facility.

The companies have 95 employees in Mississauga and do business across Canada and the U.S., and on the technology front Di Franco says they initially used a “big-box accounting package” for job tracking, parts inventory, billing and financials.

“Really all it did was transfer paper and pen process into a computerized invoice, and we really were doubling the work,” said Di Franco. “We would still record the daily job activity on paper, and translate it to the computer to produce an invoice.”

Not satisfied with that solution, he says the company's owner came across an industry-specific solution that came with “a lot of promises” and was sold as their total solution. The owner was gung-ho and pulled the trigger, but during live implementation Di Franco says it quickly became apparent the solution couldn't handle the volume of data necessary.

That's when Di Franco turned to EC Advance, a Mississauga, Ont.-based solution provider and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, which recommended a Dynamics NAV-based solution from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Di Franco adds the partner advised building a custom solution from scratch would be lengthy, expensive, and not the way to go.

“When I saw the solid framework (of Dynamics) and that we had the flexibility to do different things, we started looking it and pricing out the perfect system,” said Di Franco.

After balancing his needs with his wants, Di Franco says he worked with EC Advance to design a system that went live in November of 2006 and completely automates the job process, linking customer billing to parts procurement and employee time tracking. The most telling sign of the system's success, he says, has been the silence.

“After it went live I pretty much sat there and waited, and when you don't hear anything it's always a good thing,” said Di Franco. “I haven't heard anything for the last year and a half.”

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