enviolo recently underwent a structural change, with activities split in the Netherlands and America . in the new setup. To achieve this – and ensure that invoicing, accounting and financial reporting could be managed from the Netherlands – all operational data from the NetSuite environment needed to be migrated from their American to their new Dutch entity. The project needed to run smoothly so that monthly reports could be delivered to the board, tax returns and annual accounts could be filed on time and accurately, and all financial transactions could be properly monitored.
This was a challenging task for which enviolo, specialists in creating stepless gear systems for bicycle manufacturers, enlisted the help of Dynappco. Dynappco took on the challenge and successfully completed the migration with minimal disruption to daily operations. enviolo chose Dynappco because they could receive local support from an experienced and affordable provider. And enviolo has remained with NetSuite because it has proven to be reliable software from which you can easily extract all the reports you need.
Since completion, enviolo has employed two data analysts to build dashboards themselves and work entirely data-driven as a company. The analysts are aiming to make the order book more visible, create better forecasting models, identify patterns for improved purchasing, and simultaneously establish the most suitable inventory at the best price.
Large amount of data
‘The major challenge in the migration project was the enormous amount of data that needed to be transferred to the new NetSuite environment,’ says Ralph Trappel, Finance Controller at enviolo. ‘This involved not only customer and supplier data but also invoices, orders, payments and inventory data. And because so much data had to be migrated, it wasn’t possible to place it all in a test environment first – which made the go-live particularly nerve-wracking. Given the limited time, we chose not to optimise anything during this migration project. The priority was to transfer everything neatly, and we will certainly work on improving processes afterwards.’
Focus on continuity
‘We wanted to be up and running again as quickly as possible after the go-live,’ Ralph emphasises. ‘We simply couldn’t afford to go days without being able to create orders or invoices, or to follow up on payments. Our operations are tied to our NetSuite environment, which is why it was so important for the migration to proceed quickly and without any major issues.’
‘It was not an easy task,’ adds Lauren Eronini, Project Manager at Dynappco. ‘The original NetSuite environment wasn’t set up by our consultants, so we first listed all requirements during several workshops to clarify everything and resolve any potential issues before the final go-live. We unravelled and rewrote the relevant custom scripts, and conducted a cut-over test, which was important to minimise downtime. The taxation of an American legal entity is also different from that of a Dutch entity, so we had to take this into account during the migration to avoid accounting problems later on.’
Smooth process
‘We were prepared for all sorts of potential issues, but in the end, the downtime was very limited during the four months the project ran,’ says Ralph. ‘During the go-live, we faced a few unexpected challenges, but thanks to Dynappco’s flexibility and quick action, the impact on our activities was minimal. Dynappco’s team worked non-stop over the migration weekend to ensure the transition went as smoothly as possible. The migration process certainly met our expectations, especially since we were able to close the accounts in the old environment.’
Ready for the future
‘Now that the migration is complete, we are continuing to rely on Dynappco’s support,’ Ralph explains. ‘We have a weekly meeting with Lauren to resolve any issues and discuss potential optimisations. Sometimes these are just small things, like sorting out the final details of VAT calculations.’
‘We now feel ready to grow and innovate further at enviolo. We want to handle the large amount of data we have effectively. We are aiming to reduce it and convert it into valuable insights in the form of clear dashboards and reports, and our analysts are setting up KPIs to steer our company – which is also something Dynappco can help us with. We’re looking forward to our continued collaboration with confidence. We also need to address the processes in our warehouse in Zwolle as part of a change project, so there’s certainly more work ahead.’