Dynappco offers central management of all Tosca entities

The implementation of NetSuite accounting software means Tosca can now manage all their entities centrally from a single environment. “We no longer need to switch over every time we want to process or manage a transaction for a new entity, which saves us a lot of effort. Our reports are easy to customise and the time we save processing bank transactions are just two of the main benefits of our new software,” explains Stephanie Heyman, financial director for Tosca. Dynappco carried out the implementation for Tosca, and is currently working on adding extensions.

“Our entire team was ready and waiting for new accounting software,” says Heyman. “We evaluated various software packages and assessed NetSuite as the best option. Price played a part in our decision, but we also realised we’d have to customise most other packages quite significantly to meet our requirements. NetSuite was pretty much plug-and-play, so we could start using it very quickly.”

Custom reporting

“You can easily add fields to a report yourself, depending on who needs which figures, and this dynamic custom reporting is a clear improvement for us. You can create your own reportsand easily convert them into Excel to email them to colleagues. So NetSuite gives us fast data to make sound decisions quickly. The reports we use the most relate to sales, open invoices, margins and cash. We often visualise the data in Tableau, software that we were already using before the NetSuite implementation, but which now uses data straight from our accounting software.”

Integrations

NetSuite also integrates with other software that Tosca already uses, as well as the new hub for master data. B-Flow, a Dynappco sister company, helped Tosca with this integration, which took place in parallel the NetSuite project. “We wanted to make sure our master data was in order, and that was a good decision,” adds Stephanie Heyman. “It really saves us a lot of time.”

Tosca now only needs to enter customer and supplier data in one place. This data then flows from the master data hub through to NetSuite and Pool-IT, which are all linked. Pool-IT is Tosca’s so-called pooling engine, which updates availability and transactions centrally. Tosca is a pioneer in the field of pooling reusable plastic pallets, crates and other load carriers. They’ve invested in millions of reusable assets, and make sure the required quantities are delivered to clients in optimal condition. The customer uses the pallets and crates to send their clients ingredients, packaging and food, among other things. Tosca then picks up these pallets and crates from the end customer, cleans them and makes any repairs if necessary, so this pooling is a bit like leasing.

“We provide our pooling service to customers and Pool-IT makes it possible to schedule everything correctly and conveniently. We use plastic pallets and crates because they’re less susceptible to external influences. They also offer a hygienic solution, which is of course essential in the food industry,” remarks Heyman.

Time-saving

Tosca saves the most time on their bank transactions, such as uploading statements, and the batch payments which are much simpler than they were previously. “It was a routine task that we’re now almost completely unburdened from,” says Heyman.

“We also perform other transactions in a single environment now, rather than separately for each entity. One example is the depreciation schedules for the ten entities, which has to do with prepaid invoices that need to be booked for the right months. All that pretty much takes care of itself now.”

“Another improvement is the module for managing fixed assets in NetSuite,” continues Heyman. “When we want to buy a laptop, for example, we book the invoice on a fixed asset account. Then this invoice also needs to go into a separate fixed asset module to start the depreciation. At the end of the month, NetSuite suggests which items we need to include in that register, which was all manual work for us before. The software also suggests the duration of the depreciation, depending on the account you’ve booked the invoice to, and its built-in intelligence ensures these suggestions are almost always correct.”

“VAT declarations are much easier now, too. You can submit them in the right format directly from NetSuite, which we do for Belgium and the United Kingdom. This is another job we previously had to by hand.”

“Everything that we asked Dynappco for in the initial scope has been a success, although we’re still wrestling slightly with a few of the VAT numbers that we have for Tosca Belgium. These transactions used to be quite limited, but there are a lot more of them now. Our temporary solution has resulted in a bit of manual work, which we’re still eliminating through automation.”

Technical and financial strength

“We work with De Cronos Groep for most of our IT, with our IT director overseeing price and quality,” assures Stephanie Heyman. “We have a good relationship with the NetSuite implementation partner, Dynappco, and work mainly with two of their consultants: one who specialises in finance and another who is very strong technically. Whenever we ask for anything, Dynappco resolves it as soon as possible. We were called Contraload before we implemented NetSuite in 2020 and were taken over by Tosca in August that same year. We’ve now been transferring Tosca’s European entities to NetSuite since October 2021, and this will continue until roughly mid-2023. I’m also involved in the implementation in the other countries, and we’re still working on improving automation of the buying process, too, primarily for approving purchase and sales orders.”

“The savings created by the software are undeniable,” concludes the Tosca financial director. “We’re continuing to grow by 15% per year, and NetSuite has largely allowed us to handle our increased workload with the same number of people. We’re now recruiting additional employees as we keep expanding.”

Menu