The Founders of Compasslearning Started the Company in 1969 with the Conviction That Computers

Microsoft Dynamics Customer Solution Case Study

Education Technology Leader Controls Business, Streamlines Finance with Cloud-Based ERP

Overview “As we continue to grow, the ability of Microsoft Dynamics Country or Region: United States GP to accommodate more complex business needs and more Industry: High-tech and electronics manufacturing—Software publishing demanding workloads will be critical. This is something we all

Customer Profile look forward to.” CompassLearning provides K-12 Chip Pate, Director of Finance, CompassLearning curriculum and educational management technology solutions to school districts, charter schools, and private schools CompassLearning, a provider of curriculum software, had just three across the United States. months to move to a financial management solution after the Business Situation owners sold the company. The company’s leaders had goals for the When the corporate owners sold the company, CompassLearning lost access flexibility, cost-efficiency, and dependability of the new software to the financial management system and and wanted to avoid investing in a new infrastructure. Microsoft business infrastructure and had only three months to find replacements. Gold Certified Partner NextCorp implemented a cloud-based solution comprising Microsoft Dynamics GP and SMB Suite, Solution CompassLearning engaged Microsoft beating the deadline by weeks. CompassLearning increased Gold Certified Partner NextCorp to efficiencies in finance by 25 percent and replaced unpredictable, implement an integrated cloud-based solution with Microsoft Dynamics GP and corporate IT charges with a low, monthly expense, also reducing SMB Suite, completing the project long costs. The integrated cloud-based solution is highly flexible in before the deadline. supporting changing business requirements and the company’s Benefits growth. Already, CompassLearning is extending the group of users Gain powerful information protection and uncompromised solution and using Microsoft Dynamics GP and SMB Suite to help manage availability business activities. Generate significant financial savings Boost financial management efficiencies by 25 percent Support growth and change management

Situation The founders of CompassLearning started Detailed, meaningful financial reporting the company in 1969 with the conviction and visibility was important to that computers and technology could help CompassLearning managers. However, individualize the learning process. Since CompassLearning frequently required then, CompassLearning has worked with assistance from the corporate IT group in more than 20,000 schools across the United generating financial reports. The parent States, serving more than 11 million K-12 company invoiced CompassLearning for students. The company is headquartered in reporting help and other support. The Austin, Texas, and has approximately 250 charges were significant and generally employees in locations throughout the unpredictable, so it was not easy to plan for country. them, and CompassLearning hoped to avoid such costs in a solution it would be CompassLearning’s flagship product, able to control. CompassLearning Odyssey, offers curricula for personalized, differentiated instruction Business leaders decided to use the that gives students with different learning software replacement as an opportunity to styles and levels of accomplishment a way acquire technology that was a better fit to remain engaged and learning. Odyssey with how the company worked and how it also provides assessments, helps instructors wanted to grow. Chip Pate, Director of identify and assist students who struggle Finance at CompassLearning, explains, academically, and features comprehensive “Oracle was not intuitive; people found it reporting capabilities for instructors and difficult to learn. We wanted a solution that school district managers. More than 5,000 our people would quickly become familiar school districts throughout the United and comfortable with. We wanted to gain States use Odyssey as their core or the ability to support acquisitions the supplementary curriculum. company was going to make.” CompassLearning also hoped to have The Readers’ Digest Association, better control over the new solution than it CompassLearning’s parent company, had over Oracle. decided to spin off its subsidiary, selling it to a private equity firm. In the process, In addition, information protection and the CompassLearning lost access to the security of confidential financial data were corporate business infrastructure and critical for CompassLearning leadership. several key business systems, including Says Pate, “Most of the executives leaned Oracle enterprise resource planning (ERP) toward a solution that we would deploy software, which CompassLearning’s and manage in our facility, because they financial team used to record, report, and felt it was more secure than a hosted manage its finances. CompassLearning had implementation. However, we also had to a transition period of three months, during weigh the staffing and infrastructural costs which it could still use the Oracle system, of an on-premises deployment.” even though it had already changed ownership.

37 Solution provided a fixed-scope bid for the data A software selection team at migration and solution implementation. In CompassLearning reviewed a large number addition, NextCorp impressed of possible ERP and financial management CompassLearning with the information solutions, inviting demonstrations from protection and data and application promising vendors. When team members security available through the SMB Suite learned about Microsoft Dynamics GP, they offering and the hosting data center. felt they had a strong match between their needs and the capabilities of the software. Once CompassLearning decided on this “Microsoft Dynamics GP had all the integrated cloud-based solution, NextCorp functionality we sought, but, as an ERP consultants worked with company system, it also offered a lot more,” says stakeholders to gain a deep understanding Pate. “At the same time, it didn’t present of the business and define the solution the high costs and administrative requirements. NextCorp completed the complexities of much larger solutions.” data migration from the Oracle system and the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CompassLearning felt even stronger about GP and SMB Suite almost a month before Microsoft Dynamics GP after making the cutoff date when CompassLearning contact with NextCorp, a Microsoft Gold would lose access to the Oracle system. The Certified Partner located in the Dallas, entire process only took approximately six Texas, metropolitan area. NextCorp offers weeks. To facilitate this rapid deployment, SMB Suite, a cloud-based solution that NextCorp used its own project builds on Microsoft Dynamics GP and methodology and best practices for provides prepackaged, integrated smooth, fast implementations, proven in capabilities that include collaboration and many previous projects. A major milestone content sharing through Microsoft in the technology transition was a three- SharePoint Server and easy online meetings day training that NextCorp performed; this with Microsoft Office Live Meeting. training also served to validate the solution Matthew Woodward, President, SMB Suite, configuration and produced buy-off from at NextCorp, says, “We felt that SMB Suite CompassLearning. As an additional layer of would be a great fit for CompassLearning information protection to the data because it required no capital outlay, which availability, NextCorp provides was perfect for an organization with very CompassLearning with a disk backup of the little time to implement a new ERP offering. company’s data every month. What’s more, SMB Suite includes round- the-clock support at no additional cost—a With Microsoft Dynamics GP secured in the big convenience for a company that has to cloud through SMB Suite, all users access ramp up quickly and train employees on the solution conveniently through their new technology.” web browsers. To start with, the solution became available for a dozen members of NextCorp made a compelling case for a CompassLearning’s financial management cloud-based solution that integrated team. When CompassLearning became Microsoft Dynamics GP and SMB Suite, and more familiar with the capabilities and

47 opportunities that Microsoft Dynamics GP even before our fast-approaching deadline presented, the company decided to expand and continues to provide strong support in the group of users to 25. extending the solution’s value for more people in the company, with additional SMB Suite also integrated Microsoft capabilities.” Dynamics GP and CompassLearning’s customer relationship management (CRM) Benefits system to streamline the process of For CompassLearning, moving to a cloud- providing sales quotes. CompassLearning based ERP solution within a very short also expects to manage inventory, order deadline was a significant achievement, but processing, purchasing, and at least some it was also just the beginning of a invoicing by using the solution. The successful, productive technology implementation also included the experience. Pate comments, “The more we multicompany and intercompany work with Microsoft Dynamics GP and SMB functionality of Microsoft Dynamics GP, Suite in the cloud, the more we find ways which CompassLearning expects to use to use the solution effectively. We will intensely in managing acquisitions and continue to increase the value we moving data and management functions experience from it.” from one company’s systems to Microsoft Dynamics GP. Gain Powerful Information Business managers at CompassLearning Protection and Uncompromised rely extensively on the reporting Solution Availability capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics GP. The Today, CompassLearning benefits from a solution surfaces data to Microsoft FRx, the robust, dependable, enterprise-level financial reporting and analysis application, infrastructure with excellent information to automatically generate a number of protection and application availability. “We reports designed to meet did not have a business infrastructure when CompassLearning’s needs for financial we left our parent company, and neither control and business insight. From did we want to commit to the expense and Microsoft FRx, it’s easy to import data and time involved in creating one,” says Pate. reports to Microsoft Excel for further “Instead, we enjoy the advantages of the analysis. outstanding security and business continuity capabilities of our integrated In reviewing the experience in working with cloud-based solution.” NextCorp and the new cloud-based business management solution, Pate Generate Significant Financial Savings summarizes, “The capabilities of Microsoft Going with a cloud-based ERP solution has Dynamics GP match or surpass what we generated substantial cost savings for were able to accomplish with the Oracle CompassLearning. For one, there is no need system, but we now have full control of the to increase staffing. Says Pate, “Bringing the solution. NextCorp did outstanding work in solution in-house would have forced us to completing the implementation project boost the administrative resources in our IT

57 department, an investment we managed to avoid.” Support Growth and Change Management CompassLearning now pays a firmly set, Business managers at CompassLearning affordable, monthly fee for its cloud-based can configure Microsoft Dynamics GP to software services, which include clearly the company’s requirements in ways that defined support services from NextCorp. they were unable to do with the previous “Instead of unpredictable, high charges system. For example, they can easily adjust from a corporate IT group, we now pay a credit approval limits and keep customer fixed, reasonable amount every month. transactions moving. “It’s not just that we Because of the erratic nature of the charges do not need to wait for approvals from a we incurred in the past, it’s hard to make an parent company anymore,” states Pate. accurate comparison, but I estimate that “Because of the high flexibility of our our technology-related costs have gone integrated cloud-based solution, we can down by $10,000 per year.” adjust it to how we like to work. We can reflect our policies within it and make Boost Financial Management adjustments on the fly. In consequence, we Efficiencies by 25 Percent have become much more nimble.” Following the implementation of the integrated cloud-based solution, Since moving to the cloud with Microsoft CompassLearning has realized significant Dynamics GP and SMB Suite, efficiencies in financial and business CompassLearning has already acquired one management. “We can accelerate our work, company and relied on the solution to because the solution is very easy to use,” support the transition of information and says Pate. “On average, financial processes technologies. The future will bring further today are 25 percent faster and more expansion. “As we continue to grow, the efficient than they used to be.” ability of Microsoft Dynamics GP to accommodate more complex business Examples of faster workflows in financial needs and more demanding workloads will management include closing the books at be critical,” says Pate. “This is something we the end of the month, financial reporting to all look forward to.” the executive team and board of directors, and external reporting. Automated reports Additional Resources facilitated through Microsoft FRx have See how cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics helped remove delays and deadline ERP works. pressures from financial reporting. In the Review the capabilities of Microsoft field, sales representatives no longer need Dynamics GP for specific industries. to access an add-in to the company’s CRM Learn more about services in support of system to provide customer quotes. SMB Suite. Instead, they use Microsoft Dynamics GP in Read product comparisons, white papers, a streamlined process, which enables and news regarding SMB Suite. customers to receive their quotes much sooner than in the past.

67 Microsoft Dynamics Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to: www.microsoft.com/dynamics