Leading specialist in endocrinology testing, IDS strengthens and enhances its SyteLine ERP with upgrade and Europe-wide multi-site consolidation, partnered and supported by JPO Solutions.
Immunodiagnostic System is a leading in vitro diagnostic solution provider to the clinical laboratory market. With its global headquarters in Bolden, England, it has been working with SyteLine since initial implementation of SyteLine v8 in 2012, across four manufacturing and distribution facilities in UK, France, Belgium and Germany.
The project was initially mandated by the underlying Microsoft Windows and SQL Server technology stack reaching end of life support. These needed to be uplifted to latest releases, in turn necessitating SyteLine to be upgraded from v8.03 to v10.
The v8.03 system consisted of separate databases for each of the four sites, as these had been implemented separately first time around. These would need to be consolidated into the single database environment of v10. This, as well as extensive personalisations across all sites, and with integrations to external systems, meant that experienced support would be imperative to successful completion.
Gareth Dixon, Group Finance Director explains, “All four sites would need to uplift simultaneously so detailed system testing in those personalised processes and reports, was seen as key to a successful go-live. Throughout our user testing JPO provided dedicated and experienced support to solve issues as they arose.”
Gareth continues, “We knew we would not find all issues prior to go-live, but the continued expertise of the JPO team after cutover ensured we had minimal business disruption, with all areas successfully operational from day one”.
A further challenge came with the change to the head of IT, just four months before the scheduled go-live, with Carl Gaffney joining as Group IT/IS Manager.
As Carl elaborates, “ I came into the business in May having never worked on Syteline, having no experience with IDS’ processes, and needing to hit the September go-live target.
Although the learning curve was steep, JPO were instrumental in helping me understand the solution and make us self-sufficient. The success of the project is largely down to the support and guidance of JPO”.
Gareth concludes, “We are now in a strong position to expand our SyteLine solution into other geographies and automate many internal processes to greatly enhance our business operations. Thanks again JPO!”
