BLUEPRINT: VECTOR ESP, INC

THE EFFICIENCY EQUATION
The Building Partner
Vector ESP, Inc. is one of the largest and fastest growing providers of network infrastructure and Citrix solutions nationwide in more than five US markets.

+ Surveying the Project
Vector ESP, Inc. experienced growth by acquisition, and needed a flexible back office system that would allow them to easily roll up newly acquired companies and centralize accounting functionality to the company headquarters. As a top Citrix provider, Vector personnel had remote access to their network from almost anywhere in the country, enabling seamless access to the system. With sales activity all over the country and a centralized accounting department in Houston, the solution fit perfectly with their business model.

+ Drafting the Blueprint
The Rand Group (TRG) held a Business Requirements Workshop with Vector personnel to identify the transaction flows, metrics, and configuration that met their needs while still maintaining the goal of keeping the system flexible, so that when they acquired an additional company, they could easily bring them online. Based on a sound methodology, TRG created a detailed project and communications plan that provided greater visibility to the status of the project for the stakeholders with Vector and TRG.

+The Microsoft Building Blocks
Through an acquisition, Vector acquired a Great Plains license. The company, however, was not committed to Great Plains at acquisition closing. Management evaluated Great Plains against other competitors, including Best MAS and Epicor products, and chose to implement Great Plains on a Microsoft SQL Server database for the corporate entity due to its integration with other Microsoft technologies and flexible financial reporting.

+ The Rand Group Expertise
TRG identified a seamless transaction flow that allowed orders sent from all over the country to be processed quickly at the corporate headquarters. Vector also required maintaining a minimum inventory. In order to maximize efficiency, TRG tailored the system to match the fulfillment process as most of the items were shipped from vendors directly to customers. When Vector acquired additional companies, The Rand Group's technologies were able to easily import master and transactional history quickly and efficiently. As a result, the companies were brought online with virtually no down time.

= Measurable Results
The order and fulfillment process became easy to manage for all locations. Even through several acquisitions, Vector did not have to increase accounting staff as the solution scaled to meet the growth they have experienced since partnering with The Rand Group.