Thursday, September 3, 2015

GP Implementation a Success!

We have successfully completed our first month end close on our new financial system, Microsoft Dynamics GP.  We have been processing Accounts Payable checks throughout the month of August and closed the month this past Wednesday on Dynamics GP.

Special thanks to the Financial project team, Flora Torina and Charles Allen our financial consultant, Toby Nissel our project leader, the SFS finance team, and the plants finance personnel.  It took the entire team to make this implementation a success.  Job well done!

Next planned events:
Sept 14 – eoStar Day in the Life Training in Lehigh
Sept 28 – eoStar Train the Trainer in Lehigh
Fall 2015 - GP MFG Go Live  - ALL Facilities
Nov – eoStar Go Live – ABARTA East
Early 2016 – eoStar – ABARTA West

Thursday, August 6, 2015

eoStar Power User Training in Lehigh

eoStar Power User training for ABE will be conducted by Rutherford and Associates in Lehigh 8/10-8/13 (Operations) and 8/17-8/20 (Backoffice).  Operations training includes: Employee Setup & Security, Product Maintenance, Equipment Management, Order Entry, Pre-Sales, Order Processing, Route Operations, Warehouse Operations, Service Calls, and Reporting. 

Backoffice training includes: Customer Maintenance, Costing, Reconciliation, Route Settlement, Accounts receivable, Commissions, Pricing, Taxes, and Reporting.  The sessions will be recorded and made available online.

eoStar Power User training for Buffalo and Cleveland will take place in 2016.

Next planned events:
Sept - GP MFG Go Live  - ALL Facilities
Nov – eoStar Go Live – ABARTA East
Early 2016 – eoStar Go Live – ABARTA West

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

ABE eoStar Kickoff in Lehigh


Last week (May 19-21) kicked off the first portion of the Route Accounting Transformation of the Northstar Project.  Discussions included business transformation, the software implementation strategies, deliverables, communication strategies and timelines.  A discovery process evaluation was conducted by Rutherford and Associates (EoStar Development and Consultant team) into several of ABARTA’s current business processes which included Customer and Product related processes, Delivery, Order Processing, Route Settlement, Receivables, and Warehouse Operations.

Next planned events:
TBA - Various eoStar webinars
June 18 - GP Financial End User Training
July 1 – GP Go Live Finance
Sept 1 - GP MFG Go Live

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Manufacturing Power User Training in Pittsburgh

BKD recently visited Pittsburgh to conduct Manufacturing Power User Training.  The sessions covered MRP, BoM, Routing, Inventory Item set up and Manufacturing processes.  There were also discussions regarding the current/interim/post-eoStar processes and best practices going forward.

Next planned events:
May 18 – ABE eoStar Kickoff
TBA - Various eoStar webinars

Monday, April 20, 2015

Finance Power User Training in Pittsburgh


Finance Power User training included sessions on General Ledger, Payables, Bank Reconciliation and Reporting.  The attendees are now expected to continue testing at their locations and create a training plan for their end users.  Flora will be the point of contact for any testing issues that occur.  The system is now available for Finance testing. Test Scripts and Training materials for Finance will be sent out to the group who attended training.

Next planned events:
April 20 – Begin testing in Financial modules
May 4-8 – Tentative Manufacturing Power User Training in Pittsburgh
May 18 – ABE eoStar Kickoff
June – GP Go Live Finance

* BKD will be returning to Pittsburgh at a date TBD to provide Management Report Writer Workshops to train users to create their own reports.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

BKD Visits Pittsburgh For Further Financial Requirement Planning


BKD visited Pittsburgh last week to work with the team for further financial requirement planning. Activities included:
- Reviewed and documented configuration
- Discussed workflow for journal entries
- Reviewed interfaces
- Reviewed reporting requirements

Next planned events:
April 13-17 – Finance Power User Training in Pittsburgh
April 20 – Begin testing in Financial modules
May 4-8 – Manufacturing Power User Training in Pittsburgh
May 18 – ABE eoStar Kickoff

Monday, March 23, 2015

BKD visits Lehigh for Manufacturing Proof of Concept

BKD visited Lehigh last week to work with the team on the Manufacturing Proof of Concept. Activities included:
- Demonstration of Vertique System and interactions with Northstar
- Bill of Materials and Routing Setup
- Raw Material Costing information
- Pick planning/scheduling product
- Purchase barcode scanning/customization product

Based upon the extent that we will be using the Dynamics GP Manufacturing software and the challenges this presents, we must post-pone the previously scheduled Power User training scheduled for the week of April 20.

Next planned events:
March 16 – Discussions at Lehigh about future of Full Service and Routing (Roadnet)
March 23 - BKD to visit Pittsburgh for further financial requirement planning
April 13-17 – Finance Power User Training in Pittsburgh
April 20 – Begin testing in Financial modules
May 4-8 – Manufacturing Power User Training in Pittsburgh

Monday, March 9, 2015

BKD Visits Buffalo for Finance Requirements and Data Migration Plans

BKD visited Buffalo last week to work with the team on financial requirements and the data migration plans for our upgrade to GP.  Activities included:
- GP data migration templates for MFG only submitted
- List of GP users determined
- Populated data migration templates for Vendors
- Sample file formats/specs provided
- Financial Configuration started

Next planned events:
March 9-13 – BKD to visit Lehigh for Manufacturing Proof of Concept
March 23 - BKD to visit Pittsburgh for further financial requirement planning
April 13-17 – Finance Training in Pittsburgh
April 20-24 – Manufacturing Training in Pittsburgh
April 20 – Begin testing in Financial modules

Friday, March 6, 2015

North Star Updates in Cleveland


North Star team member and Distribution/Logistics expert, Tom Stroh, recently updated Cleveland Coca Cola on our business transformation project.  The project focuses on Standardization, Centralization and Specialization.  There are 2 phases to this project.  Phase 1, Finance and Manufacturing, is currently underway with the implementation of GP.  Phase 2, Route Accounting, will begin in May starting with ABARTA Beverage East.  Areas impacted by Phase 1 include: General Ledger, Financial Reporting, Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Manufacturing and Vending Fixed Assets.  Training on Dynamics GP will begin the middle of April.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Project Northstar Kickoff Recap

ABARTA's Business Transformation project (Northstar) kicked off last week.  It was a great discussion that focused on discovery, processes, software implementation strategies, deliverables and timelines.


Part of the discussion focused on our communication of this project to everyone in the organization.  We will communicate through various methods to let you know how you might be affected by these changes.  Should you have questions regarding Project Northstar you can email them to northstar@abarta.com, or contact one of the following team members at your location:

•    Cleveland - Kathy Rupp, Tom Stroh
•    Buffalo - Flora Torina
•    Lehigh/Chester - Brian Horwath, Scott Ellmaker
•    Pittsburgh - Toby Nissel, Dave Banas

Next planned events:

February 25 – Dynamics software to be installed on ABARTA network
March 4-6  - BKD to visit Buffalo for Finance requirements and data migration plans
March 9-13 – BKD to visit Lehigh for Manufacturing Proof of Concept
April 13-17 – Finance Training in Pittsburgh
April 20-24 – Manufacturing Training in Pittsburgh
April 20 – Begin testing in Financial modules.

More updates to come!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Project Northstar Partners

Over the course of Project Northstar, you will be introduced to various people from our project partners CCNA, BKD, and Rutherford.  Below is an outline of their roles and responsibilities throughout this process:

CCNA
  • Provide project leadership to the collective team (Bottler, GP, and eoStar) to ensure all resources involved are aware of project Implementation Plan  timelines and deliverables and are informed of required actions (including issue resolution)
  • Provide Bottler PM with assistance and guidance to manage day-to-day deployment tasks assigned to Bottler 
  • Facilitate Bottler team meetings to ensure coordination between Bottler, GP, and eoStar resources
  • Work with the BKD and Rutherford Leads to ensure the Bottler PM has a clear understanding of upcoming milestones and actions required
  • Hold collective team (Bottler, GP, and eoStar) accountable for meeting deadlines and completing deliverables
  • Coordinate the change management effort to ensure employees are ready, willing and prepared for the transition to the new solution
  • Develop and submit the weekly program status report to the PMO

BKD
  • Work with CCNA PM to provide implementation guidance and direction to bottler Teams to manage day-to-day deployment tasks
  • Provide an Implementation Plan and lead the effort of assigning tasks requiring bottler action (e.g., data validation, testing, procedure documentation, etc.) 
  • Manage the solution design and development activities, including report creation 
  • Oversee the testing phase, including setting up automated tests for regression testing
  • Provide training to bottler resources, including Subject Matter Experts and end users (if different)
  • Provide Go Live Support with required BKD personnel at the bottler location(s)

Rutherford
  • Work with CCNA PM to provide implementation guidance and direction to bottler Teams to manage day-to-day deployment tasks
  • Provide an Implementation Plan and lead the effort of assigning tasks requiring bottler action (e.g., data validation, testing, procedure documentation, etc.) 
  • Manage the solution design and development activities, including software development and report creation 
  • Oversee the testing phase, including setting up automated tests for regression testing
  • Provide training to bottler resources, including Subject Matter Experts and end users (if different)
  • Provide Go Live Support with required Rutherford personnel at the bottler location(s)

Project Northstar Kickoff

After months of preparation, it is finally time to kick‐off the Northstar project. The project team has been conducting site visits and preliminary process evaluations. In order to have a successful start to the project, the Northstar project team will have an Implementation Kickoff meeting in Dubois, PA in February 2015.

The first day (February 10) will be a discussion of the Business Transformation Project called Northstar, the software implementation strategies, deliverables, communication strategies and timelines. Deep dive process evaluation will also be conducted by BKD (MS Dynamics Consulting Firm) into ABARTA’s Finance Processes (GL/COA/Fixed Assets/AP)

The second day (February 11) will continue to focus on the process evaluation into the Finance area. Upon completion of the Finance processes, BKD will then begin a deep dive analysis into the Manufacturing processes for all three producing plants.

The final and third day (February 12) will be a continuation into the Manufacturing processes and adjournment of the meetings.