O’Neill & Brennan's Transition from Legacy Systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365
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Pragmatiq worked with O’Neill and Brennan to move away from a legacy, on-premise system to Microsoft Dynamics 365. This was planned over two phases to ensure minimal disruption to day-to-day operations.
Background & Challenges
Background:
Established in 1990, O’Neill & Brennan is a dedicated recruitment and logistics solutions business to the construction industry. With 14 offices throughout the UK, the team has the necessary coverage and experience to service all of their client’s requirements.
Challenges
- Legacy system and data challenges: The legacy, on-premise system and reliance on Excel spreadsheets made data access time-consuming and manual. The separate sales system caused inconsistent data quality, with no way to flag duplicates.
- Limited Automation and Guidance: The old system lacked automation, requiring manual communication and task management. It also failed to guide users through essential process stages, leading to inefficiencies and missed steps.
- Poor Visibility and Reporting: Employees struggled with limited visibility into leads and opportunities, while data spread across disconnected applications hindered comprehensive reporting and strategic decision-making.
- Training and Onboarding Issues: The absence of a structured system made it difficult to train and onboard new employees efficiently.
The Solution & Implementation
Discovery and Planning:
Pragmatiq conducted a thorough analysis to understand O’Neill and Brennan’s unique operational needs and designed a bespoke solution using Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Execution:
- Implementation of Dynamics 365 Sales: Customised the D365 Sales application to reflect O’Neill and Brennan’s processes.
- Tailored vacancy management process: Pragmatiq tailored the leads and opportunities functionality to suit the vacancy management process, enabling seamless candidate assignment and progression tracking.
- Site visibility: O’Neill and Brennan required visibility of the sites where they placed candidates. Using PCFs (Power Apps Component Framework), Pragmatiq created a custom interactive map to visualise candidate placements, helping sales teams plan site visits more effectively.
- Guided Business Process Flows: Business Process Flows within Dynamics 365 help to streamline logistics and ensure thorough completion of each stage, particularly during tender management.
- Custom security features: To ensure the privacy of certain records, Pragmatiq developed custom security elements around the logistics process, ensuring only authorised personnel can view specific information at each stage.
- Marketing lists and quick campaigns: O’Neill and Brennan often need to send CVs out in bulk and wanted the ability to do so from the system. Marketing Lists and Quick Campaigns in D365 can support this process, helping to streamline this process.
- Activity management: Added custom activity tracking for site visits to capture all relevant data.
- Credit control: Leveraged Microsoft Approvals to streamline O’Neill and Brennan’s credit control process.
- Microsoft 365 Integration: Established integration with Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, etc.) to enhance cross-department collaboration and efficiency.
The Transformation
- Enhanced Efficiency and Data Quality: The centralised system reduces time spent navigating multiple platforms and improves data quality by capturing comprehensive records, including email tracking and document storage.
- Reduced admin time: Automated prompts, reminders, and credit control processes decrease administrative tasks, allowing employees to focus on more critical activities.
- Stable Platform for Growth: Systemised business processes and accessible data support future growth and scalability. Dynamics 365 can also be customised to fit new business requirements.
- Increased Security: Robust security roles and time-based access controls ensure data confidentiality and protect sensitive information.
Contact us today to book a free discovery call and learn more about our tailored consultancy services and bespoke solutions.
