Customer

www.northstone-ni.co.uk

Products and Services

Insurance Database,
Cube Quality Testing and Materials Division Management Information System (MIS),  Bespoke Cloud and Mobile Software Development

Industry

Construction, Materials and Infrastructure

 

The Challenge

Northstone had a number of bespoke legacy software applications which were hosted internally and based on outdated technology which was no longer supported.

The challenge was to replace these standalone legacy systems with up to date browser-based software solutions, based on the latest Microsoft technologies which could be supported by Northstone IT and Ecom going forward. In addition, they also wanted the new systems to reflect the changes in business processes which had taken place over time and address problems and inefficiencies inherent in the legacy systems.

The solutions needed to accommodate the varied range of system users across Northstone in their specific business tasks and to ensure all business users were bought into the new solution, demonstrating the benefits of replacing the old legacy systems with the efficiencies in the new systems.

A key objective of the new systems was to produce information which could be interfaced with the central ERP finance system without any additional data manipulation or rekeying. This would assist Northstone in producing outputs more efficiently.

Linked to this key objective was ensuring the new systems helped Northstone to meet their SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) and GDPR compliance requirements.

The Outcome

Working closely and collaboratively with the various Northstone Teams, Ecom embarked upon a series of projects, designing, developing and implementing a range of new applications, each accommodating the individual business requirements whilst providing core functionality and user-friendly intuitive structure based on modern Microsoft Technologies.

Ecom developed the new systems with real time integration incorporated, for example, pulling data from the central ERP finance system and pushing approved and verified information back into the central ERP finance system through an automated task.

All systems are based on a central dashboard with responsive design and can be used on any device e.g. smart phone, tablet or laptop/desktop with secure functionality which provides greater flexibility and efficiency.

One of the new systems is used by Teams in Dublin, Belfast and Cork and reports can be produced at a customer, site or organisation wide level as required.

Ecom continue to work in partnership with Northstone and have plans for future developments.

Benefits

• Systems on latest technology supported by Ecom
• Northstone meet their SOX & GDPR Compliance requirements
• Elimination of paper-based processes
• Increased productivity with time and cost savings
• Customer information produced and transferred to the company ERP system without any rekeying
• Greater access to important data and data accuracy
• Inbuilt security, tracking and audit trail
• Highest levels of support

Experience with Ecom

“Northstone have worked with Ecom Software since 2016 to deliver a number of solutions across the group to meet distinct customer and staff requirements; the whole process from requirements gathering, through software build, testing and release to live has been very professionally managed.

The Ecom Team consistently demonstrate that we are a valued customer; they have taken time to understand our business and have diligently ensured that the developed software successfully meets our requirements and delivers the benefits envisaged”

– Andrew Donnan, Finance Director