Forskerforbundet

Background

In spring 2010 the board of directors at the Norwegian Researchers Association (Forskerforbundet) decided to centralize the accounting for all of the local branches at Forskerforbundet which from now on was to be controlled and managed by the headquarters of Forskerforbundet located in Oslo. In this context the head office needed a system for electronic annex handling that could cope with the requirements at Forskerforbundet: The combined system was integrated into the central ERP system and was to be handled by a small group of employees. The centralization were to be implemented jan. 1, 2011.
 

Supplier selection and agreement

The project was put out to tender at the Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners in Oslo. Forskerforbundet entered an agreement with Active Business Solutions September 2010.

The choice fell on Active Business Solutions, as they showed an impressive and comprehensive understanding of the situation and needs of Forskerforbundet and their solutions was based on an overall and integrated solution from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV. With their solution, we avoided costly third-party solutions and at the same time Active Business Solutions was very competitive on price

Birgitte Olafsen / Head of Administration / Forskerforbundet

Process until the start of operation

During the development consultants from Active Business Solutions worked closely with the users at Forskerforbundet. With the tight deadlines it was necessary with an effective and structured working method to reach the goal which was to be up an running by jan. 1, 2011.
 

Result

Forskerforbundet is currently has a fully integrated Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution which daily carry out the handling of many different document types from all the local branches. The solution handles scanning, OCR processing, interpretation of annex content, accounting entry, approval, attestation and archiving. The local branches also gain access to reports that give them a full overview. Birgitte Olafsen is extremely pleased with the solution from Active Business Solutions.

Active Work Flow has ensured us huge savings in resources and minimized the sources of errors in the accounting processing for the nearly 300 local branches. Since we are centrally only a small accounting department, it has been essential to minimize the time consumption while we would not compromise on quality and efficiency.

The implementation of Active Workflow has therefore not just been about getting an effective, strong and automated flow in the handling of documents, but also on usability, flexibility, and opportunities.

Birgitte Olafsen / Legal Adviser / Forskerforbundet

Confidence

Through the project's tight schedule Active Business Solutions has served as project planner and advisor to ensure an optimal solution. Birgitte Olafsen today sees Active Business Solutions as a competent and professional resource in their business: "The partnership with Active Business Solutions has been a success. Their consultants have delivered a highly satisfactory project implementation. They have managed to get acquainted with Forskerforbudets challenges and has through the project optimized the solution based on issues that we have not even had taken into our consideration."

During the centralization we was facing an interface of up to 700 people in our local branch who feared they might lose control and visibility. Active Business Solutions has therefore - as an extension of Active Work Flow - developed a possibility for Web-based reporting back to the local branches, where each local branch can follow budgets, revenues and expenses right down to each individual invoice. Since these new tools have been implemented, the opportunities of the local branches to gain visibility and control has in fact been a lot better.

Birgitte Olafsen / Legal Adviser / Forskerforbundet

Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution:

• Finance / Accounting
• Electronic invoicing solution (Active Workflow)