JSE Securities Exchange-listed Global Technology has completed the first integration of its Embrace ERP system with the Globus banking system at Botswana Building Society (BBS). Embrace functions as BBS`s financial system; its integration with Globus has provided BBS with a strategic overview of its activities.
BBS is Global Technology`s longest-standing Globus client, having implemented the banking suite six years ago. It took over from the then United Building Society 25 years ago when the Pula was introduced as the national currency.
Embrace is a locally developed, fully integrated ERP suite which includes banking modules. Global Technology acquired ACS, creator of Embrace, in 2001 with the objective of integrating it with its many Globus sites, with BBS the first success in a deal worth more than R1 million. In six years Globus has grown to manage over 120 000 client records at BBS.
Embrace was integrated with Globus using the Globus Open Financial Server module, a gateway to external applications, and Globus Integrator, which enables it to interface and map data to other applications. Integrator was developed locally by Global Technology and is sold by Globus creator Temenos internationally.
BBS chose Embrace after a considered review of the market, having considered such applications as Navision, SunSystems and Oracle Applications. "On a daily basis we can now transfer information from Globus to Embrace," says Harold Kachaje, finance manager at BBS. "All processing takes place in Globus, and we can summarise the balances at the end of each day.
"This is the first time we have had a financial system. We are already seeing benefits: the business runs more smoothly; with fewer people working on the new system, we can produce far more in terms of reports and insight into our operations."
Before Embrace, BBS management used to extract data out of Globus and manipulate it in Excel spreadsheets, a time-consuming, labour-intensive and potentially error-prone process.
"Now we can extract a general ledger from Globus to Embrace and summarise the balances at the end of each day," says Kachaje, "and we can extract a wide variety of efficient and timely reports from source data. The information that drives these reports boosts our decision-making capability."
Embrace allied to Globus provides BBS with the functionality of a general ledger, debtors, creditors, cashbook and fixed assets to Globus, says Kevin O`Donoghue, ACS project director at Global Technology. "Embrace allows BBS to produce its financial statements from one system more accurately and timeously than it could before."
"Our choice of Embrace was influenced in part by the fact that we expected challenges with the integration," comments Kachaje. "Having one vendor take total ownership and manage both applications gave us major benefits in terms of ownership of resolution of issues and overall delivery."
Initial implementation was easy, but as this was the first Embrace-Globus integration, BBS and Global Technology were faced with a number of challenges, specifically with data integration and systems interfacing.
However, the companies persisted until they had ironed out critical issues. "We have learnt a great deal from this, our first banking ERP integration," concludes O`Donoghue. "We will apply this experience to fast-track future sites and provide our customers with competitive advantage."
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