PARAGON SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, MASSACHUSETTS-BASED MICROSOFT GOLD CERTIFIED PARTNER, HELPED UNION BIOMETRICA AUTOMATE MANUFACTURING AND ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS
“Paragon drove the system conversion the entire way and their involvement turned out to be absolutely essential to the success of our transition.”
– Chris Bogan, Chief Operating Officer, Union Biometrica
A medical instrumentation manufacturer, Union Biometrica provides systems for the automated analysis and sorting of viable multicellular organisms, cells and other large particles. Located in Holliston, Massachusetts, Union Bio is a recent spin-off of its parent company, Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ: HBIO), a developer and manufacturer of products used to advance life science research. Now, as a separate, independent company comprised of 18 employees, Union Bio no longer had access to its parent company’s sophisticated financial system they had been utilizing for the past seven years, and was suddenly faced with implementing a system to meet its own needs. Like most organizations, Union Bio could not afford the time, resources or the pain of a forced system conversion. Fortunately, the company turned to Paragon Software Solutions. With more than 25 years of implementation, integration, upgrade and migration system experience, Paragon helped transition Union Bio to a new system with minimum interruptions and headaches, meeting all the requirements for the “new” company.
Paragon Eases Union Bio’s Transition, Minimizes Downtime
As a spin-off, Union Bio was similar to a small start-up company with lim-ited resources. They were in a unique situation though, as they were used to all the bells and whistles of a larger organization’s financial system. But now, they needed a system to meet its own specific needs, and cost, ease of use and partner experience and compatibility were all key considerations. Additionally, they were looking to minimize the impact of the conversion on day-to-day operations and minimize downtime, which they knew could be significant if the correct processes were not in place.
“As a small company, we could not risk putting sales and manufacturing on hold for any period of time during a system transition,” commented Chris Bogan, Chief Operating Officer at Union Biometrica. “It was imperative we were up and running efficiently and as quickly as possible with minimal impact to our day to day business.”
Paragon proved the perfect solution for Union Bio. With Paragon’s depth of experience, Union Bio had all the answers to its questions – big and little. And actually, Union Bio did not fully realize the enormous importance and role of the partner at the onset of the project. In fact, the two organizations enjoyed real compatibility that helped in the transition, and Union Bio really appreciated Paragon’s entrepreneurial mindset, a real business sense, that helped in the process.
“Paragon drove this system conversion from beginning to end, key to success of this project,” continued Chris Bogan. “In fact, the importance of the partner in the project was really underestimated. Now that we’ve been through the entire process, we appreciate the compatibility of our organizations, Paragon’s unmatched experience and unprecedented support. They sprinted with us the entire way – from the starting line to the finish. Their involvement turned out to be absolutely essential to the success of the conversion.”
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Union Biometrica (500 downloads)
Solution Profile
Industry
Medical Instrumentation
Company Profile
Located in Holliston, Massachusetts, Union Biometrica provides systems for the automated analysis and sorting of viable multicellular organisms, cells and other large particles.
Scenario
Union Biometrica, a recent spin-off of its parent company, Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ: HBIO), no longer had access to Harvard Bio’s accounting and financial system and was suddenly faced with implementing its own.
Paragon’s Remote Model Offers Cost-Effective Solution
Utilizing Paragon turned out to be the most cost-effective solution for Union Bio, and that was no coincidence. Turns out, it is Paragon’s remote business model that allows them to provide its services most cost-effectively. The company was initially established as an accounting services business in 1987. In 2006, the company became a Microsoft Managed Partner, one of 12 GP Managed Partners in New England, with a direct relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft partners operate under three types of business models, including the developer’s model that offers custom code for specialized applications. While the customer gets exactly what they want, it’s a very expensive solution and the company is generally more focused on technical code, without much accounting or business experience.
Some Microsoft partners possess more of a consulting model, where the company requires booking its on-site consultants for days and weeks at a time. This can result in the client paying for idle time and making it difficult for organizations to balance their time between daily responsibilities and implementing the new system with the on-site consultant.
Paragon utilizes these two business models when appropriate, but primarily utilizes its unique remote model that allows its staff to work remotely, only billing for actual hours worked when needed. In fact, Paragon had four employees working remotely at various times on Union Bio’s implementation, which led to the most cost-effective, less time consuming and less intrusive implementation. By tapping into different employees in different time zones all over the world, Paragon has a great depth of experience, generally over 10 years of both accounting and GP experience per employee. Paragon uses on-site staff when in the best interest of the client, but does much of the work remotely, ultimately saving money.
Union Bio – On Schedule and On Time
The implementation plan was to bring the new system on-line at the beginning of the quarter with a full hands-on test. Paragon drove the process the entire time, ensuring the conversion happened seamlessly, on schedule and on time, with minimal interruptions and on-going support. The Union Bio system transition took place within three weeks from beginning to end with Paragon Software as an integral part of the process, from the initial decision to installation, transition, integration, training and support, ensuring a smooth transition.
Mark Forbush, president and CEO of Paragon Software commented, “We realize organizations are not in the business of system conversions and upgrades. We allow organizations to continue to concentrate doing what they do best, while leaving the details of the system transition to us. We are able to optimize the implementation and transition process for the best interest of the customer due to our cost-effective remote business model that has worked so well for so many.”
The accounting and manufacturing solution – Microsoft Dynamics GP – has proved the perfect solution for Union Bio as well. It provides the integrated tools needed to fully understand financial data and processes, taking full advantage of the information available from a financial system. Union Bio also implemented the manufacturing software module to help schedule product deliveries, optimize inventory and enhance manufacturing throughput and business performance. Further system requirements included accurate management of multi-currency transactions, inventory serial and lot number tracking and controls for managing multiple sites and inventory locations.
Paragon specializes in taking the best-of-breed financial application and integrating it with both vertical and horizontal applications. Serving 50 clients nationwide, the company eases system transitions for a wide range of organizations like Union Bio.
“Paragon drove the system conversion the entire way and their involvement turned out to be absolutely essential to the success of our transition.”
– Chris Bogan, Chief Operating Officer, Union Biometrica
A medical instrumentation manufacturer, Union Biometrica provides systems for the automated analysis and sorting of viable multicellular organisms, cells and other large particles. Located in Holliston, Massachusetts, Union Bio is a recent spin-off of its parent company, Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ: HBIO), a developer and manufacturer of products used to advance life science research. Now, as a separate, independent company comprised of 18 employees, Union Bio no longer had access to its parent company’s sophisticated financial system they had been utilizing for the past seven years, and was suddenly faced with implementing a system to meet its own needs. Like most organizations, Union Bio could not afford the time, resources or the pain of a forced system conversion. Fortunately, the company turned to Paragon Software Solutions. With more than 25 years of implementation, integration, upgrade and migration system experience, Paragon helped transition Union Bio to a new system with minimum interruptions and headaches, meeting all the requirements for the “new” company.
Paragon Eases Union Bio’s Transition, Minimizes Downtime
As a spin-off, Union Bio was similar to a small start-up company with lim-ited resources. They were in a unique situation though, as they were used to all the bells and whistles of a larger organization’s financial system. But now, they needed a system to meet its own specific needs, and cost, ease of use and partner experience and compatibility were all key considerations. Additionally, they were looking to minimize the impact of the conversion on day-to-day operations and minimize downtime, which they knew could be significant if the correct processes were not in place.
“As a small company, we could not risk putting sales and manufacturing on hold for any period of time during a system transition,” commented Chris Bogan, Chief Operating Officer at Union Biometrica. “It was imperative we were up and running efficiently and as quickly as possible with minimal impact to our day to day business.”
Paragon proved the perfect solution for Union Bio. With Paragon’s depth of experience, Union Bio had all the answers to its questions – big and little. And actually, Union Bio did not fully realize the enormous importance and role of the partner at the onset of the project. In fact, the two organizations enjoyed real compatibility that helped in the transition, and Union Bio really appreciated Paragon’s entrepreneurial mindset, a real business sense, that helped in the process.
“Paragon drove this system conversion from beginning to end, key to success of this project,” continued Chris Bogan. “In fact, the importance of the partner in the project was really underestimated. Now that we’ve been through the entire process, we appreciate the compatibility of our organizations, Paragon’s unmatched experience and unprecedented support. They sprinted with us the entire way – from the starting line to the finish. Their involvement turned out to be absolutely essential to the success of the conversion.”
