Vera Bradley case study video

Vera Bradley Case Study

Hear from Tonya Ream, VP of Information Technology at Vera Bradley, and Adam Carrick, Project Manager at Sunrise, on how Vera Bradley replaced its ERP and entire omni-channel landscape during a global pandemic. You’ll learn how both project teams adjusted to working remotely and the key factors that ensured Vera Bradley went live on time and on budget. This presentation was recorded at Dynamics 365 UG Summit 2020. You can read more about Vera Bradley here.

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Global supply chain disruptions can wreak havoc on brands. The Sunrise 365 Supply Chain Control Tower unites all your demand and supply data sources in a single view. See the actual impact on revenue and run what-if scenarios on real-time data to make better planning decisions. Whether you’re facing vendor failures, overstocks, out of stocks, or other sticky situations, the Supply Chain Control Tower helps you identify potential problems before they cause chaos.

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How to stop using multiple applications to get one omnichannel shopping experience

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Omni-channel deployment strategies

McKenzi Gebhard is a Senior Supply Chain consultant and Project Manager at Sunrise Technologies. McKenzi has worked with global organizations to implement Microsoft cloud solutions in the luxury furnishings, retail, and consumer goods industries

Customer expectations have never been higher. To meet these expectations fast shipping, resourceful customer service representatives, and extensive return policies are a must to stay relevant. But, while omni-channel retail capabilities are touted as the goal for a truly customer-centric shopping experience. So many people sing the praises of omni-channel, yet few companies do it well. Why? It starts with their systems footprint.

Complexity in the systems footprint
Satisfying customer expectations
Standalone OMS as a solution?
One solution for true omni-channel retail
Frequently asked questions

Complexity in the systems footprint

Most companies have separate eCommerce, POS, and call center systems. The integration required to sync the required information across these systems is an immense amount of work. For many legacy systems, this is quite a tall order. These kinds of “ship from anywhere” policies require both a ton of integration work and an understanding of the sophisticated routing rules for a fully integrated supply chain. Solving these technology challenges usually requires outside help, in which case you need a partner who understands the complex supply chain challenges inherent within retail.

Satisfying customer expectations

Say you’re a company with retail stores, eCommerce, and call centers. In today’s retail landscape, your customers expect you can do the following:

Buy online, pick up in store: Customer A places an order online but wants to pick up the product in a retail store. In order to do this, your eCommerce system needs visibility into your retail store’s inventory, plus the ability to send a pickup order to the POS system.
Buy in store and have the item shipped to their house: Customer B found an item they liked in the store, but wanted it shipped to their home. For this, your store’s POS needs visibility into the eCommerce system’s inventory, and the ability to send an order to your eCommerce system to fulfill the order. Or, the POS may need visibility into other retail stores’ inventory to fulfill the order from one of those instead.
Call a call center and process a return or exchange for an item purchased through another channel: For this, a customer service rep needs visibility into all the inventory channels and the ability to place an order and process a return from any of them.

… repeat for other shopping scenarios, and you can see the amount of work required to integrate all these systems is staggering.

Standalone OMS as a solution?

Some companies have embraced Order Management Systems (OMS) as a layer to smooth these omni-channel challenges. But the efficacy of OMS is questionable. As an integration-heavy product, it’s still a lot of work to get up and running. At best, it can solve your order and fulfillment challenges in the short term. But many retailers have found they spent years installing an OMS, only to realize very little value and a lot of headaches maintaining yet another system.

One solution for true omni-channel retail

The solution for achieving true omni-channel commerce, that is both long-term and cost-effective, is a single platform that keeps track of all your orders and inventory across your entire supply chain. ERP systems like Dynamics 365 operate seamlessly across your entire business, including your retail stores, call centers, and website.

Frequently asked questions

Why is omni-channel so hard?

Omni-channel operations require integrations between all your sales channels. The work required for these integrations is expensive and time-consuming.

There are Order Management Systems out there that can facilitate buy-anywhere ship-anywhere. Why shouldn’t we pick one of those?

OMS is expensive, and you still have to do the same integration work to connect all your sales channels. You may find you’ve spent a tremendous amount of money and time on a system that only returns a fraction of your investment.

How does an ERP system like Dynamics 365 fulfill its promise of true omni-channel retail?

Dynamics 365 combines supply chain, finance, and retail on a single platform. Say goodbye to patching together integrations between disparate systems, and hello to seamless operations on a single platform, backed by the security of the Microsoft Azure cloud.

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Can your systems keep your brand’s promises?

As the Chief Administrative Officer for Sunrise Technologies, Heather Essic is responsible for overseeing Sunrise operations, including finance, marketing, and pre-sales. Prior to being named the Chief Administrative Officer, Heather was Sunrise’s Director of Business Development for Existing Customers, leading extensive sales cycles for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and consulting.

Trust. It’s hard to gain, and easy to lose. And for brands, consumer trust is essential for growth. One of the most challenging parts of growing a company is maintaining your brand’s reputation while expanding into new products, channels, and regions. You may be thinking about different expansion strategies. But have you considered all the ways in which your legacy systems might be affected?

What is a brand promise?
Different expansion strategies
How branching out can affect legacy systems
How a global platform supports your brand
Frequently asked questions

What is a brand promise?

A brand promise is the experience or product your customers can expect to receive every time they interact with your company. Customers need to know you, like you, and then trust you. A person’s connection to a brand is built on trust.

Different expansion strategies

There are three paths companies typically follow as they begin to grow:

Products: As a brand becomes more popular, it may branch out into new product categories. For example, a fashion brand may start selling accessories, then handbags, then shoes.
Sales channels: Next, that same brand might open brick and mortar retail stores. Conversely, it might start selling online.
Locations: Finally, this brand is ready to sell products in new regions or countries. Many companies start by using distributors in other countries before opening international offices or stores.

How branching out can affect legacy systems

The biggest challenge, whether you’re opening your first retail store or your first international office, is keeping the brand promise. The biggest mistake we’ve seen companies make during one of these expansions is installing a legacy business application that serves one strategy but not another.

Let’s say you are an apparel company selling to wholesalers in the U.S. — there are plenty of low-cost apparel management systems for your industry. But that type of system will buckle if you try to expand into new channels, markets, or products.

Or maybe you’re a catalog retailer, branching out into wholesale. Can your current systems handle those types of business processes, like B2B accounts receivables, net terms, cash discounts, or chargebacks?

We’ve heard this story many times: a growing brand chooses a business system (or a few legacy applications) for the business they have right now, but not for the future. Then, as the company grows, their legacy systems are strained. The results are poor customer experience, inventory problems, and other nightmares that frustrate customers and erode their trust. As the brand promise falters, eventually so does the brand.

How a single global platform supports your brand’s promise

Don’t be shortsighted when you select an ERP system. The best thing you can do while you’re still a growing brand is choose a business application that can support different products, sales channels, and regions. A global platform, running on a single database can handle these kinds of processes from the beginning.

Frequently asked questions

Aren’t customizations an option?

They are. But customizing your business applications is a short-term solution. They won’t support your company in the long run.

I’m concerned about cost; aren’t global ERP systems expensive and time-consuming?

The ERP industry has evolved over the last few years, especially with the ubiquity of cloud computing. Systems like Dynamics 365 are built for multi-dimensional, global businesses.

I still need industry-specific solutions to run my business. What are my options?

You can definitely use a global system like Dynamics 365 with industry-specific solutions. Our customers use Sunrise 365 Supply Chain and Retail Replenishment solutions to get specific inventory, supply chain, and retail functions for their businesses, without customizing their core ERP software code.

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Post go-live support

Mike Pereira is Sunrise’s Vice President of Global Customer Support and one of Sunrise’s longest-serving employees. Mike has over twenty years of experience and a deep background in apparel and textile management as well as manufacturing supply chain management.

You did it! Breathe a sigh of relief — you made it through go-live, and your new ERP system is up and running. Now it’s time to tackle what to do after go-live. Even though you may want to call this project “done” and move on, the work isn’t over. The first few weeks after going live, it’s critical that you stay vigilant and nip any issues in the bud. Let’s walk through the hyper care process and document some things you should expect…

Data migration: the first wave

Special cases

Helping new users

Avoid the Valley of Despair

Frequently asked questions

Data migration issues — the first wave

People are surprised at how quiet the first week after go-live can be. If you did all your testing and gave yourself plenty of time and CRPs, transactions should be flowing through your system without a hitch. The first thing you might encounter are data migration errors. These usually happen because business users have only interacted with the old, migrated data before, and any issues that existed could throw errors in the new system. It’s important to clear out these data migration errors first, before too many pile up.

Special cases

It’s impossible to test every possible scenario prior to go-live. The second wave of issues you might encounter are the outliers — one-off scenarios you didn’t have time to test. These are to be expected (after all, you have to go-live at some point, right?) As users start adding new master and transactional data, these corner cases become obvious. The intersection of data and business processes can create unique, unexpected situations. If your project team handles these cases as they appear, you should be fine.

Helping new users

You’ve conquered any migration problems and taken care of the corner cases. The last thing to look out for are user errors. We consider these issues the most dangerous because if they aren’t dealt with swiftly, user errors can snowball into an avalanche of problems that affect the whole organization. For example, an employee from merchandising might forget to associate the cost for a new product. The warehouse then receives the product at zero cost, and now the fix requires several financial transactions and lots of time. During this time, speed of resolution is key. If errors are being created faster than resolutions, that’s a problem. Your project team and your organization’s power users should work on clearing out these errors and reinforcing best practices among the rest of the organization.

Avoid the “Valley of Despair”

The Valley of Despair is when your ERP’s performance drops dramatically, shortly after going live. Users might get frustrated, disappointed, and wonder if the project was even worth it. Guiding users around this metaphorical valley of despair is why your project team should stick around a little longer. The real benchmark people should focus on is closing the first financial period in the new system.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common problems users might experience after go-live?

Data migration errors, followed by special cases regarding business processes, and user errors are most common.

What’s a good benchmark for measuring success post go-live?

Closing the first financial period in your new ERP system is a common benchmark to use.

We don’t have time to test every scenario in time for our scheduled go-live, is this bad?

Assessing go-live readiness is an art and a science. Businesses are complex—and it’s impossible to test every single scenario and stay on schedule. It’s to be expected that some special cases will reveal themselves in the first few weeks after go-live.

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To customize, or not to customize?

Implementing a cloud-based ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 is essential for organizations seeking to stay competitive. However, one topic that often causes hesitation during ERP projects is customizations. While ERP customizations have historically been a source of frustration, particularly when they lead to long-term maintenance issues or system instability, a “no customization” policy isn’t always the best approach. The key is knowing when customizations add value versus when they create unnecessary complexity.

Understanding When to Customize Your ERP System

Not all customizations are created equal. The decision to customize should never be taken lightly, but avoiding all customizations across the board can leave your organization struggling to maintain a competitive edge. A better approach is to evaluate whether a customization serves a clear business purpose. Customizations should align with your company’s goals and long-term strategy, enabling your teams to perform at their best while enhancing overall efficiency.

Gap-Fit Analysis: Identifying When Customizations Are Necessary

During the early stages of an ERP project, your team will engage in a gap-fit analysis to document current business processes and compare them with the new system’s out-of-the-box functionality. This is where the decision to customize or change your processes often comes into play. Should the software be customized to fit your current business processes, or should your processes adapt to fit the software?

There are pros and cons to each approach. Customizing the software may seem like a faster, easier option in the short term, especially when users resist change. But using customizations as a shortcut can result in significant long-term costs, from ongoing maintenance to system updates that break existing custom code. On the other hand, asking your team to change ingrained business processes can be time-consuming and may lead to friction during implementation.

The trick is finding the right balance. Customizations should be reserved for areas that truly impact your company’s uniqueness or provide a competitive advantage.

Strategic Factors to Consider Before Customizing

Adding Value to the Organization

Customizations should deliver measurable value. Will the customization improve efficiency, enhance the customer experience, or contribute to higher revenue streams? If the answer is yes, it may be worth considering. However, any customization should align with your organization’s broader strategic goals and business objectives.

One good rule of thumb is to ask: Will this customization make my business more competitive in the marketplace? If the answer is no, it might be better to explore standard functionality or process changes.

Streamlining Processes

A well-planned customization can help streamline workflows by automating repetitive tasks, simplifying processes, or integrating disparate systems. For instance, if your business relies heavily on manual processes, a customization could significantly reduce time and labor costs.

However, remember that customizing software to match inefficient processes isn’t the answer. Consider whether changing your business processes could deliver similar efficiency gains without the need for custom code.

Exploring Low-Code Alternatives

Before diving into full-blown customizations, consider low-code solutions, such as Microsoft’s Power Platform. Low-code platforms allow you to build custom applications with minimal development effort, providing needed functionality without heavy investments in development or future maintenance.

The Power Platform integrates seamlessly with Dynamics 365, giving users the flexibility to extend the ERP system without feeling like they’re interacting with a completely different solution. This approach can reduce complexity and help you avoid the maintenance issues that customizations can introduce, all while enhancing user satisfaction.

Evaluating the Long-Term Feasibility of Customizations

It’s easy to overlook the long-term implications of customizations, but it’s critical to assess their feasibility over time. Customizations require ongoing updates, especially as cloud platforms evolve. You’ll need to ensure that your customizations remain compatible with future upgrades and don’t become a burden on your IT team.

When evaluating whether a customization is sustainable, consider:

The resources required to maintain and update the customization over time.
The potential impact on future upgrades or new system features.
Whether the customization aligns with the long-term goals of your business.

By thinking ahead, you can ensure that customizations don’t become obstacles but rather sustainable enhancements that support your growth.

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SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION

Cloud-based ERPs have changed implementation best practices and methodologies. Based on over 30 years of experience, we’ve identified seven critical factors that influence whether a project succeeds or fails.

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Supply chain rebound—back on track, but better: 3 ways to improve visibility and agility

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Don’t underestimate data migration

As a Director of Consulting for Sunrise Technologies, Jason Wolf has over 15 years of experience implementing Dynamics ERP solutions for apparel, footwear, retail, and consumer goods companies.

ERP implementations are tough

Over the years, implementation partners have created methodologies, project management and planning tools to account for every aspect of an ERP implementation. Yet it’s still common to see data migration get left behind during project planning. We believe this is backwards, since without the data, your new ERP system can’t go live. Data migration should be considered at the beginning of an ERP project, while other important design decisions are being made. By taking the time upfront to plan your migration strategy, you can avoid unexpected delays during your project.

Why migration planning is so important
Data migration strategies
Data cleansing
Validation and testing
Frequently asked questions

Data migration can make or break your implementation

Migration planning should happen early in the project. Getting a jumpstart on the challenges for each data structure can save tons of time, and safeguard against unexpected hiccups during the project. It also gives the project team a better idea on timelines and resources needed to get from the old system to the new one. The bigger the change to a data structure (especially master data structures like product, customer, vendor, etc.,) the more challenging it will be to move to the new system. Without a plan in place, budgets can run over, timelines run long, or an issue stalls the process late in the project.

Selecting a strategy for data migration

The key to a smooth migration is picking the right strategy. One size does NOT fit all, which is why it’s important to spend time early in the project deciding on the best method. Some examples are:

Bill of Materials data might be complex, with significant changes to the data structure. However, the volume might be small enough that it’s easier to enter it manually. For very complex data structures, it doesn’t make sense to write a migration script that you’ll only use once, when in the same amount of time you could just enter the data.
Sales orders (or other types of transactional data), might be thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lines long. In that case, it might be better to create an automated script to move and map the data.

Cleaning the data

One of the unsung benefits of an implementation is getting a fresh start with clean, well-organized data. You can’t realize all the benefits of a new ERP system if your data is riddled with errors. Take this opportunity to remove redundancies, append missing information, fix typos and errors, and archive what you won’t need going forward. The key is to clean the data before migrating to the new system. Source data should be audited, issues resolved quickly, and controls set up for maintaining data quality and governance in the new ERP system. Much of this data cleansing work is manual, but it’s worth it to get the full value out of your implementation.

Data validation

The only way to know for sure that the data migrated successfully is to check. The basic process is to start with a small amount of data, load it into the new ERP system, test, add more, and repeat. Once the migration is complete, you can validate it by checking against the source system. For example, say you want to check your open sales orders. You could check the line counts, quantity, and amount against the original source and if the numbers match, you’re good to go.

Frequently asked questions

When should we start thinking about data migration strategy?

As early as possible! A data migration strategy should be considered early in the project, while other key design decisions are being made.

How do we decide which strategy to use for data migration?

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for data migration. Your implementation partner should offer guidance based on their experience. In general, for lower volumes, it might be more efficient to manually enter the data rather than spend time creating an automated script. For very large sets of data that contain complex mapping and business logic, automation may be the way to go.

How should we handle data cleansing?

Clean your data in the source system prior to the migration.

How do we validate that the migration was successful?

Create a checklist to test what’s in your new system against the legacy data source.

Vera Bradley Case Study

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Sunrise 365 Supply Chain Control Tower

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How to Stop Using Multiple Applications to Get One Omni-channel Shopping Experience

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Omni-channel challenges

Complexity in the systems footprint

Satisfying customer expectations

Standalone OMS as a solution?

One solution for true omni-channel retail

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Forrester Total Economic Impact of Migrating from AX to Dynamics 365

Get Your Money's Worth

Can your systems keep your brand’s promises?

What is a brand promise?

Different expansion strategies

How branching out can affect legacy systems

How a single global platform supports your brand’s promise

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

You Just Went Live...Now What?

Data migration issues — the first wave

Special cases

Helping new users

Avoid the “Valley of Despair”

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

To Customize, or Not to Customize?

Table of Contents

Understanding When to Customize Your ERP System

Gap-Fit Analysis: Identifying When Customizations Are Necessary

Strategic Factors to Consider Before Customizing

Adding Value to the Organization

Streamlining Processes

Exploring Low-Code Alternatives

Evaluating the Long-Term Feasibility of Customizations

Everything You Need For A

SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION

Ready for your tailored ERP solution?

Supply Chain Rebound—Back On Track, But Better: 3 Ways To Improve Visibility And Agility

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Don't underestimate data migration

ERP implementations are tough

Data migration can make or break your implementation

Selecting a strategy for data migration

Cleaning the data

Data validation

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Implementing Great Ideas

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