Before Stellar One
Originally, ILWU worked off Excel until adopting QuickBooks. The organization quickly outgrew the small business accounting system and in 2008, ILWU implemented Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains (GP). ILWU would annually update their GP software but saw little improvement between updates.
ILWU Local 13 needed an advanced, updatable, and more efficient solution that could keep up with their growing organization.
The Pain Points
ILWU Local 13 needed greater control over finance, accounting, and reporting operations. Automation was essential to relieve staff from time consuming manual processes, which would enable more time on revenue-focused activities. Lastly, the implemented solution would need to grow with the organization and update regularly to provide technological enhancement and capability improvements.ugrr
The Solution — Stellar One & SAP Business One
Stellar One Consulting provided ILWU Local 13 with standard core modules that would address all of their pain points. SAP Business One’s core modules would allow ILWU to gain control over their internal processes, automate the majority of manual tasks, scale with the growing organization, and update to meet new technological developments.
The Buyers Journey with Stellar One
ILWU Local 13 decided an ERP software was their solution of choice, and the Union required them to evaluate several solution providers. The ILWU team considered purchasing an upgraded version of Microsoft Dynamic GP, or going with the leading accounting software, SAP Business One. After sitting through several demos with each solution provider, ILWU decided on Stellar One Consulting. Marlaina Fultz, the Accounting Manager at ILWU Local 13 stated, “the demo experience with Stellar One Consulting was engaging because it was a very personalized walkthrough of how the solution could relieve our manual, repetitive processes.”
ILWU Local 13’s implementation process with Stellar One Consulting was described by Marlaina as, “fast, thorough, and smooth”. Stellar One Consulting provided 2-days of onsite training, virtual meetings, and always answered questions in a timely manner.
"When implementing software, it’s often like construction on your house. They tell you it’s going to get done in March, when it really gets done in August. Stellar One said we were going to be up-and-running at the beginning of November, and we were live on November 1st." –Marlaina Fultz Accounting Manager, ILWU Local 13
Growth & Success with Stellar One
Since implementing SAP Business One, ILWU Local 13 has experienced improvements within their accounting and finance processes such as minimizing human error and speeding up the journal entry process with the import/export Excel function. The time spent on preparing invoices and bank reconciliations has been cut by 50% and 25%, respectfully. ILWU has saved an average of 10 hours a month on accounting and finance processes. Marlaina describes her support experience throughout the implementation process and post go-live as “responsive” and believes the support responses she receives are always “relevant, easy to understand, and responded to in a timely manner.”
". . . if I did a software implementation again, I would definitely go to Stellar One Consulting because they are patient, credible, and knowledgeable." –Marlaina Fultz
Future Relationship with Stellar One
(implementation + support + ongoing success)
Stellar One Consulting will continue to assist the ILWU Local 13 organization grow to their full potential. By consistently updating ILWU’s solution, the organization’s business processes will reach new levels of efficiency. As developments arise within ERP technology, Stellar One will support ILWU with the most recent version of SAP Business One.