The Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County Implements Serenic Navigator
"Previously, all inventory tracking was done manually,
resulting in days or even weeks of delay. Now it is done
automatically with the push of a button, saving on average
12 man-hours per month.”
- Art Mandler, Information Systems Administrator
The Metropolitan Sewerage District (MSD) of Buncombe County is located
in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. The District is an
independent municipality formed in 1962 under the North Carolina Metropolitan
Sewerage Districts Act. It was created for the purpose of constructing and
operating facilities for the treatment and disposal of the sewage generated by
the 15 political subdivisions that comprise the District.
MSD employs about 155 full-time staffers, with duties ranging from maintaining
sewer lines, overseeing 17 pump stations, operating the treatment plant,
engineering sewer line rehabilitation projects, and monitoring industrial waste
and reducing grease from restaurants.
Oversight of MSD is the responsibility of an 11-member governing board,
which has developed a strategic plan for the future of the organization. The
board’s budgetary process, which incorporates management by objectives,
serves as a tool to translate planning objectives into work objectives on an
annual basis. The District’s management team and employees carry out the
goals, objectives and policies as set by the governing board.
MSD owns, operates and maintains a 40 million gallon per day wastewater
treatment plant, which treats raw sewage and industrial wastewaters collected
from an extensive network (approximately 950 miles) of public sewer pipes.
The District also owns, operates and maintains approximately 60 miles of
interceptor sewers that connect such sewers to the treatment plant.
Water treated by MSD is returned to the French Broad River, where it has a
lower bacteria count than the river water itself.
Scenario
When MSD began the search for a new fund accounting solution nearly two years
ago, it sought a software program that would provide some basic, yet often
hard-to-find, functionality. “We simply wanted a fund accounting package that
increased our productivity,” explained Art Mandler, MSD’s management information
systems administrator. “More specifically, we wanted easier reporting and data
mining, full compatibility with Microsoft Windows, true multi-user functionality,
clean code, and solid technical support.”
Mandler added that the organization’s top priority was a fund accounting solution
that was easy to use. “Perhaps the greatest pain point that we were trying to
overcome was ease-of-use,” he said. “Many people in our organization have an
occasional need to access financial data. We needed a fund accounting solution
that would provide these occasional users with an easy way to get the information
they need.”
After thoroughly exploring the fund accounting landscape, Mandler and his
colleagues selected Serenic Navigator from Lakewood, Colo.-based Serenic
Corporation. “Although we’ve only been using Serenic Navigator for 13 months,
we expect tremendous productivity gains in the years to come,” said Mandler, a
seven year veteran of MSD. “Serenic has done an excellent job of taking the extremely
clean code of Microsoft Business Solutions-NAV® and creating a highly
effective fund accounting solution.”
Founded in 1999, Serenic Corporation, is a Microsoft Business Solutions industry
solutions vendor and was recently named to Microsoft Business Solutions Inner
Circle, an accomplishment earned by firms whose sales achievement ranks them
at the top echelon of the Microsoft Business Solutions global network of valueadded
reselling partners.
Serenic Corporation’s flagship fund accounting product, Serenic Navigator, is
certified for Microsoft Dynamics®.
Mandler believes that no product will impact the small to medium-sized notfor-
profit and government markets more dramatically than Serenic Navigator.
“Serenic Corporation gives its clients the unique combination of young-company
enthusiasm combined with the rock-solid dependability of the underlying Navision
code,” he said. “Most vendors of fund accounting software are mired in legacy
technology issues, which renders their products obsolete in today’s competitive
environment.”
The software is used at MSD by eight full-time users and ten or more occasional
users.
Benefits
Regarding specific productivity improvements, Mandler noted that Serenic Navigator
has allowed MSD to do real-time inventory tracking for the first time. “This
is a very significant occurrence,” he said. “Previously, all inventory tracking was
done manually, resulting in days or even weeks of delay. Now it is done automatically
with the push of a button, saving on average 12 man-hours per month.”
Mandler admitted that other productivity issues are hard to quantify because
Serenic Navigator was fully implemented a mere 13 months ago, but he said he
fully expects five years or more of trouble-free use. “If my expectations turn into
reality, it would be a very positive return-on-investment indeed,” he said.
Case Study developed in October, 2007.