Grant Thornton LLP Completes J.D. Edwards Implementation
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2000--Grant Thornton, one of the world's largest professional services organizations and the U.S. member firm of the $1.6 billion Grant Thornton International, today announced that it has successfully completed the financials phase of its J.D. Edwards' (Nasdaq: JDEC) OneWorld installation at Inland Empire Paper Company (IEPC), a quality producer of commodity and specialty paper for the newsprint industry.
The team attributes the success of the implementation to a combination of a proven implementation methodology, experienced and knowledgeable Grant Thornton consultants and a focused and committed client.
Inland Empire Paper Company retained Grant Thornton in January 2000 to implement the J.D. Edwards maintenance work orders, warehouse operations, procurement, and full financial suite. The implementation team consisted of dedicated personnel from Grant Thornton and IEPC.
"Shortly after beginning the implementation of a full suite of financial and supply-chain management applications with other consultants, it became clear that if we were going to be successful, we needed consultants with stronger management skills," said Nick Cavendar, Application Systems Manager at IEP. "We turned that project management over to Grant Thornton and simply can't speak highly enough of the job they did and the people they employed to do it. They pulled us along at a speed that allowed us to go live in just three-and-a-half months - and we even had some fun along the way."
IEPC hopes to benefit from the installation by:
-- Faster accounting closes at the end of the month
-- Better tracking of expenses to maintenance work orders and
capital projects -- Faster and more accurate management
reporting through better integrated data
-- More flexible database structure and applications to
accommodate business expansion
-- Streamlined back-office processes as the result of better
integrated data
"Our team combines the best technology professionals with top management support," said Dave Christensen, engagement partner for Grant Thornton. "As the alignment of business and IT strategy, coupled with an industry-wide shortage of IT skills, continues to place increasing competitive pressures on our clients, we envision that an increasing number of companies will need to be able to accelerate their implementation to avoid jeopardizing their businesses."
The comprehensive business review and implementation process included refining IEP's business processes to take advantage of the power of their new enterprise resource planning system and achieve the expected return on investment as well as interfacing of the legacy applications and internal user training.
About Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton is a 75-year-old professional services firm that helps the owners and senior management of middle-market, entrepreneurial companies create, enhance and preserve wealth. Through Grant Thornton International, it serves clients at more than 600 offices in 100 countries. The World Wide Web address for Grant Thornton is grantthornton.com.
About Inland Empire Paper Company
Inland Empire Paper Company is a quality producer of commodity and specialty paper for the newsprint industry. Based in Spokane, Wash., it is a privately held subsidiary of Cowles Publishing.
About J.D. Edwards
J.D. Edwards provides Idea to Action"! software for managing the enterprise and supply chain. The Company's integrated applications give customers control over their front office, manufacturing, logistics/distribution, human resources and finance processes for the consumer products, industrial and service industries. J.D. Edwards enables Idea to Action with ActivEra"!, a collection of tools and technologies that extend J.D. Edwards' SCOREX supply chain solution and OneWorld"! and WorldSoftware"! enterprise business software. ActivEra allows customers to change their enterprise software quickly and easily during and after implementation. The Company's solutions operate in multiple computing environments, including Windows NT(R), UNIX(R)and OS/400(R), and are Java"! and HTML enabled.
Founded in 1977, J.D. Edwards is headquartered in Denver and posted fiscal 1998 revenues of $934 million. Additional information can be obtained by contacting the Company at 800/727-5333, or via the Internet at www.jdedwards.com.
CONTACT:
Grant Thornton LLP
Stephani Osborne, 312/602-8368
sosborne@gt.com
or
Grant Thornton LLP
Andrea Callis, 206/623-1121
acallis@gt.com
or
Grant Thornton LLP
Louis Bury, Marketing Communications Intern
212/624-5429
Fax: 212/557-2764
lbury@gt.com
www.grantthornton.com |
