Renewa Ltd took control of various projects with a single system
“We now have up-to-date information in a single system, we get to follow the projects and the economy integrated package in real time and we are able to react to things at a much faster rate.” Rami, Chief Financial Officer, Renewa Ltd
Renewa Ltd, which provides energy production solutions for heat and power plants, deployed Microsoft Dynamics NAV Enterprise Resource Planning system at the beginning of the year.
At the turn of the year, two subsidiaries were merged with the parent company owned by venture capitalists and key personnel. All three companies had previously done their accounting and financial management separately. A need for a system that would gather all the information together arose.
“Our projects are worth several millions of euros, and we strive for future projects that reach tens of millions. We now have up-to-date information in a single system, we get to follow the projects and the economy integrated package in real time and we are able to react to things at a much faster rate.” says Rami Saario, Chief Financial Officer of Renewa Ltd.
Projects under control
Renewa Ltd’s business is completely project based. In a typical project, the customer orders, for example, a thermal plant. The offer discussion, planning and tendering stages will take about a year and the whole project implementation, depending on the scope of the project, between one and two years.
“Because we are in a very project natured business, we monitor our working capital very strictly. It is good to monitor each project with NAV, to see what’s going on”, Saario says.
Renewa Ltd uses an Enterprise Resource Planning system for financial management, project tracking, customer relationship management, as well as to record working hours and working time. Project tracking is included in NAV as a whole, as is the purchasing and inventory management related to the projects.
The system has about thirty power users. In addition, about twenty employees record their hours worked into the system via the web interface.
In the big projects of the company, more than half is sub-contracted, such as electrification, automation and construction works. Project managers and foremen do procurements with the help of the system. The system shows the purchase orders by project, how much money is already tied up in procurements and how many can still be expected.
“Without Enterprise Resource Planning system, it would be virtually impossible to keep track of what has happened in the project and what it still going happen in it. Now we can pretty accurately predict monthly if we will be able to maintain schedule, costs and other agreed objectives,” Saario says.
The system can be customized to fit
When Renewa Ltd was choosing Enterprise Resource Planning system, one of the criteria was that the companies are easy to transfer into the system as they are acquired, merged with, or divided.
Renewa Ltd is pleased with the new system. Saario believes it is important that the system can be customized to support the company’s business.
“We get synergy advantage from not having different software at different locations. Products by other suppliers can also be integrated into NAV; for example, in our case, the travel expense program Logium M2, Aditro Tiko document management system”, he says.
Renewa Ltd is an unusual company in the sense that it accounts POC of plant projects monthly. NAV calculations related to this were developed together with the system supplier Mavisystems.
“The POC should be done systematically and documented well also due to authorities. Monitoring economy is also important for the financiers and other stakeholders. It does give a better impression of the company.”
Internationalization as a goal
Renewa Ltd aims for growth and internationalization. We are still in the early stages, but the company has already sold their first projects abroad. The company does not yet have its own offices or subsidiaries abroad. The general economic situation in the world has slowed down the internationalization.
“NAV definately provides better opportunities and starting point for future plans. Now future projects of international clients are already input as a system, in which case market information can be tracked and analysed,” Saario says.
Renewa Ltd.’s next, bigger development step to be taken into NAV is planning of resources and workshop loads.
“When operations are expanded and new workshops may enter the Group, a tool for managing the workshop manufacturing of the Group is definitely needed”, Saario says.
Renewa – Local solutions, local fuels, local energy
Renewa Ltd offers sustainable local energy production solutions for heat and power plants that use bio based fuels. In our solution we combine innovative technology, strong project experience, as well as maintenance and life-cycle services. The pioneers of energy production have confidence in our products, which allow for the high usability and energy efficacy of the plants throughout their lifetime.
Microsoft products and technologies used in the solution:
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV