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Case Study

Case Study

Data

CASE STUDY Modernizing legacy ERP and boosting User Experience for a Global Enterprise Software firm

About the Customer

The client is a multinational software company headquartered in the United States. It is a well-known business solutions company that provides a wide range of industry-specific enterprise software solutions.

about-client

Problem Statement

The company wanted to grow their market share and take the lead in their market categories, but they were up against a number of obstacles, including:

  • Limited accessibility owing to a desktop programme
  • Complex user interfaces with usability difficulties
  • Limited scaling up and scaling out possibilities
  • Slow licencing and onboarding
problem-faced

solutions

Following the preliminary assessment, Sonata assisted the customer in developing a multitenant platform architecture on Azure that was extremely scalable and available and boosting the user experience

  • It's REST-based. All of the functionality of the .Net API Platform is exposed.
  • Angular-based modern SPA with rich and intuitive user interactions
  • Virtual Agent bot to give better app interactions
  • Common UX/UI Framework to design various applications uniformly for consistent UX

Business Benefits

  • Higher scalability 
  • Improved usability and consistency throughout the portfolio of applications 
  • High accessibility across a variety of form factors
  • Reduced user onboarding time 
  • Lower customer cost of ownership
     

Tools & Tech:

Applicable Service Catalogues: UX Platform Engineering including Bots, API Platform Engineering (Consumption, Improvements)

Existing Tech landscape

Web API

Win Forms

MS SQL Server

Target Tech Landscape

WEB API

SQL

Data

CASE STUDY Creating Possibilities for a Multinational Software Company with the ability to Go Mobile Globally

About the Company

The client is a multinational enterprise software corporation based in the United Kingdom with 6.1 million customers around the world. It has locations in 24 different countries. The company is the world's third-biggest seller of ERP software and the leading supplier to small businesses, serving as a one-stop shop for all ERP, CRM, and payroll solutions.

about-client

Problem Statement

The client had problems in three areas, and Sonata assisted the client in overcoming those obstacles. The customer wanted to broaden their reach by capitalising on the growing popularity of mobile devices. A wide range of ERP and related products must be mobile-enabled for all popular mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android. The proposed programme will enable small businesses to manage their accounts on the go using mobile devices.

The client needed a cross-platform mobile app to monitor their client's financial data and receive alerts. This would enable accountants to keep track of their clients while on the go. The client wanted to expand their reach among employees of small and medium-sized businesses in Europe, America, and Asia.

Solution

The main goal was to create a mobile-friendly platform that would work with iPhones and Android phones. This app was to be built using Xamarin, a cross-platform development environment with a single code base for iOS and Android. Sonata was critical in deciding to use the Xamarin platform for app development. The team successfully launched the mobile app in multiple international regions in one year.

Sonata assisted in the development of a mobile app that would work on both iPhone and Android devices. With a single code base, the app was to be written in C# and Xamarin. The forms worked on both iOS and Android devices. SQLite.NET ORM libraries were used for database operations, and Xuni Graph was used to create graphs and charts.

The final task was to work together on the development of a mobile app that integrates with the ERP in the backend to enable mobile sales. Traveling salesmen could use the app to access customer information, order management, invoicing, and quotations while on the road. In addition to the ability to view the product catalogue and promotions, these features were added. Components from Pagasus and Nephos were used. Maintenance of the iPad mobile sales app, development of a Windows 8.1 app, and integration with ERPs were also part of the scope of work.

Benefits

Because of the platform's scalability, a large number of mobile devices could be supported. The mobile app will allow small businesses to manage their invoices, expenses, payments, products, and services while on the go. The client was ecstatic because they were able to quickly roll out mobile apps for various regions, allowing them to begin gaining new clients through the mobile ecosystem.

The client was able to launch their mobile app in the UK, US, Canada, Germany, and Spain, opening up new commercial opportunities.

The mobile application was completed on time. The platform was not only ready for localization, but it also offered a rich user experience with multiple graphs and tooltips. The client wanted to rethink and improve their business processes and requirements. They were well aware that their newly acquired mobile enablement status had given them a competitive advantage.

Sonata finished the mobile app in three months, and the client was ready to increase their marketing efforts.

The scalable platform could support a large number of mobile devices. The tablet's mobile app provided the best platform for salespeople to provide real-time information to customers, anticipate customer orders, and deliver quotations directly from the tablet. Access to data at any time and on-the-go order management improved sales effectiveness. The client commended the team for its quality focus and teamwork.

Microsoft praised the Mobile Sales Windows 8 App for its adherence to the user interface and user experience. This is yet another victory for Team Sonata!

Data

CASE STUDY How a Scalable Digital Platform improved customer satisfaction for the property industry software leader?

About the Client

Aareon is Europe's largest provider of software for commercial and social real estate companies, as well as outsourcing and consultancy. Aareon has 36 locations in 7 European countries and 1,500 employees who serve over 3,000 real estate companies that manage 10 million VHEs. Aareon solutions are now used by approximately 50,000 people in Europe.

about-client

Problem Statement

The vision of Aareon is to be the most innovative solution provider in the property industry by enabling Digital Transformation.

  • Stay more relevant to the needs of the real estate market for Tenant satisfaction, Sustainability, Anywhere / anywhere, anytime 
  • Lead the market with simplified and easy-to-manage systems, cost optimization, and leveraging new business models
problem-faced

Solution

Sonata assisted Aareon NL in its digital transformation journey. Sonata upgraded Aareon ERP from on-premise AX 2012 to the cloud-based Dynamics 365 platform. The design and execution of the test programme were aligned to the single commercial version of Microsoft, allowing for faster and more robust deployments to production while adhering to the vision of evergreen ERP through automation.

Key highlights of the existing AX2012 solution:

  • Huge codebase with intrusive customizations: 27,000+ customised Objects
  • Total functional modules – 20, 30+ integrations
  • Limited documentation in Dutch language
  • Best practices deviations in legacy solutions 

Implementation approach for Dynamics 365 F&O 

  • Upgrade: Created a native Cloud platform in record time by implementing an extensibility framework and redesigning 5000+ objects.
  • Based on the Microsoft CAR report, we ensured compliance by resolving 5,000+ errors and warnings from existing AX2012 solutions.
  • Improved the product by incorporating some of the key features. Workspace and Power BI were implemented to improve user experiences and flexibility.
  • To ensure test coverage, 1800+ test scenarios and test cases have been documented.
  • RSAT-based automated regression test scenarios that would save up to 80% of manual testing time.
  • Benchmarked system performance with 100,000 transactions per hour at peak with 150+ concurrent users on a tier 4 environment.
  • Data migration for the first existing customer. Automation was implemented, which reduced technical migration time from four weeks to one week.
     

Benefits

  • Successful cloud solution upgrade in record time, with high quality, and within budget.
  • Ready to go to market for new customer onboarding Flexible cloud-based environment at a low cost.
  • Future preparedness for the next stage of digital transformation.
  • Ever Green ERP is distinguished by its robust build, deployment, and automation processes.
     

Alexander Zaal Director Wonen, Aareon NL

Aareon’s vision is to be most innovative solution provider in Property industry, by enabling Digital Transformation. Aareon NL envisaged to modernise its flagship product, Tobias, an on-premise ERP solution for the property market. Sonata, with their deep expertise in Dynamics 365 platform, collaborated with Aareon team and leveraged strong Microsoft connections every step of the journey, in delivering the next generation Tobias 365 platform. Sonata has been our trusted and committed partner in the journey of achieving our digital vision, from upgrading the solution to Cloud, arriving at a common template, leveraging the strength of Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, and migrating one of Aareon’s largest and first customer to Tobias 365 platform.

Rudy Hoving Project Manager Dynamics 365, Aareon NL

A big Thank You to all people at Sonata. Some of us have spent months (some years) trying to achieve certain goals. One of those goals was to bring our 1st pilot-customer live with Tobias 365. Last week we succeeded in this together with Sonata. That is why I am taking this moment to let you know how much the people of Aareon appreciate how you have supported us towards this goal, and you have also worked very hard to get it done. We are very proud and happy to announce that Habion has been live with Tobias 365 and that we at Aareon can use this as a springboard to transfer our other customers in the coming years. Thank you very much for the cooperation, and your hard work. We could not have done this without you. Greatly appreciate your commitment to it. Let’s celebrate this milestone.

Data

CASE STUDY Sonata Connected Agri Enables the World's Largest Farmer Cooperative with a Single Source of Truth

About the Company

The client is Denmark's largest cooperative farm supply company, owned by 12,000 Danish farmers. They sell feedstuff mixes, ingredients and vitamin mixes, fertilizer, crop protection, seed, and energy, as well as crops purchased from farmers. The client also sells well-known brands of farm equipment and runs a large network of hobby and leisure stores.

sonata connected agri

Problem Statement

The client was looking for a partner to help them implement their digital vision, which maximizes value growth for individual farmers. They required visibility and certainty into complex contracts that specified weight and other product quality parameters such as moisture and protein content, as well as the ability to quickly and accurately calculate quality adjustments and charges. Due to acquisitions, business units had different systems, which made it hard to see how things were running as a whole.

problem-faced

Solution

We assisted the client in implementing Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, as well as Talent (Attract), and Sonata's CTRM, an ERP-integrated CTRM solution. The solution was implemented in multi-national operations to meet various fiscal and currency requirements while ensuring standardization across business units. It provided visibility to all contracts, orders, and settlement details on a single platform, as well as powerful tools for automatically adjusting contract pricing in response to changes in any or all quality parameters as crops, were harvested and test results became available. The client was able to provide a sustainable program to train their employees for them to upload master data and implement Attract (recruitment module).

Benefits

  • With a single source of data, it provides a 360-degree view of the business
  • Because of the shared database, the group's fiscal reporting is simplified
  • Increased sourcing and trading function operational efficiency because CTRM is integrated into ERP functions
  • Better cost control as a result of visibility into contracts, pricing, positions, forex, and inventory
  • Increased assistance to farmers and growers to ensure higher quality products through the use of digital capabilities such as IoT and Azure ML
Data

CASE STUDY Secured Multichannel Retail Store Operations for a Farm Supply Cooperative

About the Company

The client is a Danish-based farmers' co-operative owned by 12,000+ member farmers rolled out Dynamics 365 & Sonata’s CTRM across multinational operations, satisfying different fiscal and currency requirements while ensuring systems are standardized, efficient and geared towards maximizing profits. 
The client is a cooperative farm supply company selling feedstuff mixes, ingredients and vitamin mixes, fertilizer, crop protection,, seed and energy. It also purchases crops from farmers.

about-client

Problem Statement

The company’s goal was to streamline solutions to have one platform for day-to-day ERP across its agribusiness divisions, and to modernise and standardise back-office functions such as financial reporting and sales and purchase orders. However, it was the company’s need for a robust commodity trading solution that drove their choice of ERP.

problem-faced

Solution

Sonata Software’s Commodity CTRM is Microsoft certified for the cloud-based Dynamics 365 platform and dovetails seamlessly with the Microsoft Finance Operations ERP. The solution has been rolled out across clients’ multinational operations, satisfying different fiscal and currency requirements while ensuring systems are standardized, efficient, and geared towards maximizing profits. 
Sonata Software’s Commodity CTRM puts contracts at the center of operations. It provides powerful tools for automatically adjusting contract pricing, and responding to changes in any or all quality parameters as crops are harvested and test results become available. Once adjustments are recorded in the contract they are automatically reflected in inventory (warehousing) and invoices (financials).

Benefits

Sonata implemented a retail commerce solution to manage sales of food for livestock and pets, work clothes, fertilizer, tools, and equipment (farm and domestic) across 21 stores (29 registers).
Sonata Software took the client further along their digital journey, implementing a retail commerce solution to manage sales of food for livestock and pets, work clothes, fertilizer, tools, and equipment (farm and domestic) across 21 stores (29 registers).

Data

CASE STUDY How an Animal Feed Producer achieved Certainty and Visibility with Connected Agri solution?

About the Client

The client is a leading manufacturer of all kinds of animal feeds and related products in the ANZ Region. They are also into the distribution business of various kinds of superior-grade animal feeds. It supports major food producers in the beef, dairy, poultry, pig, sheep, and aquaculture industries, laboratory animals, and the equine and canine recreational sector. It’s also one of the largest domestic consumers of locally grown cereal grains, putting commodity trading at the epicenter of its operations.

 

about-client

Problem Statement

With plants and warehouses located across Australia and Thailand, the client often tailors products for buyers based on the nutrition needs of their animals. Some of their facilities operate with a limited number of products and can take advantage of manufacturing runs of up to 100 tons. Other plants specialize in shorter runs, stopping to change formulas and creating a new batch with different ingredients more frequently.

The demand to purchase and supply inventory for production locations across Australia and to track and manage manufacturing processes of thousands of unique product formulas called for a solution that could execute contracts, manage risk and fully track financials. 
 

problem-faced

Solution

After extensive research and analysis of available ERP systems, the client determined that Microsoft Dynamics offered a flexible, robust ERP system that could drive considerable long-term savings through a lower total cost of ownership. 

To tailor Microsoft Dynamics AX to meet the unique needs of its process-manufacturing operation, the client engaged Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Scalable Data Systems (now Sonata Scalable), a company with deep industry expertise in enterprise resource solutions. Scalable implemented Microsoft Dynamics to manage and track the costs of batch-manufacturing processes, and its Commodity Procurement solution to manage the purchase of bulk products on the commodities market.

Benefits

  • Information now flows automatically—from purchasing agricultural commodities in global marketplaces to providing batches of customized products in multiple locations.
  • In addition, the company has achieved a much lower cost of operation. 
  • The client can manage complex commodity purchasing operations according to the company’s established business processes, managing, and hedging commodity contracts with its vendors while maintaining visibility of contracts and inventories across the entire organization at all times. 
  • Production has the flexibility to include its unique way of linking batching systems to inventories. 
Data

CASE STUDY Modernizing B2B ecommerce platform to the cloud for a European shipping and transport company

About the Client

The client is a ferry operating firm situated in the United Kingdom that is a subsidiary of a significant Middle Eastern water transport company with a presence in Central Europe. The client owns and manages a number of subsidiary ferry companies in various parts of the world.

about-client

Problem Statement

The client wanted to move their B2C ecommerce platform to the cloud while also integrating their web and mobile applications with historical on-premises applications. Sonata Software collaborated with the multinational corporation to provide digital assurance services as part of our Azure package.

The client desired to restructure their sales process and operations in order to provide a better customer experience and higher levels of customer engagement. The old booking application system was on-premises and was not very quick or flexible in adapting to the dynamic market requirements. The old application was difficult to maintain and could not communicate with third-party applications.

problem-faced

Solution

Sonata proposed delivering a multi-cloud solution on Azure and building a SAP Hybris while providing assurance for functional testing-UI and API (through Postman), enabling test automation, and utilising Rest Assured for API test automation.

Our team performed the testing, which included functional testing, mobile web responsiveness testing, and cross-browser testing. API testing was carried out for the integration of front-end and back-end layers in multiple cloud environments. It also included third-party integration API testing, performance testing, and application security testing.

For regression and cross-browser testing, UI-based Functional Test Automation with Selenium was performed, as well as Performance Testing with JMeter and Azure Application Insights. Burp Suite Pro was used for application security testing, and the team verified that automated tests were run every day and that the test environment was deployed.

Benefits

Without having to wait for end-to-end testing, the API test automation helped give immediate assurance of its quality and discover errors early. End-to-end flow test automation aided in running all tests on daily builds as part of regression testing. Following build and deployment to the test environment, functional and API tests were automated and conducted on a daily basis.

Data

CASE STUDY Testing the implementation of cloud native enterprise product for a global software company

About the Client

The client is a multinational technology firm based in the United States that manufactures computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services. The client is one of the "Big Five" firms in the information technology industry in the United States. Since 2014, the company's focus has been on cloud computing, which has helped the company's stock achieve its highest value since December 1999.

about-client

Problem Statement

The client was looking for a partner to test the implementation of a complicated cloud-native corporate software. It necessitated the establishment of a test factory in order to deliver test as a service to their numerous customers. Functional tests, API tests, system integration tests, compatibility tests, and product upgrade testing were all part of the test service.

The client's corporate product line was well-known to Sonata Software, which aided in providing confidence on product deployment.

problem-faced

Solution

More than 50,000 scenarios with complicated functionality had to be tested. Finance, SCM, Project operations, Trade & Logistics, Warehouse Management, HRM, Sales & Marketing, and other elements were tested, and we also tested for multiple partners.

Sonata delivered Test as a Service (TAS) to a number of the client's clients. Functional tests, test automation, API tests, system integration tests, compatibility tests, and product upgrade testing are among the services provided. To meet the client's needs, we leveraged Azure services such as DevOps, Logic Apps, Data, Power Automate, and others.

Benefits

With 90 percent test coverage, 95 percent of these tests were automated and executed daily as part of the CI/CD pipeline. It aided in the stabilisation of tests, resulting in a 99 percent pass rate.