Case Studies & Testimonials

Beginning as a family-owned company in 1975 in Tyler, Texas, John Soules Foods grew quickly by selling ready-to-cook and fully cooked meat to the foodservice industry. We introduced beef and chicken fajita products, which provided an innovative way to combine flavor and convenience. Sales skyrocketed when retail distribution began in 2003 with great success.

Today, the Soules family still operates John Soules Foods. Our state-of-the-art facilities are on 67 acres just north of Tyler. In 2014, we acquired ProView Foods, a leader in breaded chicken products for school, and institutional nutrition programs. Breaded chicken products are made and distributed from Gainesville, GA., which expands our variety of chicken products to all customers.

Why Bails?

John Soules Foods, Inc. was looking for a fully integrated ERP system and decided to utilize the Infor products.  JSF had a very reduced timeline to implement the product as they were sunsetting their other two payroll products.  Through discussion with Bails and receiving feedback from other Bails clients JSF chose to partner with Bails to ensure a successful implementation.

The Project

John Soules Foods initially needed to have payroll up and running by January 1^st, 2017 as the other payroll systems that they had were being sunset.  The payroll implementation onto Infor landmark payroll started on October 17^th, 2016, and went live on December 28^th, 2016.

After the initial payroll project, John Soules Foods was prepared to invest in other projects to fully utilize the Infor products that they purchased.  Bails suggested to JSF that a phased approached to be used to roll out the next product and worked with the JSF team on a road mapping session to define the next steps.  JSF partnered with Bails to complete the following projects in a phased approach:

• Global Human Resources, Position Budget Management, Benefits, and Absence Management
• Compensation Management, Goals & Performance and Succession Management
• Talent Acquisition, Employee/Manager Space

During the continued time with JSF.  Infor has released GHR payroll.  JSF and Bails have partnered together to implement GHR payroll.  The project kicked off June 4^th, 2020, and will be going live on January 1^st, 2021.

Conclusion

Sherry Allen, Accounting Manager comments “Bails played a vital role in the successful transformation of John Soules Foods HR and Payroll systems.   With Bails help, we have been able to leverage technology to improve our processes and provide better service to our employees.   With the expertise and professionalism that Bails brings to the table, we feel confident that the outcome of our current project will be a success.”

Established in 1928, Mount Sinai South Nassau (MSSN) hospital is one of the region's largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,000 employees. Serving nearly 23,000 admissions per year.

Nassau County's only South Shore hospital offering 24-hour, lifesaving emergency angioplasty; and a Level II Trauma Center, with over 60,000 ER visits yearly. MSSN installed the first Gamma Knife^® on Long Island, allowing for minimally invasive surgical treatment of otherwise inaccessible or inoperable brain tumors. The hospital also serves as a Stroke Center for Long Island, N.Y.

A few of the medical services offered include palliative care, dialysis, uterine fibroid embolization, sleep center, wound care, behavioral health services, and much more. MSSN is also one of the first South Shore hospitals to offer DaVinci^® robotic surgery and is continually expanding the present campus. Although the hospital is large, they retain the cozy atmosphere of a big family in a small community hospital.

Why Bails?

In order to better serve the organization and its employees, Mount Sinai South Nassau (MSSN) began to upgrade its technology and service systems in Human Resources and Finance from ICON Unicorn HRO to the Infor platform. This multiyear project was designed to bring the vision of an Enterprise-wide Resource Planning System to life, combining budget and financial systems onto a single platform by adding Payroll and Human Resources to the financial accounting systems.

Bails & Associates was approached by MSSN’s Infor Account Representative, Gregory Johnson, to re-start the implementation of Infor’s Human Capital Management along with Payroll.  The project had been started and deferred after a failed previous attempt by another Infor Partner.  Bails deployed a Senior Level HCM & Payroll expert on-site to host a workshop to identify the key functionality being replaced by the Infor product and to address any concerns the MSSN team had with the second attempt to implement the Infor Solution.  Bails identified a gap in client resources who would be assigned to the project.  To ensure success, Bails provided a full-time Functional Staff Augmentation Role and a full-time Technical Staff Augmentation Role.  Those additional roles, along with a Senior Level Consulting Team, provided MSSN with a project roadmap they were confident in achieving.

The Project

MSSN’s stated plan was to forge ahead with the implementation of Infor’s GHR v.11 and S3 Payroll.  Working with Bails, an aggressive timeline was defined to have GHR/PR live on/before January 1^st, 2020.  A key schedule challenge to overcome, Infor’s S3 Finance/SCM products were already in production and a project was in-flight to upgrade Windows 2008 to 2012 in advance of go-live.

As testing progressed through the fall, MSSN determined that additional payroll test cycles were desired to ensure the transition from their 3^rd party payroll system was seamless and transparent to all employees.  A new go-live schedule was created with an April 2020 target.

In the first quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 National Emergency started.  MSSN, like other Long Island, NY hospitals, experienced extreme strain by the surge of virus patients.  The Project Steering Committee elected to defer the final go-live date to late June 2020.

Following the success of this project, MSSN is presently evaluating the next phase of their system transformation to include Infor Talent Acquisition and Transition Management

Throughout the course of this relationship, MSSN has utilized Bails as a key provider of Staff Augmentation services within Benefits, HR, and Payroll.  Bails provided Best Practice leadership for their functional teams as they navigated the implementation.

Conclusion

A new HRIS brings a significant administrative change for the organization with extensive planning and preparation going into making this project a reality. The new Infor system integrates human resources, benefits, and payroll operations across the Hospital and our other business entities (MSO and ambulatory practice sites).

Key benefits include consistent processes and roles, the ability to leverage training and resources, reduce duplication, elimination of our legacy system, all while enhancing access and security. All payroll functions will be performed inhouse. In 2019, MSSN migrated to a single payroll cycle for Patient Care Services and the Business Office. All together this will also offer a cleaner self-service interface and easier access even from our public-facing web page.

Slidell Memorial Hospital (SMH) has been providing quality care to its community for 60 years. Located in the heart of Slidell, Louisiana, 30 minutes north of New Orleans, the hospital hosts a 223-bed acute care hospital with expert physicians, specially trained staff and the latest treatments and technology.

Healthcare organizations use CloudSuite Financials & Supply Management (CSF) to gain a single point of control that allows for the standardization, centralization, and automation of their business processes.  Bails has extensive experience working with some of the largest and most successful healthcare organizations in the world.  Our consultants have a combined knowledge of the healthcare industry along with strong expertise in the Infor and CloudSuite products.

Why Bails?

During the sales cycle, Bails presented a thorough and practical implementation methodology. By listening to SMH’s needs the team was able to predict, plan, and prepare for a smooth implementation from start to finish.

The Project

Scope

SMH partnered with Bails to implement to Infor CSF, including product implementation, project management, training, application, and technical consulting.

Improvements

By quickly becoming familiar with SMH systems and business processes, Bails was able to incorporate best practices and implement Infor CSF. SMH leveraged Infor Ming.le™ as the central portal for a wide range of IT services CloudSuite standard reports, BIRST, and Business Intelligence (BI) for reporting functionality.

Like many healthcare clients, SMH was burdened by manual processes and antiquated systems.  Some examples of how the Infor CSF was used to improve business processes:

Supply Chain Management

Daily inventory of supplies was a manual process that included a physical walk-through of the supply room with visual identification and documentation of shortages. Restocking required the manual creation of a purchase order (PO) for each vendor. Infor CloudSuite allows SMH to easily set reorder points to not only generate vendor reorder request, but also create the PO, saving them several hours a day.

Prior to the implementation, SMH managed over 14,000 Stock/Non-Stock Items in their Item Master. Using Infor Contract Management, the items are now loaded as “Specials”’ on contracts and can be easily requested using the Catalog Search function. Their item master list has been reduced to 3,500 items requiring significantly less maintenance.

Pre-implementation, “contracts” were loaded as PO’s requiring manual receiving and constant PO maintenance.  Loading PO’s as “Service Contracts” has eliminated the receiving function saving time and money on over 600 legacy PO’s.

In the past, PO’s were placed for each Non-Stock/Special item requested through RSS or Par Counting.  Bails was able to help the client group purchasing requests by the vendor and accommodate multiple items per PO reducing, shipping costs, the number of receipts generated, and the number of separate invoices needed to be matched to PO’s.

Coworkers used to manually process supplies through their legacy system at their desk. Infor’s Mobile Supply Chain Management allows SMH to use their mobile devices to count pars, issue inventory, pick orders, receive, and deliver packages. The team can complete these tasks quickly. Using the handheld device also allows them to implement a weekly Cycle Count, improving inventory accuracy and expediting the turnaround of critical supplies.

Financials

With the new functionality of “User Dimensions” available in the Global Ledger, SMH is now able to capture Payor data on patient revenue transactions, providing the ability to report within GL on data that was previously needed from external systems.

The addition of an elimination ledger allows SMH to enter their elimination entries into the system and run consolidated financial statements directly out of the system reducing the need for tracking this information manually in Excel.

The account payables group was able to reduce manual invoice data entry by utilizing EDI 810 functionality.  They now use Infor Spreadsheet Designer’s upload tool for one of their largest volume vendors, saving time and resources for an already lean team. An automated invoice approval process was implemented across the entire organization, replacing a previous manual paper and signature approval process.

The former Capital project tracking system required multiple spreadsheets and folders of invoices to track capital expenditures and manual budget checks.  Finance implemented the Projects module, moving these manual processes into CloudSuite Budget edits occur as early as the requisition and SMH can track these costs through invoice payment.  Data is now stored within CloudSuite and reports and dashboards are available for analysis.

Bails Finance Practice Manager Lisa Watkins acknowledged the SMH’s resources for their commitment to the project as well. Noting that although client resources allocated to the project were limited, their commitment was critical.   “The project would not have completed on time and within budget without the dedication of the SMH project team resources. Not only did they continue their day to day responsibilities, but they also made time to learn the new system, test, and provide end-user training to the other SMH users.”  To help overcome this issue, Bails created detailed testing materials using SMH data and custom documentation which allowed for a streamlined and efficient process.

Conclusion

With Bails team of experts, SMH was able to utilize Infor CloudSuite Financials & Supply Management as an integrated finance and supply management software suite combining modern financial functionality with tools to track supplies and streamline order processes. Training the SMH team has allowed for the fully integrated capabilities designed to meet the clients’ needs.

“The Infor GHR products are new to Pilot.  Fortunately, the Bails consulting team was ready and able to help us through this unchartered territory.”

- David DePrimo, Project Manager of Corporate Systems

Why Bails?

For over 25 years, Pilot has utilized Infor Lawson products. Bails has partnered with Pilot since 2005 on a variety of projects including mergers, data conversions, upgrades and product implementations.    Based on our successful history and our experience working with retail clients, Bails was selected to support Pilot in moving from S3/GHR on-premise to the Infor Cloud.

The Project

Pilot was one of the first Infor clients to migrate to v11 GHR Multi-Tenant integrated with S3 Payroll on-premise.  Bails worked in tandem with a team of experts from Infor to make this project a success.  Pilot is a multinational company with large amounts of data, varied data sources, interwoven processes, and extensive integrations.  This made for an exciting but challenging initiative.  Bails’ role in the project was to configure the GHR process automation flows to work with Pilot’s business rules and feeds.  Bails also managed user setup and automated provisioning.

“The Infor GHR products are new to Pilot.  Fortunately, the Bails consulting team was ready and able to help us through this unchartered territory” shared David DePrimo, Project Manager of Corporate Systems.  “Initially our team had some concerns about our lack of application training and our ability to troubleshoot issues in a timely manner; however Bails was able to provide the expertise and support needed to keep the project on track and make it a success.”

Having a dedicated and readily available group of client resources on site was critical to this project. According to Kate O’Brien, a Project Manager and Technical Consultant for Bails, “They (Pilot) got our team the rapidly changing information in an expeditious manner.  This allowed us to power through any roadblocks.  Assigning the project the correct resources from their team also allowed us to troubleshoot and problem solve quickly.  Team Members were truly dedicated to the success of the project.  Everyone should be very proud.”

Highlights

Although every project has its challenges, Pilot’s concerns when facing this migration and upgrade were quickly mitigated by the experienced Bails team.  Dave Deprimo shared several areas where we added extra value to this critical project including:

• Knowledge of the Infor S3 products and Migration to the Cloud
• Thorough Understanding of Infor Global Human Resources (GHR)
• Extensive Knowledge and Experience working with Retail Clients
• Technical Expertise with Infor Process Automation
• Documentation of Issues and Troubleshooting Skills
• Dedicated Post Go-Live Support

Conclusion

Pilot shared that their experience working with Bails on this project was excellent.  Bails and Pilot are currently working on Phase II of the project which includes the migration of S3 Payroll to the Cloud, as well as the implementation of Talent Acquisition, Performance Management and Compensation Management.  Phase II is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017.

Working with Hendrick Health System (Hendrick), recognized as one of the most engaged workplaces with Gallup’s Great Workplace Award for the past ten years, was a natural fit for client service driven Bails & Associates, LLC (Bails). Hendrick was looking for a solution that would take their support systems and back-office technology into the new millennium.

“When they say they are our “trusted advisors” they mean it and we couldn’t have done a project of this magnitude and scope without their help.”

– Richard Pierce, Hendrick Health System

Our Customer

Located in Abilene, Texas, Hendrick is a not-for-profit healthcare provider serving a 19 county region in the Texas Midwest. When they opened in 1924, they were the first hospital to permanently serve the region.  Today their over 3,000 employees provide a comprehensive range of healthcare services including a medical center licensed for 522 beds. Hendrick also received the Pathway to Excellence designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as creating a work environment where nurses can flourish. It also identifies them as one of the best places to work.

​The Project

The Bails/Hendrick endeavor was challenging in that it involved multiple projects including:

• Infor Lawson Upgrade – Unix to Windows and V10 Applications
• Application Assessments for Finance, HR/PR and Procurement Suites
• Training and documentation of Applications and Infor Lawson Landmark Security
• Extensive Historical Records Conversion
• LDAP and Ming.le Installation

Why Bails?

Richard Pierce, Hendrick Project Manager, shared that Bails was originally selected to complete an Application Assessment project for Infor Lawson Financials, HR/PR, and Procurement Suites.  “We wanted to know where we stood before completing our multi-part system and V10 Upgrade so we could avoid any pitfalls and identify areas where we might need additional expertise and support for our internal team."

They were “so impressed by the quality, caliber of resources, and output of the assessment” that they enlisted Bails to complete the Conversion and Upgrade portions of the project as well.

Highlights

During the Hendrick project, Richard and his team were most impressed by three things:​

1. “The dedication, experience, professionalism, and resourcefulness of the Bails resources from the technical expertise to the applications consultants and Project Management; the resources were excellent.  All experts in their field, they provided best practices, gave guidance helping Hendrick make critical decisions, and worked with our internal team to transfer their knowledge so that we felt confident in our abilities to work effectively and function independently after the project was completed”.
2. “Our Bails Project Manager was an exceptional resource who kept everyone on their toes, kept the project on task, and diligently followed through on issue resolution.  The team’s follow-up was outstanding”.
3. “Bails resources listened and were responsive to our needs. They helped tailor the applications and processes to make our jobs more efficient while incorporating Best Practices using their extensive experience gained from years of working with other professional organizations.”

​
And the Story Continues

Richard was also quick to share the value in Hendrick’s continued relationship with Bails.  “We reach out to the consultants on a regular basis and consider them an extension of our team.  The relationship didn’t end once the project was completed.  Bails continues to be responsive, helping us resolve problems as we move forward.  They follow-up promptly and get us the answers we need quickly.  We know we can count on Bails to help us as we grow and continue to take advantage of new technology."

“Columbus Water Works has worked with Bails since 2012. Bails has done a tremendous job of connecting Columbus Water Works with a representative who provides us with an excellent level of personal support. The support response is without delay.  Bails has worked to help us find solutions to many issues over the years.  Even though Kellie is a payroll / human resources representative, we have had good successes with other Bails representatives for additional modules.” 

Alex Hinton, Senior Vice President of Financial Services, Columbus Water Works

Our Customer

Columbus Water Works supplies drinking water and provides wastewater treatment to the Columbus area including Fort Benning as well as parts of Harris and Talbot Counties. As an organization, CWW has a clear vision and mission to not only sustain the current level of service but improve it for future generations. We are reaching for extraordinary heights, setting a goal for ourselves of being the nation's best provider of utility services. This means not only integrating the delivery of safe water and collection of wastewater for almost 250,000 residents of the Columbus region, but providing future generations with a legacy of responsible environmental stewardship of the middle Chattahoochee River watershed.

​The Project

Columbus Water Works decided that additional support for their Infor end-users was needed and entered a support contract with Bails & Associates.  Bails has been providing support to the Columbus Water Works team since 2012.

Why Bails?

Columbus Water Works was looking for a trusted firm who could support their ERP needs.  ​

Conclusion

Bails is actively supporting Columbus Water Works today and looks forward to an ongoing relationship.

BEPCO, L.P. is a core group operating a very diversified group of business units.  Formerly known as Bass Enterprises Production Company Inc., they employ thousands of people worldwide.  Founded in 1947, Bass Operations are structured as partnerships with varying family-member ownerships with headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.

Why Bails?

Infor/Lawson client, Bepco, migrated from their legacy HR/Payroll system to Lawson back in 2001.  They recently chose to upgrade to version 10 to avoid an increase in maintenance fees and to continue utilizing Infor support.  Over time, the company had additional projects that required securing Bails external resources including a senior project manager and a variety of seasoned experts with both the technical and application skills.

Mark Smith, Director of Application Development, recently explained why Bails was the obvious choice to assist Bepco with their Infor projects; “Having been a Bails customer for some time, the decision to work with the team again was an easy choice. We knew that Bails product knowledge, response time, availability of resources, and persistence at problem resolution would ensure the success of this multi-faceted project. Maintaining a long-term relationship with our key business partners is very important to us!”

The Project

The Bepco project encompassed the following tasks:

• Upgrade to v10 IBMi
• Disaster Recovery
• Payroll/Open Enrollment
• DMZ Firewall Problem Resolution
• Installation of Smart Office
• IPA Assistance
• V10 Process Flow Rewrite for HRIS

Challenges

Like any project, there were challenges, complexities, unique client requirements and customizations.

Tight Timeline -  Live before Open Enrollment

“The Bails Team went above and beyond to help us complete the upgrade and migration on target.  We relied heavily on their experts for support during Open Enrollment to help us troubleshoot and rectify technical issues that arose in a timely manner. The team was responsive and worked tirelessly with us to remedy problems even when we were abandoned by other vendors.”

Limited Internal Resources

“Managing the heavy workload with the limited number of Bass IT personnel assigned to the upgrade project was extremely challenging.  The Bails Team was instrumental in helping us complete all the testing and application patch installations in a very short period during the final phase of the implementation.”

Internal Training and Post Go-Live Support

“We needed to be educated on the new technical components that v10 requires.  The Bails Team was accessible and spent as much time as we needed to bring our staff up to speed on the technical nuances inherent in the Infor v10 software.  We relied heavily on Bails’ intimate knowledge of the unique complexities of our implementation and they continue to provide support.  We consider them an important part of our team.”

 Conclusion

Successful implementations are worth celebrating, but what really makes us proud is when we hear clients like Mark Smith say: “I can’t imagine undertaking an Infor related project without Bails and Associates.  We have had the luxury of being able to work with several Bails consultants on multiple projects and they are a proven asset.  We have a great working relationship with the Bails Team and rate them at the top of our list of valuable business partners.”

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), considers itself an advocate for Canada’s motorists and travelers, much like the American Automobile Association (AAA).  Founded in 1913, they are a non-profit federation made up of nine motor clubs across Canada providing roadside assistance, insurance, member discounts, and a range of leisure travel and auto touring services.

Why Bails?

CAA was looking for a team that would work with them as a partner, not just a consulting firm.  Bails was selected because they had successfully implemented multiple v10 upgrades, had the Unix/Linux/Oracle skills, and had a presence in Canada.  CAA did their research and knew we had experts in the HR, BN, LP, PA, and PR as well as process automation.  CAA also liked that Bails had a warranty period and stood behind their work.

The Project

The CAA project involved taking over a previously unsuccessful v10 upgrade, incorporating custom workflows, and applying older patches.  Prior to the project start, Bails technical resource, Eric Davis, did an analysis of the current state of CAA’s system and sent them the recommended upgrade plan. Bails Project Manager (PM), Larry Glasson, followed up with a conference call with the client to review the findings.  The time estimates met and/or exceeded the client’s expectations and the decision was made to move forward.

Conclusion

Sandy was quick to acknowledge the role Bails played in CAA’s successful upgrade by sharing that “Bails Project Manager, Larry Glasson, and Technical Consultant, Eric Davis, worked seamlessly through our issues.  Larry and Eric answered our questions, resolved issues, did knowledge transfer, and allowed job shadowing.  What impressed us most about the Bails Team was their flexibility, knowledge, technical connections, and their willingness to go the extra mile while staying within budget.  They were true team players. Once Bails took over the upgrade it was awesome and I would highly recommend that we engage Bails for any future upgrades.”