SMB Makeover Update: Countdown to 'Go Live' at Torelli

Excitement is building inside Torelli Bicycle Co. headquarters in North Hollywood, Calif., as employees anxiously await another birth.This blessed event - the actual "go live" date for Torelli's new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system - represents the metaphorical birth of a new Torelli, one that operates with the data-driven precision that few small to midsize businesses (SMBs) ever achieve, unless they have the good fortune to grow into a large-scale enterprise capable of deploying a full-blown ERP implementation.

Of course, this metaphorical birth (or "rebirth," as the case may be) was upstaged recently by an actual birth, as Torelli's Communications Director Ray Asante became the proud parent of the latest addition to the Team Torelli family. However, even that happy event has not deterred Ray and the rest of Torelli's small crew of bicycle business professionals from racing ahead with plans for their ERP deployment.

In a recent video update from his Silicon Valley workshop, expert ERP integrator Greg Woodward from Navigator Business Solutions gave a detailed report on the state of preparations for Torelli's impending "go live" event.

"It's the last couple of weeks prior to 'go live,' and we are just doing some final touches on the environment for the crew at Torelli," Greg reports. Preparations include loading inventory data into the Torelli "sandbox" environment. Along with loading and mapping approximately 1,300 inventory items into the ERP system, Woodward has also overseen "the final scrub" of the customer data, and loaded it into the sandbox test environment. The next steps in setting the stage for going live, according to Woodward, will include transferring balances from Torelli's old QuickBooks accounting system general ledger into the new SaaS (software as a service) ERP environment from SAP.

Stay tuned as Torelli trades in its sandbox for a real ERP system. What could a real ERP solution do for your small business?