Case Studies

Canali Keeps Quality a Tradition with ArcherPoint, LS Retail, and Microsoft Dynamics

The Challenge

Canali’s U.S. operations handles wholesale and retail sales in nine retail stores and a showroomwith 80 employees. They had outgrown their financial software and their Point of Sale software. Canali’s Italian headquarters decided to implement Microsoft Dynamics AX for the company’s financial software and LS Retail NAV for its retail operations.

Canali US needed to integrate their POS operations and credit card processing with their accounting systems. This required replacing their existing operational software. In addition, employees had to manually enter sales tax information and inventory figures, leading to human error.

The Solution

Canali’s Dynamics AX partner in the US (Green Beacon, Boston) recommended that ArcherPoint would be their choice to perform the implementation.

“I was impressed with the detailed plan ArcherPoint proposed to implement the new system – how they planned to manage the project without surprises at the end,” said Carmine Noce, Financial Controller for Canali USA. “Weekly conference calls along with very proactive problem solving helped make me feel very comfortable with the changeover. ArcherPoint was precise, proactive, and fast.” Reese Summers was brought in as the Account Executive, and Matt Street managed the project and led the consulting and development teams.

“LS Retail offered the best store management functions for their needs, and LS Retail NAV offered easier integration to the AX based financial system,” said Street. “We were recommended [by Green Beacon] to help with implementation, address U.S. sales tax issues, and handle the company’s credit card requirements, as well as being a local, on-site presence for rollout and support.”

ArcherPoint began the discovery process with a trip to Italy to visit Canali in late November, 2012. The team provided a detailed plan, analysis, and recommendations for implementing LS Retail NAV alongside Dynamics AX. Work on the development pieces and integration with ChargeLogic was initiated shortly thereafter.

ArcherPoint installed Dynamics NAV along with LS Retail for the retail operations using ChargeLogic for the credit card processing component. “LS Retail needed some modifications to manage how services are taxed differently from products,” explained Street. “We wrote customizations and modifications to allow taxing on different line items based upon whether they were product or services, where sales originated, or where shipping occurred to ensure sales tax compliance for both products and services.” Special customizations to allow for New York’s complex Clothing Exemption were also developed.

ArcherPoint also provided training for the managers and assistant managers in the U.S. headquarters over the course of eight days. The completed project was rolled out to the stores, and the system went live at the end of March, 2013. An ArcherPoint team member was present along with the Canali project team for the roll out.

The Results

The results were impressive. The improved functionality and in-store management allowed for a better flow from the warehouse to store. Cycle counts improved, and Canali was given increased ability to capture customer information. The reduction in manual data entry has led to greater consistency and decreased the possibility of human error.

“We now have a reliable system with far less manual data entry,” said Carmine. “There is now more time to focus on more important issues—it gives us the ability to run our business more efficiently, with better integration between Accounting and Operations.”

Canali US is now looking forward to working with ArcherPoint again for the next projects.

“We chose ArcherPoint because of their knowledge of the product and of the industry,” Carmine continued. “They provided us with a good product at a good price with great service.”

Learn More

Learn more about Canali US.