Background
Hort Innovation, formerly Horticulture Australia, is a not-for-profit, industry-owned organisation. It partners with Australia’s horticulture industries to invest in research, development, and marketing programs. These programs benefit both the industry and the wider community. Hort Innovation directs its investments to align with the strategic priorities of horticulture industries and the Australian Government’s rural R&D goals. It operates as a Research and Development Corporation (RDC).
Industry Advisory Committees (IACs) guide investments. These committees contribute industry-specific knowledge and expertise.
Business Challenge
Hort Innovation relied on several bespoke legacy systems for Finance, ERP, Project Management, Grants, and CRM. These systems failed to meet the organisation’s evolving needs for risk management, functionality, and reporting.
Results
Hort Innovation engaged CMC to conduct an independent vendor and software evaluation for a new ERP system. CMC invited expressions of interest from several vendors to deliver an integrated system that would improve efficiency and streamline processes. The organisation required functionality in Financial Management, Grant Management, Enterprise Risk Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Web/Intranet integration.
CMC applied its Evaluation Methodology to prequalify vendors and capture business requirements through Business Scenarios. CMC then developed a Request for Proposal (RFP) and led a market assessment that identified a preferred vendor.
Hort Innovation selected Oakton to define and design a GMS/CRM/Finance solution using Microsoft Dynamics CRM and AX. Oakton built the GMS using custom forms in CRM and integrated it with AX to handle all financial transactions. CMC project-managed the Define and Design Phase and prepared Hort Innovation for the Build and Implementation stages using a two-phased “Go Live” plan.
