Work That Works
Selected projects demonstrating our approach. The work speaks for itself.
Implementation
ERP Integration for Financial Services
A regional financial services firm needed their new ERP to talk to legacy systems. What seemed straightforward became a four-month project requiring custom middleware and careful data transformation.
The Challenge
The client had purchased a modern ERP system to replace manual processes, but the real complexity emerged during implementation: three legacy systems contained critical customer and transaction data that couldn't simply be migrated. The systems needed to coexist, with real-time synchronization between the new ERP and existing platforms.
Previous integration attempts by the ERP vendor had failed. Data formats were inconsistent, business rules were embedded in legacy code, and the daily reconciliation process required 6+ hours of manual work.
Our Approach
We built a middleware layer that handled bidirectional synchronization between systems. Rather than attempting a "big bang" migration, we designed the integration to support a gradual transition—allowing the client to move processes to the new ERP at their own pace while maintaining data consistency.
Custom transformation logic handled the idiosyncrasies of the legacy data formats. We documented every business rule we encountered and implemented them explicitly, replacing tribal knowledge with maintainable code.
The Result
The integration went live after four months of development and two weeks of parallel testing. Daily reconciliation that had required 6+ hours of manual effort now runs automatically in under 15 minutes. The client has since migrated two additional departments to the new ERP using the same integration framework.
Implementation
Integrated Business Planning Platform
A mid-market manufacturer needed to replace spreadsheet-based planning with an integrated system. We implemented a planning platform that connected demand forecasting, supply planning, and financial projections.
The Challenge
The client's planning process was fragmented across dozens of spreadsheets maintained by different departments. Demand forecasts lived in Sales, production schedules in Operations, and financial projections in Finance—with manual reconciliation consuming the first week of every month.
Jones Advisory had completed a strategic assessment recommending an integrated business planning approach. Our job was to make it real: select and implement a platform that could connect these disparate processes without disrupting ongoing operations.
Our Approach
We led the vendor selection process, evaluating platforms against the client's specific requirements rather than generic feature lists. After selection, we designed the implementation in phases—starting with demand planning, then connecting supply, and finally integrating financial roll-ups.
Change management was as important as technical configuration. We worked closely with each department to understand their current processes, preserve what worked, and redesign what didn't. Training was role-specific, focusing on how the new system would improve each user's daily work.
The Result
The platform went live across all three planning functions within eight months. Monthly close processes that previously consumed 5+ days now complete in 2 days. More importantly, the leadership team now has a single source of truth for planning decisions, with the ability to model scenarios across demand, supply, and financial dimensions.
Optimization
Order-to-Cash Process Automation
A professional services firm's billing process was drowning in manual work. We automated the order-to-cash workflow, reducing invoice processing time and eliminating data entry errors.
The Challenge
The client's finance team spent 40+ hours per week on invoice processing. Project managers submitted time and expenses through one system, approvals happened via email, and invoices were manually created in the accounting system. Errors were common, and collections suffered because invoices often went out late or incorrect.
The systems themselves were adequate—the problem was the gaps between them. Data was being re-keyed at every handoff, and approval workflows existed only in email threads and memory.
Our Approach
Rather than replacing systems, we built integrations that eliminated manual handoffs. Time and expense data now flows automatically to an approval queue with configurable routing rules. Approved items generate draft invoices in the accounting system, pre-populated with project details and client billing preferences.
We also implemented exception handling for the cases that genuinely need human attention—unusual billing arrangements, disputed items, new client setups. The goal was to automate the routine so the finance team could focus on the exceptions.
The Result
Invoice processing time dropped from an average of 3 days to same-day for standard engagements. The finance team reclaimed 30+ hours per week, redirected to collections and client relationship management. Error rates on invoices fell by 85%, and days sales outstanding improved by 12 days within the first quarter.
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