Dovy Keukens specializes in making tailored kitchens. The company was founded by Donald Muylle in 1980. Today customers can visit 40 stores all over Belgium and Dovy Keukens also has 1 store in France. All kitchens are produced in their own 56,000 m2 factory in Roeselare.
Peter De Cuyper is CFO at Dovy Keukens. It was clear to him why Dovy needed a new accounting program. "Dovy has grown strongly in the past years. In total, the group consists of 5 entities: 3 companies with 2 holdings on top of that. Previously, each company had its own chart of accounts in the same accounting program, but over the years it became increasingly difficult to keep that chart of accounts clear and orderly. If we wanted to draw up annual accounts, we often had more than 20 pages at the end. Because it became more and more puzzling to form a consolidated picture, we started to explore the market".
Why did you choose Easi?
"For us, the link with our ERP package was very important and we really wanted to keep it. A compatible accounting package was therefore a conditio sine qua non for us. After a comparison on the market, we came to the conclusion that Adfinity could offer us the most added value".
Which features have won you over?
"Some of the things that convinced us the most were the easy reporting, the analytical possibilites which allowed us to refine our chart of accounts and which made everything clearer. Also the fact that you can easily draw a consolidated report with the intercompany key. I also like the fact that, in addition to the standard reports, I can now easily extract data from the system without needing any help. Very handy if I want to create my own reports or generate data in Excel".
"Now our reporting is so clear that we have a better picture of, for example, the electricity costs in all showrooms much quicker".
What about the implementation process?
"Our ultimate goal was to get 5 companies into one uniform system of accounts. We signed our contract in April 2017 and started the first migration in July of that same year. Of course, you do this company by company, but the big thought process precedes that. Fortunately, Easi did guide us well in that process. After all, we wanted to restructure our entire system of accounts, and our contacts also needed to be put in order. Suppliers, for example, were sometimes inserted in our system 3 times, and that could even be 3 times with a different name".
"We started with the two real estate companies. We then 'double booked' half a year both in our old system and in Adinity. At the end of that year, we arrived at the same result and then we proceeded to transfer our largest companies".
"We also wanted to insert 9 years of history with us. Because of the different codings in our old accounting program, it seemed very difficult at first to transfer that data. That was an unexpected obstacle, but in the end the Easi consultants managed to transfer all the data and we have now included the history in Adfinity from 2010".
With which features do you win time today?
"Adfinity, that's for us: transparency, efficiency and great reporting opportunities. Personally, I gain a lot of time with the reporting. I used to have a lot of work keeping track of everything separately in a pivot table in Excel. Now I generate the same pivot table directly from Adfinity. I also don't lose time looking for details in our accounting. Another great extra is the fact that I can see the depreciation per month. This used to be a projection that we could only consult every trimester, because we only had those figures once a year. This software really is much more transparent."
"Another big advantage is the grouping of suppliers. For example, I can choose to pay a certain group at once. That saves me at least three hours of time a week."
Katrijn Vanacker, who is responsible for the bookings, also experiences saving time on a daily basis. "A good example are the one-man companies. We work with a lot of independent installers to place the kitchens. Unfortunately, these subcontractors have tax debts, we are obliged to withhold payments. In the past we had to split these payments. First we had to make a separate payment to the government with a separate notice and only then could you pay the remaining balance to the suppliers. Now we can make those payments all at once."
"What also works very smoothly are the models for recurring bookings. I'm thinking of meal vouchers, insurance, electricity, gas... You set it up once for each action and afterwards the program automatically assigns it to the right accounts for the next bookings".
"You just gain time because the program is so easy to use. You can easily consult all accounts, which makes it very transparent. You get to see or export everything you want right away in Excel."
"We're also looking at the additional possibilities for OCR. When we made the step to Adfinity, we opted for electronic invoicing for our largest equipment suppliers. Today I'm talking about 200 invoices every week that I no longer have to book manually. This alone easily saves me an afternoon a week. It's nice to have less input work, so you can focus more on controlling the data. By automating even more in the future, we are convinced that we can save even more time".
Are there other features you would like to implement?
"Yes," Peter says. "We're setting up approval flows right now. This works on two levels for us. The vast majority of our invoices for raw materials and equipment already have an approval flow in our ERP package. We let the software check whether the price on a final invoice matches the order form. Invoices that have already been approved in our ERP could therefore automatically be approved in Adfinity".
"For the other invoices - I am thinking, for example, of purchase invoices for our marketing department - we want to set up approval flows ourselves in Adfinity. At the moment there is no conclusive system there. Copies of entered invoices were simply delivered to those responsible. If you don't hear anything, that invoice is approved, or the responsible took action himself. But since we grow as a company, it's no longer easy to know who is doing what or what actions are being taken. With the set up of the approval flow, we are also moving towards a clear system that will save time for everyone."
Do you appreciate working with Easi?
“The consultants we work with are particularly involved in our project. If we need help, we can also easily contact MyConnect."