Scribe to SmartConnect: Tippmann Sports’ Cost-Saving Integration Journey
Tippmann Sports’ Background
$17K
Saved in consulting fees
Working with SmartConnect and the eOne team, we are saving between $15,000 and $17,000
Doug Spieth, IT Director at Tippmann Sports
Tippmann Sports is the only manufacturer of paintball markers in the US and is a worldwide distributer of high-performance paintball markers and accessories.
Tippmann Sports is a heavy user of Microsoft Dynamics GP to run their sales, distribution, and accounting functions. As the business grew, they saw the need for an integrated CRM and ERP solution and decided that Microsoft CRM was the ideal front office solution to work alongside the Dynamics GP in the back office.
Tippmann had previously worked with Scribe Software as an integration solution, but when it came to integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP they wanted to find an easy-to-use alternative. For this project they chose SmartConnect.
“SmartConnect provided us with a nice springboard to get into the implementation phase of our integrations between GP and CRM…the learning curve was simple.”
Problems and Challenges with Scribe
“We found that Scribe was not necessarily a tool written to interface specifically with Dynamics GP, but rather a generic tool developed to interface with all different types of SQL databases and from different types of products…” Continuing, Spieth added, “Scribe is so broad and overwhelming, with so many moving parts, making it a difficult tool on which to become proficient … I found that SmartConnect was easy to learn, very friendly to use and yet did everything we needed it to do and much more.”
Tippmann required a solution that could integrate at many levels including Payables, General Ledger, Sales Transactions, etc. within Dynamics GP as well as keeping everything in synch with their CRM solution.
The Solution
By taking advantage of pre-built mapping templates for both GP and CRM integrations, Tippmann was able to cut down on the time they needed to set up and implement their integrations. “Very little had to be built from scratch.”
Beyond utilizing the templates for a number of standard integrations, Tippmann was able to integrate their custom information in GP to custom entities in CRM. SmartConnect was able to see all custom entities created in CRM and maintained the ease-of-use in the drag and drop user interface.
Tippmann also runs two companies in GP and two databases in CRM. Although some integration tools may have found that to be a complex scenario, with SmartConnect, the customer was able to duplicate each map and easily select the companies they wanted the maps to run in.
“Another reason to move to SmartConnect was that it is so easy to use. Instead of having to recreate table triggers and scripts in Scribe, I could very easily duplicate the map going to two different companies in GP and two different databases in CRM and have the exact same interface for both of them” commented Spieth. “I could even have one map with one source file that moved data into two different GP databases depending on the record it was reading.”
SmartConnect Saves Big Money
Not only did SmartConnect prove to be a great fit, it saved Tippmann money – and a lot of it. By purchasing 2 days of services from eOne, Doug was able to receive all the assistance he needed to get his maps up and running. Doug appreciated that if the US office was closed, the Australian office was able to pick up with him after US hours. Spieth summed up his savings:
“The single biggest cost would have been hiring a Scribe developer to help me integrate two Microsoft products – GP and CRM. Working with SmartConnect and the eOne team, we are saving between $15,000 and $17,000.” Adding, “It is great to find one tool that does everything we need.”