Altynalmas has been a producer of refined silver and gold in Kazakhstan since 1993. In 2009 the company management made a strategic decision to move to a qualitatively new level of the company management and to implement the information system based on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. The previously used software products did not meet the functionality and integration requirements of the company. By the time the project started, the structure of Altynalmas included the central office in Almaty, the branches in Semipalatinsk, Akbakai and Brent, and the mine in Taskar. Therefore, the company needed an integrated management information system, scalable at several geographically distributed sites.
The main criterion for choosing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 was the fact that the functionality of the software product met all the needs and objectives of Altynalmas: building the cost accounting and control system, effective resource planning, ensuring transparency and data availability for budgeting control and forming management and accounting reports in different profiles, the possibility to build and integrate the main processes of the company in a single environment. The company management planned the automation of the following key areas of the enterprise: logistics, financial operations, production, human resources and payroll. In order to reduce the time and risks of migration to a new ERP-system, as well as to optimize the budget the company developed a staged approach to automation.
The main objective of the first stage of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 implementation at the central office of Altynalmas was automation of financial management business processes. A tender was held between consulting organizations of Kazakhstan to introduce Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. The preference at the first stage of implementation was given to the Almaty branch of Odyssey Consulting Group.
The set of works executed by the integrator's project team during the work at Altynalmas can be conventionally divided into the following groups: procurement, payments, fixed assets and reporting. In each of the business processes selected for information support the project team identified bottlenecks, and additional requirements for the new corporate enterprise management system were formed in order to improve its performance. For example, a system of strict control over expenditures, built by the project team on the basis of Windows Work Foundation and Microsoft Dynamics AX budgets, was introduced in the area of procurement management. In turn, a specialized module developed by Odyssey Consulting Group specialists was used to register payment requests and monitor the payment process. Control over data entry and advanced analytics of financial transactions allowed Altynalmas to improve the quality of the information provided in the financial and tax reporting of the company.
Basic forms of primary accounting documents corresponding to the forms approved by the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan were developed under the project. The management of Altynalmas is able to track the financial flows of the company in real time. According to the results of the first stage of implementation, the entire accounting of the company's expenses is maintained in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.
It is possible to maintain reporting in all necessary sections based on the data downloaded into the system on an hourly basis.
Thanks to the solution implemented by Odyssey Consulting Group experts, management reporting on purchasing and sales of the company is now formed automatically. It is worth noting that the project of implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 was interrupted for several months - from mid March to October 2010 - due to temporary changes in priorities on the timing of Altynalmas projects. During this time, both the customer and the vendor changed a number of key project team members. However, all the difficulties were overcome and the new system was put into commercial operation. In April 2011 experts of Odyssey Consulting Group successfully completed the initial support phase.
"We believe that the experience of cooperation with Odyssey Consulting Group was useful to our company from the point of view of methodology and business processes alignment; the project is also successful in terms of achieving the goals set for the financial loop automation. Implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 increases the manageability of the company and provides the benefits for the future development of Altynalmas"
Kairat Rakhishov, Vice President of Finance, Financial Controller of Altynalmas
The representatives of Altynalmas say that the transition to the new ERP system in the company has also improved interaction between the departments. The understanding of responsibility and role of each employee in the process of data formation in the system came, and their attitude to execution of their functional duties changed for the better. To a large extent, the efficiency of staff work has increased.
"Of course, we understand that we had time to master not all the features of ERP-system during the first phase of implementation. But by now Altynalmas has built an excellent team of professionals. With the help of this internal resource we are planning to develop the received solution and in time to use as many functionalities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 as possible to achieve the strategic goals of the company and our mission", adds Zhanara Amanzholova, ERP team leader at Altynalmas.
The end of the first stage of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 implementation coincided with the opening of Akbakai gold mining plant. At present, Altynalmas has started automating production processes.
