The Company
KBL Environmental Ltd. provides waste management and recycling services to customers in the oil & gas, mining, exploration, government, industrial and commercial sectors throughout Canada’s northern territories and western provinces. (www.kblenv.com)
The Challenge
The very nature of KBL’s core business would pose a challenge for any software implementation, as it turns the usual flow of inventory on its head.
For KBL, a sales order results in inventory (waste) being acquired from a customer, while a purchase order means a vendor is being paid to take that inventory off their hands.
To complicate things further, the Canadian government imposes onerous reporting obligations on companies handling hazardous waste. All inflows, holdings and outflows need to be accounted for in detail.
For years, KBL had relied heavily on spreadsheets to overcome the shortcomings of their accounting package. With their business expanding into new territories and opening new offices, they decided it was time to take the plunge and upgrade to an ERP solution. This was the only way they could see themselves keeping on top of their growing, complex and highly regulated operations.
The Solution
KBL selected The Answer Company as their long-term business partner to advise on and assist with the transition to ERP. They in turn recommended Sage 300, expressing confidence it could be adapted to meet KBL’s unique requirements.
That confidence was in no small part due to The Answer Company’s previous experiences of working with Orchid’s Extender add-on module. Extender provides a versatile platform for creative, cost-effective customizations of Sage 300.
The Answer Company’s development team were able to write Extender scripts that would effectively reverse the flow of selected inventory items, with ‘shipments’ resulting in stock increases, and ‘receipts’ resulting in stock reductions.
The Result
The tedious manual processes KBL previously relied on to meet its regulatory obligations are now a thing of the past. Thanks to Sage 300 and its Extender-based customizations, the data required to prove compliance is now maintained automatically as waste products are collected, stored and disposed of.
What’s more, all Extender customizations, including these bespoke scripts, are stored within the Sage 300 company database. That means they are included in standard backup and recovery processes, and don’t introduce additional effort or risk when ERP version upgrades are performed.
While Extender played a key role in overcoming those core challenges, KBL’s interest in Orchid modules didn’t stop there.
They have already implemented Orchid EFT Processing to generate payment files for submission to their bank, and will soon be adding Document Management Link to facilitate document sharing and collaboration between staff at multiple offices.
“We placed a lot of trust in The Answer Company when we accepted their recommendations, and they haven’t let us down,” said Kevin Stapleton, Controller for KBL.
We are confident that Sage 300, and the crucial extensions that Orchid’s add-on modules enable, will continue to play a critical role in our growth.
"We are confident that Sage 300, and the extensions that Orchid’s add-on modules enable, will continue to play a critical role in our growth."
Kevin Stapleton
Controller, KBL Environmental
