Case Study

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“We were looking at a more experienced partner with the domain and

customization knowledge who could not only re-architect our solution but also

complete the future phases of implementation. I must say that the sa.global

team is surely a dedicated team of highly skilled Microsoft Dynamics AX

professionals who worked side-by-side with us to solve all our issues and made

Microsoft Dynamics AX a more effective tool to use.”

Client overviewThe Akshaya Patra Foundation is a

not-for-profit organization that runs a school

lunch program across India. The

organization strives to eliminate classroom

hunger by implementing the Mid-Day Meal

Program in government and

government-aided schools.

Solutionsa.global worked with the client to

re-architect Microsoft Dynamics AX. This

system provided the company with

up-to-the-minute accurate information

covering all areas of their business.

ResultsBy implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX,

The Akshaya Patra Foundation could:

• Gain accurate real-time insight into inventory management

• Enable the management in planning the production and procurement

• Solve the data transformation, data security, and data sharing issues

Vijay KumarIT HeadThe Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation moves to private cloud (IAAS) with Microsoft Dynamics AX

Lack of consolidated dataBeing a large organization with an independent accounting

solution at each branch, the challenge was to consolidate data

on time for it to be useful for planning, inventory, and

management. They needed instant insight into their supply

chain for accurate planning and management.

To ease operational issues and consolidate the data for useful

planning, inventory, and management, Akshaya Patra started

implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 through a

Microsoft partner. While the initial roll-out of the finance

module across almost 19 locations throughout India was

successful, it was while expanding the scope of the project that

it was realized that the architecting of the solution as it had

been implemented would not address the key issue of

centralized data management and easier and faster data

access.

Company overview The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organization

based out of Bengaluru, India. It serves midday meals to

underprivileged children at 26 locations across 12 states in the

country.

Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has been focusing on providing

fresh and nutritious meals to children on every single school

day. Their partnership with the Government of India and

various State Governments along with the support from

corporates, individual donors, and well-wishers has helped

them grow from serving just 1,500 children in five schools in

2000 to serving 1.76 million children now.

Today, Akshaya Patra is the world’s largest (not-for-profit run)

Mid-Day Meal Program serving wholesome food every school

day.

Moving to cloud (IAAS)Akshaya Patra was facing inconsistency issues with their servers

in the data center. Consistent connectivity, server maintenance,

and data security were few of the issues of concern. sa.global

moved Akshaya Patra’s on-premises data onto a private cloud

(IAAS). This addressed the issues of consolidating the

organization’s data and having a centralized approach. The

solution not only solved the consistency and security issues but

also increased data reliability of applications up to 99.95% and

helped them achieve proper backup of the data and document

disaster recovery plans. Accessing the data at 26 locations

across 11 states was now possible.

Customized solution for accurate dataTo address the key requirement of deep and timely insights into

data across the organization, sa.global provided a global

reporting solution to Akshaya Patra. This solution integrates

Microsoft Dynamics AX, SharePoint, and SQL Server reporting

services.

The global reporting solution pulls in data across all the

Microsoft Dynamics AX and non-AX systems from departments

like administration, operations, finance, MIS, HR, and payroll

while providing a consolidated view across the entire company.

Management dashboards were designed to keep track of key

performance indicators and for easier decision making.

The solution made it easy to operate across locations by

standardizing processes, providing visibility across the

organization, and helping simplify compliance.

Re-architecting the solution for centralized data managementAkshaya Patra believes in using smart technologies for faster

and optimal outputs. Though the Microsoft partner successfully

implemented the financial modules, the Akshaya Patra

management sensed the need for a more experienced partner

who could re-architect the solution and implement the future

phases to meet their requirements better.

“We were looking at a more experienced partner with the

domain and customization knowledge, who could not only

re-architect our solution, but also complete the future phases

of implementation,” said Vijay Kumar, IT Head at The Akshaya

Patra Foundation. Akshaya Patra chose sa.global over others

for its dedicated association with Microsoft for many years and

its in-depth expertise in providing customized solutions around

Microsoft Dynamics AX.

“I must say that the sa.global team is surely a dedicated team of

highly skilled Microsoft Dynamics AX professionals who worked

side-by-side with us to solve all our issues and made Microsoft

Dynamics AX a more effective tool to use,” continued Vijay.

A strategic approach to

architecting the solutionsa.global did a complete audit of the existing Microsoft

Dynamics AX solution to understand the gaps. They

re-architected the solution design after getting an in-depth

understanding of all the issues being faced by the Akshaya

Patra management and Microsoft Dynamics AX users. sa.global

created a module specifically to meet the requirements of a

not-for-profit organization and the Mid-Day Meal Program. To

further reduce the burden and automate tasks, sa.global

included integration with emails to automate email alerts and

reminders.

“Getting the complete understanding of our current situation

as well as our future plans and issues was very important

before taking any steps. sa.global consultants had a strategic

approach which helped in architecting the solution and setups

to better support our business, not just for today, but for the

future as well,” added Vijay.

Ease of adaptabilityMicrosoft Dynamics AX is a comprehensive enterprise resource

planning (ERP) solution that empowers people to quickly adapt

to new technology, work effectively, and manage change

efficiently. Familiar, easy-to-use tools, and access to

role-tailored information and tasks enable people to work

quickly and make smart, proactive decisions. Akshaya Patra has

educated its employees on the use of technology. Microsoft

Dynamics AX is user-friendly and easy enough to be used by

non-tech-savvy users, which helped employees across all

branches adapt the new technology quickly.

Customized MIS

Accurate real-time insight into inventory management and

right time availability of materials helps the management in

planning the production and procurement. Management

dashboards allow them to monitor and plan all of these and

more for the future.

info@saglobal.com

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Centralized data for

global accessAccessing consolidated data from anywhere and anytime to

derive useful information is the key to any business. For

Akshaya Patra, this was achieved by moving the data to the

private cloud (IAAS).

“Data transformation, data security, and data sharing issues

were addressed by moving our data to the private cloud. The

ease of accessing data from anywhere, anytime made us feel

like a single unit rather than a federation of different kitchens,”

said Lalitha B, Manager-ERP at The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

“Earlier, the distribution required 35 persons working for four

hours a day to smoothly manage the kitchen and delivery

schedules. With Microsoft Dynamics AX, this is taken care of

with the help of four persons working for four hours.”