Mining success through Sage 300

Overview

GlobeStar Mining Corporation is a copper and gold producer with operations in Toronto and the Dominican Republic. The company's Cerro de Maimón mine opened in 2008 and is expected to produce 25 million pounds of copper, 12,000 ounces of gold, and 553,000 ounces of silver during 2009.

Just a short time ago, the company was a small exploration operation with 12 employees. With the opening of its mine, GlobeStar's growth was exponential. Today the company is a publicly-traded enterprise with 200 employees throughout Canada and the Caribbean. To keep its financial operations on track and its mining operation profitably producing, the company relies on BAASS and Sage 300 ERP.

Key Outcomes

• Installation of Sage 300 ERP 
• Accessibility for employees in the Dominican Republic 
• Customization of Sage 300 ERP Payroll module
• Able to produce accurate and timely financial reports - a strong feature of Sage 300 

Challenge

As a start-up, GlobeStar used spreadsheets to track its financial operations. However, the experienced management team knew that to prepare for upcoming growth, GlobeStar needed an ERP solution capable of supporting what would be a multi-currency, multi-company operation. Tellis notes that the product's reputation and wide use across Canada mean that finding talented employees with experience using Sage 300 ERP will never be difficult. 

"We were looking for a true ERP solution, not a simple accounting package. We required an integrated application that incorporates inventory management, purchase order processing, project costing, payroll, and eventually CRM. It was an easy decision. The principals had experience with Sage 300 ERP and knew it could support our operations even as they scaled dramatically and grew more complex." - Rohit Tellis, IT Manager

Solution

The selection of a business partner to implement Sage 300 was just as straightforward as the software selection: "Several members of our management team came from DeBeers, and had worked with BAASS there. Their depth of knowledge of business and of the product combined with their availability and responsiveness makes BAASS a stand out a business partner. We've built a relationship with them that really works." 

Outcome

The Sage 300 ERP application is hosted on a server at the company's Toronto Headquarters; employees in the Dominican Republic access it through a secure wide area network. BAASS implemented the Spanish language overlay, enabling Spanish-speaking employees to perform data entry and run reports in their language: "We can control the language settings by user, so each user can work in the language they are most comfortable using". 

Purchase order receiving is performed at the mining warehouse with accounts payable completed at the Toronto headquarters. Monthly physical counts ensure that every tool and piece of equipment is accounted for. Throughout its operations, GlobeStar utilizes the Sage 300 ERP Payroll module. BAASS was able to customize the module to track unique payroll taxes required for processing payroll in the Dominican Republic: "BAASS' expertise and experience were instrumental in making this work for us". 

"We are producing detailed monthly reports on each project. It's efficient and informative - delivering precisely the information we need." - Rohit Tellis, IT Manager

BAASS configured the Sage 300 ERP Accpac Project and Job Costing module to track GlobeStar's mining projects. With its first mine up and running, the company now is involved in additional exploration projects. Costs surrounding those projects, including labour, expenses, and materials are recorded in Sage 300 ERP. 

As a publicly-traded company, the ability to produce accurate and timely financial reports is imperative. Fortunately for GlobeStar, financial reporting is a strong feature of Sage 300 ERP. Rohit explains, "We need to produce complex intracompany financial reports in multiple currencies. BAASS was very helpful in customizing the standard reports to meet our specific needs". Tellis appreciates the SQL server database used by Sage 300 ERP. 

"There are so many tools available to us for database analysis. And it's easy and efficient to perform database management tasks, such as scheduled backups." - Rohit Tellis, IT Manager