Challenge

ProMeister were not getting the full benefit of their Business Central solution.

Solution

A customized version of an on-premise Business Central solution.

Result

Tailored development of the business solution for the workshops increased development speed and increased the quality of solution architecture.

 

ProMeister Solutions is part of the Mekonomen Group, offering education, spare parts, consumables, services and, above all, a comprehensive business system for the entire Mekonomen Group's auto repair shops.

 

Behind the current version of the business system lies a close collaboration between ProMeister Solutions and Cepheo. This collaboration began in 2017 when ProMeister chose to replace their existing system provider.

 

"We chose Cepheo as the system provider to create our own solution, enabling us to stay ahead with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, simplifying upgrades to our solution. This allows us to easily stay on the latest version of Dynamics 365 Business Central and continue providing our customers with the best digital solution," says Niklas Nerholt, Product Owner at ProMeister Solutions, responsible for their business solution for workshops.

 

Customization provide a secure user interface for end users

 

Cepheo and ProMeister jointly arrived at a tailored version of an on-premise Business Central solution, which ProMeister implemented themselves at Mekonomen Group's workshops under the name ProMeister Business System. It was crucial for ProMeister that the solution was on-premise, and they took on the task of implementing the solution themselves:

 

"Nearly 1,000 workshops use our business solution, and IT skills are not equally distributed among our customers. We want to be able to maintain control of the system and updates so that our customers feel secure about both the user interface and functionality. With the ongoing updates in the cloud version, we risked not being able to adapt the solution for our customers quickly enough for them to feel confident in using the solution," says Niklas Nerholt.

 

Complex Solution needed a partner like Cepheo

 

ProMeister Business System handles the entire workshop administration, including quotes, orders, customer contact and invoicing. It boasts a wide range of customizations and integrations that optimize the system for workshops.

 

Workshops using ProMeister Business System have, for example, integrations to vehicle and ownership systems, internal and external vehicle history and to Mekonomen's webshops for spare parts and service plans. This means that the workshop receives all information about previous services, how the current service should be performed, support for troubleshooting and the parts needed.

 

A graphical scheduling and reporting tool with availability information allows customers to book their service, while the workshop can better plan tasks and report on the time taken for each activity. Booking confirmations via SMS or email streamline the process for both the workshop and car owners.

 

ProMeister Business System can also support the workshop's handling of insurance cases, including retrieving and reporting insurance details, as well as managing deductible payments. Additional services such as tire storage, loan car management with reservations through the calendar, and package handling are all available for workshops to offer and manage through the system.

 

"Together with Cepheo, we have customized the solution to provide everything our workshops need, with an easy-to-use interface that doesn't require heavy IT skills to use the solution," says Niklas Nerholt about the latest version of ProMeister Business System.

”There is a focus on our solution, and we have a supplier in Cepheo who actually listens to what we want and understands our business. We aim to deliver a high-quality business system that is easy for our customers to use.”

 

Niklas Nerholt
Product Owner, ProMeister Solutions

Proactive advisory service leads to better solutions

 

ProMeister has been very satisfied with both the solution and the collaboration in creating and developing it.

 

"Cepheo stands for high-quality development and solution architecture. Cepheo always engages with enthusiasm, and we experience that they listen to us and understand the direction we want," says Niklas Nerholt, adding:

 

"There is a focus on our solution, and we have a supplier in Cepheo who actually listens to what we want and understands our business. We aim to deliver a high-quality business system that is easy for our customers to use."

 

Despite the complexity of the solution architecture, Cepheo and ProMeister Solutions have developed a solution that allows an extremely fast implementation at Mekonomen Group's workshops. ProMeister Solutions has been able to onboard six to ten workshops per week in some periods. Introduction and data migration in so many companies is possible through efficient tools developed together for set-up and migration of historical data and by web-based training packages.

 

According to Niklas Nerholt, this has only been possible because Cepheo's consultants are not afraid to provide proactive advice instead of just delivering what is requested.

"Cepheo has often seen other solutions to problems than the ones we see, which has resulted in better dialogue and a better outcome that supports our ambition to deliver a market-leading system for the aftermarket industry in the automotive sector," Niklas Nerholt adds.

 

As part of that ambition, the next step is an upgrade to the latest version of Business Central so that ProMeister's solution for workshops is on the latest version, followed by getting all 1,000 workshops on the latest version. With Cepheo as a development partner, ProMeister and Niklas Nerholt are confident that they can continue delivering quality solutions to the workshops.

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