Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Philadelphia Eagles’ Winning Ways Reflected in Their New Retail Sales Solution
Overview
Country or Region:United States
Industry:Media and Entertainment
Customer Profile
Formed in 1933, the Philadelphia Eagles is an NFL football franchise located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. In 2003, the Eagles are experiencing their first season in their new stadium.
Business Situation
When the Eagles built their new stadium, their new retail capacity meant they needed more sophistication in their merchandising system. They needed accurate transaction processing capabilities.
Solution
The Eagles added modules to their Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® solution. They integrated their financial solutions with Compass Technologies Point of Sale software.
Benefits
Improved inventory insight
Application integration
Ability to view updated data / "The organization is going to grow in terms of size, personnel, complexity, and revenues; all our financial systems will have to grow with it."
Don Smolenski, CFO, Philadelphia Eagles
All eyes are on the Philadelphia Eagles as they drive toward a Super Bowl push in 2004. The events in the new Lincoln Financial Field aren't the only area where the Eagles are making headlines. With their new stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, and their new Compass retail management and Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains financial solution, the Eagles have found a winning combination both on the field and in the their business operations.
Their new solution allows them visibility into game-day sales in a near real-time environment. Maximizing the features within their solution allows their staff to manage cash flow and track inventory as 68,000 fans enter and exit from the stadium within a six-hour window.
The Eagles are flying high with their new stadium and information systems, driving toward the Super Bowl and even more exciting improvements in their operations.
Situation
When Bert Bell and Lud Wray paid $2,500 for a football franchise in 1933, the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team was born. The team was named in honor of the symbol of the New Deal's National Recovery Act.
Fast forward to 2002. In the 31st and final football season at Veterans Stadium, the Eagles set a team record for points scored (415), tied a team record for wins (12), and sent a league high of 10 players to the Pro Bowl.
In their recent history, since 1999, the Eagles have relied on Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® for their financial and accounting management needs.
A New Era for the Eagles
The year 2003 marked the inaugural season of their new $500 million stadium, Lincoln Financial Field. Looking forward to that event, CFO Don Smolenski, said, "In today's world of the NFL, it's all about managing your business, managing profitability, managing cash flows. We are currently under construction of a $500 million dollar stadium which will dramatically change our business. The organization is going to grow in terms of size, personnel, complexity, and revenues; all our financial systems will have to grow with it."
Smolenski added, "For example, our Director of Merchandising needs a tool to move merchandise and maximize sales. If it's purely an accounting software, he's not going to embrace it. He's going to be intimidated by it; he's not going to use it. Close to 19 or 20 NFL teams are now using Microsoft Business Solutions. It's a flexible and integrative product that we can use to really get information out to our managers and let them get information back to us so there are no surprises at the end of the year."
A New Merchandising System
While the Eagles had used Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains since 1999, there was no integration with their retail management system. The old stadium was under the control of the City of Philadelphia, and all merchandise sold inside the stadium was controlled by the city. The Eagles operated some sidewalk kiosks where they sold merchandise. Their old retail system took no credit cards and provided no inventory management functionality. The Eagles realized about $10,000 in retail sales per game. The selection of products for purchase was small, yet the lines were always intimidating to those passing by.
Taking Control of Retail
When the Eagles built Lincoln Financial Field, they had the opportunity to move their merchandising in-house, under their control.
One of their primary criteria for a new solution was ease of use for cashiers. Another was the ability to complete sales transactions in the shortest possible time frame. Speed of credit card processing was one of their biggest concerns, as the 20 retail locations would all be processing multiple transactions simultaneously. From events that have already occurred, more than 50 percent of the transactions are made with credit cards. In researching other products, some credit card processing systems showed that systems often couldn't handle the load when multiple cashiers swiped cards at the same time. The Eagles' goal was to eliminate this problem entirely.
Solution
The Eagles chose to expand their Microsoft Great Plains solution and added inventory management, sales order processing, and purchase order processing modules.
Compass Point of Sale-Complete Solution for Retailers
On top of the Microsoft Great Plains software, they installed Compass POS (point of sale) retail management software.
The solution uses a Citrix metaframe, Microsoft SQL Server™, Microsoft Windows® operating system, Exchange Server™, Microsoft Outlook® messaging and collaboration client, and Microsoft Office System. Cashiers use bar code scanners and touch screen monitors for speed. The Compass software is a fully integrated component of Great Plains. Written in Microsoft Business Solutions Dexterity®, it integrates with inventory, bank reconciliation, purchase order processing, sales order processing, receivables, and general ledger.
Compass Matrix Inventory—Complete Apparel Solution
Compass is geared toward large scale retailers and accommodates high user volume. Coupled with the rich Microsoft Great Plains features, the Compass Matrix Inventory module provides more extensive capabilities with regard to matrix inventory which rounds out the solution and provides for a specialized type of retailing: apparel retailing.
‘Charge It!' Credit Card Processing
The Compass ‘Charge It' credit card processing software is fully integrated with the solution. This portion of the retail system enables Eagles' cashiers to complete a credit card authorization in approximately three seconds.
Retail Executive Dashboard
Another element of the solution is the Compass Retail Executive Dashboard, a business-portal-type product. Components of the executive dashboard have been incorporated into the Eagles' intranet site. They have separate electronic systems for ticketing and for turnstiles. These systems track the number of fans entering the stadium and at what time. At any moment, the intranet can report the number of people in the stadium, merchandise information, and statistics such as average sales per attendee.
Remote Communications
Looking forward, the Eagles plan to expand the use of their system by using the Compass Remote Communications functionality. This will allow them to process sales offline at their training facility two hours outside of Philadelphia. They will later connect with the central office to synchronize data.
The Implementation
Doug Horning, President of Compass Technologies, was involved in the implementation from the beginning, which started almost 15 months prior to the go-live date. Horning attributes much of the success to the Eagles' willingness to take the time to do it right. "They took a lot of time to ensure everything was well planned. They get my vote for being one of the most competent companies to work with. Their staff is fantastic. That is a huge part of the success. Regardless of how good the implementers are, they can't do everything on their own." Horning says.
The go-live date occurred at an open house special event at the end of July 2003. This was a ‘soft opening'— the first time the registers were live. This event allowed testing of the system without the pressing volume of game day. The Eagles had hired over 100 cashiers prior to the event. To train the cashiers, they had set up classes of no more than 12 cashiers per session and did about 9 different training sessions. Compass did all of the training, which covered the entire solution—both the Microsoft Great Plains and Compass functionality.
The solution runs on 52 registers in 20 locations throughout the stadium, and there is one major store located in the HeadhousePlaza which operates 365 days a year. There are 7 ‘in-line' locations throughout the stadium and 12 portable locations available for an event. All registers interface directly with their retail-financial software solution and update the inventory records in near real time as sales are processed.
Both the staff and executive management team were very pleased with the attendance at the soft opening and positive feedback they received from their guests. It also appeared to be a positive experience for first-time users of the system. The credit card processing portion of the system performed admirably, processing transactions almost instantaneously and surpassing the Eagles' expectations.
Greg McDonald, Eagles Assistant Controller, compares how Andy Reid, Head Coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, prepares for a football game with how they approached their new software solution. "Preparation, planning, training, execution, and performing under pressure are what makes for success in a football game. And that's what we have done with our retail-financial solution as well," McDonald says. "We have a six-hour window on ten Sundays a year when we do the majority of our sales. We had to plan so that a cashier coming in ten days of the year doesn't get frustrated. It has to be easy for them, and it has to be reliable for us."
Expanding the Solution
The Eagles are now offering personalized ordering for their suite holders. They have also expanded their sales by placing point of sale terminals outside in the plaza near the parking lot to accommodate tailgaters.
The Eagles' challenge is to keep moving ahead and increasing their sales capacity with their retail-financial solution. They did a lot of work to get the system where it is today, but they want to look for new ways to expand their retail ‘footprint.'
Benefits
Improved Visibility into Inventory
Inventory integration capabilities allow the Eagles to track and replenish inventory on the fly during the games. Thanks to the Compass Dashboard Report, the accounting team and merchandise management teams can see near real time sales data, updated instantaneously, at any point of sale location in the stadium.
Improved Insights into Cash Position
Before the implementation, the Eagles did not have visibility into what merchandise was selling. Now, they can get an accurate consolidation of their sales immediately following an event. Further, they can view cash register sales at any location with the system providing updated data in near real time.
Streamlined Business
The Eagles are impressed with the integration with Microsoft Great Plains, which allows merchandise management and accounting to ‘speak' with each other and streamlines the business.
Frank Gumienny, Director of Finance, says, "With the help of Microsoft Business Solutions, we can actually go in and pull information out for human resources, for merchandising, for marketing, and slice and dice that information in [Microsoft] Excel or Word or any other Microsoft product. We're trying to help our users help themselves."
Ability to Host Other Events
One of the big bonuses for the Eagles has been the ability to utilize their new stadium for non-football events. McDonald reports that the stadium has hosted events such as international soccer games, Women's World Cup games, and concerts. TempleUniversity also plays all their home games at Lincoln Financial Field.
When the Eagles hosted a Bruce Springsteen concert, the concert staff wanted to use a simple manual system to control their merchandising. The Eagles insisted on using their Microsoft-Compass solution as they were responsible for providing a full accounting of the sales. Following the concert, the Springsteen staff was impressed to see a full accounting of every item that had been sold, something they had never experienced in other venues. The Springsteen staff remarked that it was the most impressive technology they have seen in any concert venue.
The Eagles' Relationship and Future with Microsoft and Compass
Greg McDonald was responsible for a large portion of the implementation of the new solution. He shares their thoughts about their relationship with both Microsoft and Compass and their plans for the future. "With the financing of Lincoln Financial Field, we have an increased responsibility in reporting revenues to third parties. We needed a dynamic retail solution that was not intimidating to our staff yet provided timely and accurate information to management. We have that."
McDonald speaks of the Eagles' relationship with Microsoft and Compass. "I believe the people behind Microsoft and Compass have been behind us all the way. As we look back, everything has gone extremely well. We've exceeded our initial goals for the 2003 season and look forward to increased success. Everyone is happy—across the board," McDonald says. Looking forward, McDonald says, "With that, we're going to keep working with Microsoft and Compass and say, ‘What's next? Internet and catalog ordering? Opening a team store outside of our stadium? How can we expand? Might we use CRM and how would that integrate with our retail system'?"
McDonald says that the Eagles' motto is ‘Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.' "Now we're in the playoffs. Our team is successful and we're making a Super Bowl push. We took that on-field philosophy and applied it to our retail operations." The future is exciting for the Eagles—both on and off the playing field.
Microsoft Business Solutions
Microsoft Business Solutions offer integrated business applications and services that allow small and midsize organizations and divisions of large enterprises to connect employees, customers, and suppliers for improved efficiency. The financial management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and analytics applications work with other Microsoft software, including the Microsoft Office System and the Windows operating system, to streamline processes across an entire organization. This gives businesses insight to respond rapidly, plan strategically, and execute quickly. Microsoft Business Solutions are delivered through a worldwide network of channel partners that provide specialized services and local support tailored to a company’s needs.
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