Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels can be vital to living a long and healthy life. The search for the perfect combination has usually been a balance of eating wisely, watching fat intake, and exercise.

Capitalizing on the growing healthy lifestyle trend is Bionutrics, a biopharmaceutical company in Phoenix, Ariz. Its products are sold in 35,000 stores, including major retailers such as Walgreen, CVS, GNC and Wal-Mart.

The company's first product is a dietary supplement called evolvE™, with the patented P25 tocotrienol complex Clearesterol™. The get cap maintains cardiovascular health by helping to lower cholesterol and also acts as a powerful antioxidant.

Bionutrics has an impressive board of directors and scientists supporting the manufacture and development of its products. The board includes C. Everett Koop, the former US Surgeon General; Winston Salser, Ph.D., a professor of Molecular Biology at UCLA and the founding president of Amgen, Inc.; Milton Okin, the creator of Weight Watchers low calorie foods; William M. McCormick, the former president of American Express' Travel Related Services Company; and Ronald Howard Lane, Ph.D., Chairman and C.E.0 of Bionutrics.

Introducing a new product, bringing the company up to SEC reporting standards (NASDAQ: BNRX) and providing detailed information to manage six operating companies are challenging assignments for any individual. But for George Duck, executive vice president and chief financial officer, it was similar to starting a new health regime after the Christmas holidays: you know you've got to do it but it was all the more difficult because Bionutrics was running a completely manual system for its financials.

The Team

One of the first things Duck did was to call on Deloitte & Touche LLP, a Big Six accounting and management consulting firm, to coach him through the selection process. Duck was very specific in what he wanted: a software solution that did the basics of general ledger, and went beyond that to help him manage all aspects of a growing business. This is especially important because Bionutrics is a total of six companies: research and development, manufacturing, health products, marketing and distribution, international and the parent company.

Bionutrics, due to the enormous number of retailers that carry its products, wanted to be sure the software solution could take orders electronically. Duck also wanted discrete security levels so he could give salespeople, order entry staff and inventory personnel selective access to certain modules in the software.

"I wanted something that had a lot of flexibility, was easy-to-use, and could grow with the company," Duck said. "I didn't want to worry that we would max out the ability of the system in a couple of years."

In addition, Duck needed a solution that didn't require hiring information systems staff to support it. Bionutrics doesn't have a single IS person - that's right, zero, nada, not one.

The Playbook

The Answer Company (formerly Bing & Associates, Inc.), a Navision Solution Center located in Scottsdale, came in the game with the right strategy. According to Duck, Andrew Bing and his team "brought a lot to the table. Andrew is very savvy, very much a business person with good ideas and solutions."

In about six weeks, Bing and his associates customized Navision Financials, a client/server software system from Navision Software, to the unique needs of Bionutrics and went live with the product nearly a year ago. "it was not as hard as I thought it would be," Duck said. "Andrew Bing was really enthusiastic, and he did what he said he could do.

"The budgeting and forecasting in Navision Financials are set up very nicely. I have the ability to manage a lot of information with a few keystrokes. I felt like I got a big system for a medium price."

Bionutrics uses Navision Financials to track its product all the way from raw materials to the sale and delivery of finished goods. Navision Financials automatically handles the inter-company account transfers and cuts a check to the appropriate corporation.

Salespersons are already using Navision Financials for electronic order creation and invoicing, as well as the recording of discounts. Eventually the warehouse will pick orders through EDI transfer of sales and shipping information. Currently it's handled though a faxed-based system, but as the sales process gets more automated, it will become completely paperless.

"This spreads the responsibility for the information to all the people involved," Duck said. In return, management and sales get a powerful system that enables them to review information by individual customers, by retail chain and by each salesperson. This has been a powerful tool that everyone can appreciate.

"We are creating products and a company at the same time. Every time we go to Navision, we are able to make the software fit the business and not the other way around. It Seems Navision put more thought into its product than the other vendors I've seen.'

In fact, Duck said that he is "hard pressed to find a major criticism (of Navision Financials.) I'm very satisfied." Like most Navision customers, Duck is satisfied because of the flexibility of the solution, its affordability, and the ability to completely customize the solution. Those benefits are a result of Navision's unique approach to the development of its product. The result is why Navision Software is so successful -clients get exactly what they need.

Navision Financials is sold through a worldwide network of Navision Solution Centers staffed with certified professionals dedicated to providing customized solutions, training, support and service. There are more than 8oo Navision Solution Centers worldwide. Pricing for Navision Software's products is based on a scalable, usage-based model that enables customers to purchase only the features and system capacity they actually use. The Navision Software solutions are built and sold to meet individual clients' needs through "granules" (macro and micro functions).