Encompass Eliminates Downtime with jBASE from Zumasys

Zumasys and Encompass Supply Chain Solutions, Inc., announced the successful migration of Encompass' custom ERP system to jBASE. The company also migrated its infrastructure from a co-location facility to the Zumasys cloud, now owned and operated by NexusTek.

The move has helped Encompass eliminate costly downtime and streamline development for the company's primary business applications. With its ERP application running on jBASE, Encompass can now take advantage of dramatically improved reliability and performance for batch processing and web apps.

"As Encompass continues to grow our business and service offerings, it is critical to have the right systems in place to run our operations and enable us to scale with confidence," said Encompass President and CEO Robert Coolidge. "We are very pleased with Zumasys' ability to develop a strong, dependable platform to provide exceptional uptime and support for our customers."

Brent Blair, Encompass Vice President of IT, added "We don't have to worry about equipment failures like we had to before because everything is virtual now. "The jBASE application and the interface to our website is much more reliable than our previous solution. We haven't had any downtime as far as our website is concerned since we cut over."

Encompass' business success depends on the company's custom-developed ERP application, which feeds off its PICK MultiValue database platform. As the company's legacy PICK database approached its end of life, it was no longer being actively supported or updated. Over time, the database became slow and unreliable, resulting in downtime for the company's ERP system and eCommerce applications.

Encompass quickly ruled out moving to SAP or Oracle. According to Blair, switching database platforms would have been too costly, risky and time consuming. Worse, the company would have had to sacrifice the ability to custom tailor its ERP application. "One of the things that makes us competitive in our market is the ability to develop our business application around the specialized needs of our customers," says Blair. "Moving to out-of-the-box software would have been a big loss for us."

The company considered several PICK MultiValue database solutions before deciding on jBASE from Zumasys. With jBASE, Encompass could retain its custom features with a clear path for the future. Zumasys was also the only company that could offer a truly cloud-ready database solution. "By moving to the cloud, we can now focus our resources on development instead of running hardware," adds Blair.

In March 2017, Encompass migrated from its co-location environment to the Zumasys cloud. One year later, the company migrated from its legacy MultiValue system to jBASE in just under four hours. The jBASE migration tool seamlessly migrated 90% of the company's custom code, leaving just 10% of code to transition manually.
"It could not have gone more smoothly," adds Blair. "Aside from having to change passwords, most users didn't even realize we had switched systems."

Today, the difference between the systems is clear. With jBASE, processing large transactions takes a fraction of the time that it once did. Processing time for end-of-day and end-of-month transactions has dropped from 3 1/2 hours to less than 1 hour, and performance for the company's website has doubled.

In addition, the system is now more reliable than ever. Adding memory or storage is as simple as an online click or a short 5-minute phone call. Software updates are automatic, so the company never has to worry about downtime for maintenance. Because all data is stored in the Switch Las Vegas, one of the largest and most secure datacenters in the world, compliance and security audits are painless. Customers are thrilled to know their data is protected from security breaches and unwanted intrusion.

"Our customers rely on us to get them the parts they need to be successful," explains Blair. "We are actively investing in solutions to increase reliability and speed for our customers. jBASE gives us a solid foundation for innovation."