Oncology Services International (OSI), has become the world's largest provider of refurbished radiation oncology equipment with a network of service technicians across the United States. In 2008, a private equity group saw the potential and bought OSI with the goal of growing the company even larger.

Successful Solution

Upon more investigation, Podmore discovered the New Millennium Genesis Accounting system, based on FileMaker Pro. At the same time, he found FileMaker Developer Tony Celini of CAB Inc., who, coincidentally, was well versed in accounting solutions and located right down the road.

Podmore and Celini immediately realized the potential benefits of a solution based on both FileMaker Pro and Genesis. The company could integrate operating solutions created in FileMaker Pro with Genesis accounting and exchange information smoothly between the two systems. Best of all, they could develop the overall solution in stages depending on which components would yield the most immediate return on investment for the business.

The flexibility of FileMaker is incredible. Now, once a service technician logs in to report that a job is complete, the service reports are automatically synched to the main office. The work order is the foundation of how we invoice and manage contracts — so for us, the earlier we receive the information, the better.

— Philip Podmore, Founder, Oncology Services International

"Incremental development has helped us automate the right processes at the right time, and eliminate ‘do over’ program development costs," says Celini. "Plus, OSI can spend development dollars when it makes the most sense in terms of business cycles, essentially working on a pay-as-you-go software development plan."

CAB and OSI began by automating core business functions supporting the money- making components of the OSI business model – all taking into account unique contractual requirements. New Millennium's easy integration with standard accounting functions for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable linked information captured within various FileMaker databases to the proper accounting module within Genesis, eliminating error-prone manual data entry and ensuring up-to-date and properly controlled information in the financial system.

CAB and OSI then implemented WorldSync's SyncDek to service reports capture and parts file management. Now, instead of waiting for hard-copy service reports to be submitted from service engineers scattered from California to Florida – OSI receives billing information via a background process to a FileMaker server. SyncDek automatically captures the information and synchronizes it with the FileMaker databases so that, when it comes to billing time, accurate invoices can be processed, posted to accounting and printed within minutes. The next version of the service report module will take advantage of advanced tab controls in FileMaker Pro 10 software to validate information in report fields to help ensure information accuracy and completeness.

"The flexibility of FileMaker is incredible," says Podmore. "Now, once a service technician logs in to report that a job is complete, the service reports are automatically synched to the main office. The work order is the foundation of how we invoice and manage contracts — so for us, the earlier we receive the information, the better."

Customer Benefits

For OSI, the solution based on FileMaker has brought real meaning to the term return on investment. By taking advantage of the efficiencies of FileMaker Pro, the company has grown to 50 field service engineers without adding a single incremental administrative person.

The competitive cost comparisons are impressive as well. "The cost of the FileMaker and Genesis solution, over five years, has been 28 percent less than competitive database solutions, yet the FileMaker sum includes everything — software, hardware and custom development," says Podmore.

With increased visibility into contracts and accounts, the company has achieved additional cost reductions. Savings were realized by cutting financing costs, reducing the billing cycle from 30 days to less than 1, and reducing external audit fees.

According to Podmore, what's priceless is the reliability, credibility and transparency of financial information at OSI and the ability to use it to make competent, informed decisions. "When the private equity group was analyzing OSI to determine whether or not they wanted to purchase us, we were able to deliver virtually any metric they needed — whether it was unearned revenue or comparisons between scenario A and scenario B," says Podmore. "They [the investment group analysts] commented that for the size of our company, we wielded technology more successfully than any company they had ever seen — and much of that can be attributed to the flexibility and power of FileMaker Pro."