Legend Completes Major JDE Upgrade with Zero Business Interruption

About the Client

With more than 10,000 products representing more than 80 product classes designed for residential, commercial, and industrial applications, Legend Valve and Fitting, Inc. (Legend) provides everything its customers need “behind the wall.”  Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, this growing manufacturer and distributor offers an expansive array of valves, fittings, tubing, and components for plumbing and hydronic systems.

Challenges the Client Faced

A long-time JD Edwards (JDE) customer, Legend first implemented the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in the late 1990s. As it grew and as the technology itself evolved, the distributor upgraded its ERP several times over the years. “Legend has grown every year and continues to expand,” said Larry Emmert, VP of Operations. “Last year, we saw the need for a technical upgrade and decided to move to latest release of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.”

Emmert said the company wanted to make sure it was using the newest technology and that it wouldn’t have to “scramble to complete an upgrade.” Legend was also running on outdated hardware and operating systems that needed to be replaced. “We felt like if we were going to upgrade those components,” said Emmert, “that we may as well also do a JDE upgrade as part of the process.”

GSI's Solution

For help managing its JDE upgrade, Legend called on GSI, Inc., which was already providing the distributor with ongoing AppCare Managed Services. Those services include both configurable network computing [CNC] and database support. “We wanted to leverage our existing relationship with GSI,” said Emmert, “which we know could support us primarily from a CNC standpoint on this particular JDE upgrade.”

For Legend, GSI performed numerous services that contributed to a seamless JDE upgrade process. The consulting firm re-platformed and upgraded all of Legend’s servers to the latest supported versions meeting minimum technology requirements (MTRs), upgraded its SQL database, and upgraded the ERP itself.

“We’ve had a very good relationship with GSI for managed services for several years,” said Emmert. “So logically, it made sense to work with a company that we knew, respected, and had a good working relationship with already to support our move to the latest release.” Emmert said Legend relied on GSI for the CNC and database portions of the upgrade. He said GSI also provided technical project management as part of this specific project. “That’s probably above and beyond what we would normally get from GSI from an AppCare standpoint,” said Emmert, “but they effectively handled all three aspects for us on this upgrade project.”