Major Drilling Group International

Strikes Gold With Sage 300 ERP

Major Drilling Group International Inc. was founded in 1980 in New Brunswick and over the years has grown into one of the world’s largest metals and minerals contract drilling companies. Registered in 22 countries, with a fleet of 547 drills and nearly 3,300 employees, Major Drilling Group has the experience and resources to mobilize to any corner of the globe to meet its clients’ exacting requirements.

For years, the company has trusted its accounting operations to Sage 300 ERP* software. The company selected Sage 300 ERP because of its strong consolidation capabilities, multicurrency support, and low total cost of ownership. More than 20 separate Major Drilling Group International operating locations and over 100 employees, operating in dozens of countries, are currently using Sage 300 ERP software.

Global Currency Support
As a global company, multicurrency support is a high priority for Major Drilling Group International. “Across our enterprise, we are using the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar, the Australian dollar, the Mexican peso, and other currencies,” says Christien Landry, IT manager for Major Drilling Group International. “Some corporate entities use more expensive and more complex software, but we find that Sage 300 ERP software does everything we need it to do at a very competitive price. It is the solution we roll out to each new location.”

Landry spends much of his time travelling the globe to install, configure, and provide training and support for the software. “Our core accounting needs are not out of the ordinary, but when coupled with the multicurrency and consolidation requirements, we need a powerful, scalable application, and Sage 300 ERP software completely fills the bill,” he says. “It handles the accounting for the various currencies extremely well. We can have both a source and functional currency for most of the entities and accurately account for the variations and fluctuations.”

Using the robust report writing tools in the software, Landry has written various reports that help the company to track what it refers to as foreign currency exposure—which is the net cash in accounts held in foreign currencies. “I’m able to pull from several different databases to gather the information we need,” he says.

Challenge
As a global operation, Major Drilling Group requires robust multicurrency and financial consolidation capabilities in an affordable, easy-to-implement solution.

Solution
Sage 300 ERP software is in use at more than 20 of Major Drilling Group’s operating locations and is the solution rolled out to each new location.

Results
Financial and consolidation capabilities deliver the reports required by this publicly traded corporation. Multicurrency supports global operations.

Managing Resources
Each of company’s operations utilizes the Inventory Control and Purchase Orders modules to accurately order and track the stock of repair parts used to keep the drilling equipment up and running.

“It is vital for us to know what we have in stock and to order sufficient quantities at the right time,” Landry explains. “We are only making money while our equipment is running, so being grounded due to the lack of spare parts is bad for business.” Major Drilling Group International uses the Sage Fixed Assets module to track its corporate assets, including the hard-working drill rigs.

Financial Reporting Strength
Each evening, an automated utility copies the data from each subsidiary into the main corporate Sage 300 ERP database. With all corporate data amassed, it is a straightforward task to generate consolidated reports across the enterprise using the G/L Consolidations module. “We have the data for each individual branch, and can combine that data into consolidated reports as needed,” Landry says.

As a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Major Drilling Group International must keep impeccable financial records—a task made easier with the robust financial management tools within its Sage 300 ERP solution. The ability to create a long (up to 45-character) general ledger account number, for example, aids in accounting for the myriad of locations, divisions, and departments that comprise the company’s operations.

Flexible Database Structure
A separate time and billing application accumulates labour and equipment billing data. The company is currently working with its Sage business partner to design and build an import utility to bring this billing data into the Sage 300 ERP system automatically. “The open database structure of the software makes this type of interface possible,” says Landry.

An Ideal Solution
Sage 300 ERP software is an ideal solution for Major Drilling Group International. “Sage 300 ERP meets all of our requirements and it is easy to learn and intuitive to use,” Landry concludes. “And our business partner’s expertise with the product continues to be a great resource for us.”