Situation

Ear Nose & Throat Associates (ENT), located in Wausau, Wisconsin, needed to move into a new building. As they were preparing for the move, it became obvious to Jim Langlois that the upgrade of their software infrastructure also needed to occur immediately instead of in a year as they had planned. The upgrade would entail transitioning from their old AS/400 environment to PCIS, a new Windows-based business software for patient scheduling, billing, and record keeping. Both moves needed to take place over one weekend, and the practice had to be fully functional by the following Monday at 8 a.m.

Strategy

Wipfli assisted ENT with planning the new building to accommodate the new server and workstations. They also assisted in the design of the firewall, server, network, and PCs and helped ENT order the systems through Dell. On moving weekend, Wipfli set up all 15-plus PCs and connected them to the network and server. They also provided technical support to the software installers. Finally, the Wipfli team moved the AS/400 and set it up at the new location for historical data retrieval.

Benefits

According to Jim, the service Wipfli provided was nothing short of a miracle.  Not only were the Wipfli professionals extremely knowledgeable, but they worked closely with the software company to ensure a smooth transition and were able to speak with people who do not have IT backgrounds in an easy-to-understand way.  As a result, ENT was open for business at 8 a.m. Monday, with full use of their new PCs and software.