Alticor Case Study.qxd - Computershare Governance Services

GCM Case Study#01-02February 2002Alticor finds a true web-based entitymanagement solution in GlobalCorporate ManagerDatacare Software Group installed its web-based corporateentity management software at the head office of client, AlticorInc., in October 2001. This is the first of two Case Studiesthat discusses why Alticor chose Datacare and how they cameto the conclusion that Global Corporate Manager (GCM) wasthe right software for them.SummaryAlticor Inc., parent companyof Amway, Quixtar and AccessBusiness GroupStatus:US privately-held corporationbased in Ada, MichiganActive Subsidiaries:180 in 80 countries andterritoriesNumber of Users:100 in five departmentsAlticor Inc., the parent company of Amway,Quixtar, and Access Business Group isa privately held company based in Ada,Michigan and is a leader in direct selling,e-commerce and business-to-businessservices. Theycurrently have approximately180 active subsidiariesas well as anumber of archivedsubsidiaries. Trackinginformation relating toeach subsidiary hadproved daunting in thepast.Prior to using GCM,Alticor tracked theirentity information usingMicrosoft Excel ® andLotus ® spreadsheets,ring binders, stock books, minute books,and in files. “We were looking for a programthat would allow us to incorporateall of these sources into one medium.We were also looking for a program thatwould allow us to produce reports showingthe status of our companies at a givenpoint in time. GCM was the only webbasedsoftware that allowed us to do allthis.” says Marilou Wieringa, Senior LegalSecretary at Alticor. “Being able to emaila report directly from the GCM browseris a huge timesaver.” GCM allows Alticorto track large amounts of historical dataon their subsidiaries, something that wasvery important to them. Another key featurewas the document linking ability.With many copies of documents in a numberof different locations, it was hard forthem to know where to look to find a certaindocument. With GCM, locating a documentis only a couple of mouse clicksaway.Alticor wanted a systemthat would be ableto handle and regulateaccess to over 100users in their Audit,Insurance,International Tax,

“GCM is able totrack a much widerrange of informationthan some of theother systems.Something we knewwe’d need in thefuture.”New YorkDomestic Tax and Global ReportingDepartments, with a roll-out to theirTechnology/Regulatory Departmentand Government Affairs office at a laterdate.With GCM they are able to grant readonlyprivileges to certain or all sectionsof the site and offer edit capabilities tothose with Administratoraccess. In the future,Alticor plans on sharingaccess with theiroffices in Europe, Asiaand Australia.Because GCM is storedon the client server andavailable through theirIntranet, its customizableand scalable architectureallows for anynumber of users worldwideto access the site while maintainingthe highest security available. Itseasy-to-navigate layout is instinctive andthe Favorites feature makes complex tasksmuch easier and faster.Alticor did their research before selectingGCM. Marilou reported “GCM was oneof the few programs that we looked atthat allowed us to produce time-sensitivereports. At the time we were reviewingthe available software programs, itwas the only one that was truly web-based.Although most of the others claimed tobe converting to a web-based version inthe near future, we felt we would be onestep ahead of the game by selecting aprogram that was ready to rollout its webversion. GCM is also able to track a muchwider range of information than some ofthe other systems. Something we knewwe’d need in the future.”Both Barb Newhof, Alticor’s LANAdministrator and Marilou found that theirinteraction with Datacare staff hasbeen a positive experience. Barb emphasized,“We found all the Datacare staffto be very helpful and pleasant. The trainingwas comprehensive and helpful andthe implementation was quick andthorough.”We will re-visit Alticor in a few monthsand let you know how their full GCM rolloutis progressing. In the interim, findout about how GCM is working for ourother clients by visiting our website, orby contacting one of our sales staff byemail at salesUSA@data-care.com, or byphone at 1 866 443 8426.TorontoLondonDublinManaging a World of Information Rwww.data-care.com