Jewish Federation of Cleveland | Case Study
The Jewish Federation of Cleveland (JFC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening the Cleveland Jewish community and the broader regional community. JFC plays a central role in fostering unity, philanthropy, and community development across Northeast Ohio.
As part of a broader initiative to modernize its technology landscape, JFC was replacing its legacy ERP system with Oracle NetSuite. One critical component of this initiative involved a custom-built, web-based application that functioned as a bolt-on to the legacy ERP. This application relied heavily on custom tables as well as direct dependencies on the legacy ERP database.
The project focused on converting this bolt-on application to work seamlessly with NetSuite while preserving the existing ASP.NET Forms user interface. This required extracting the application’s data from the legacy ERP into a new, standalone database and redesigning the backend to eliminate legacy dependencies. In addition, JFC wanted to eliminate the manual process previously required to transfer journal entries from the web application into the ERP system by implementing an automated integration with NetSuite.
Streamlined Operations and Order Processing
Accelerated Innovation
Improved Operational Efficiency
“Moving to NetSuite was a massive undertaking for the Federation, and we needed a partner who could handle the complexity of our custom applications on a very tight timeline. Not only did they meet our go-live date, but they also transformed a previously buggy, manual process into a seamless, automated integration. The transition was one of the smoothest parts of our entire ERP launch, and the performance improvements have made a noticeable difference in our daily operations.”
– Stakeholder, Jewish Federation of Cleveland
The Challenge
Several key challenges made this project particularly complex:
Aggressive timeline: The application was the final system to be addressed in JFC’s ERP transition. While other teams had been engaged more than a year ahead of the go-live date, this effort began only about four months before the planned launch.
Limited documentation: Functional requirements and business logic had to be derived almost entirely by analyzing and walking through the existing codebase.
Performance and reliability issues: The legacy application had a reputation for poor performance and frequent bugs, particularly on data-intensive screens. In addition to meeting the tight timeline, the solution needed meaningful improvements to performance and stability to restore business confidence.
Integration design and execution: The team worked closely with business stakeholders to design and implement an automated, reliable journal entry integration between the application and NetSuite, ensuring data accuracy and timely synchronization between systems.
The Solution
The Provato Group Engineered a Standalone Application and Seamless NetSuite Integration.
To meet the aggressive four-month deadline, The Provato Group executed a precision-led modernization strategy. Our team decoupled the web application from the legacy ERP, migrating critical data into a new, independent database architecture while meticulously reverse-engineering the existing codebase to preserve essential business logic. By streamlining the backend and optimizing data-intensive workflows, we didn’t just maintain the application—we transformed it into a high-performance tool that restored user confidence.
To complete the modernization, Provato developed a robust, automated integration that eliminated the need for manual journal entries. This custom-built bridge ensures real-time data synchronization with Oracle NetSuite, providing JFC with a stable, scalable, and fully integrated financial ecosystem.
“With only four months to go-live and limited documentation, we had to dive deep into the legacy codebase to reconstruct the business logic from the ground up. Our goal wasn’t just to make the application work with NetSuite, but to make it work better. By decoupling the database and automating the journal entry process, we were able to eliminate long-standing performance bottlenecks and deliver a stable, high-performing solution that JFC can rely on for years to come.”
– Project Lead
The Results
Successfully converted the legacy bolt-on application to operate independently of the old ERP and integrate with NetSuite within the required timeline
Significantly improved application performance, particularly on data-heavy workflows
Resolved longstanding defects, resulting in a more stable and reliable user experience
Implemented a robust, automated journal entry integration that was virtually bug-free
Delivered one of the smoothest transitions during JFC’s NetSuite go-live, despite the complexity and compressed schedule
Develop the best product possible.
Lead the industry with strategic vision and validated quality.