Discover how a third-generation family winery automated critical reporting, improved inventory allocation, and unlocked new strategic insights using Cosmos for Business Central.
“The tools inside Business Central weren’t intuitive or flexible enough for our team, and many of the reports we relied on just didn’t exist. We needed something that could get us up and running fast, and let us see data the way we were used to.”
With reporting processes now automated in Cosmos, L’Ecole’s Business Intelligence Manager has shifted focus from data gathering to delivering high-value insights. Time previously spent compiling inventory and compliance reports is now used to support strategic decisions, such as opening new tasting rooms and optimizing wine distribution. Cosmos has effectively turned reporting from a bottleneck into a business advantage.
Cosmos enabled L’Ecole to develop custom inventory allocation reports that track rate of sale across multiple channels and locations. This visibility has helped the team ensure the right wines are available in the right places, particularly during peak periods or special events. What was once a reactive, manual process is now proactive, data-driven, and fully integrated into daily operations.
Built within Excel, Cosmos gives L’Ecole a powerful reporting platform that doesn’t require coding expertise. Reports are easy to maintain, update, and train others on, ensuring long-term sustainability even if the team changes. For a winery without a dedicated development team, Cosmos offers the flexibility and maintainability that custom scripts or complex BI tools can’t match.
“Cosmos helped us build a sustainable reporting infrastructure. We don’t want to rely on custom code or a single developer. We want tools that anyone can use, now and down the road”
L’Ecole No 41 is a third-generation, family-owned winery producing over 50,000 cases annually, making it one of the largest independently owned wineries in the Pacific Northwest. In 2024, the company moved to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to modernize operations and improve visibility across inventory, allocations, and financials.
Based on early research and conversations with their partner, Amican Group, the team understood that Business Central’s built-in reporting tools wouldn’t provide the level of customization, drill-down capabilities, or Excel-based usability they required. Reports critical to inventory management, compliance, and executive decision-making would need to be rebuilt, and they wanted to avoid getting bogged down with overly complex tools like Power BI or hard-to-maintain custom reports.
Before the migration, L’Ecole used WiMS, a wine-industry-specific ERP system. While technically internet-connected, WiMS was tightly controlled: only the software vendor could configure data access or integrations, and any custom reporting had to be developed through them. These projects were costly and slow and didn’t always result in the outputs the team expected, making it difficult to adapt reports to new requirements or business processes.
“The tools inside Business Central weren’t intuitive for our team, and many of the reports we relied on just didn’t exist. We needed something that could get us up and running fast—and let us see data the way we were used to,” explains John Moreau, Business Intelligence Manager at L’Ecole.
That’s why, before going live, Amican recommended implementing Cosmos in parallel with Business Central. Based on their experience supporting other wineries, they knew Cosmos could bridge the reporting gap with fast, flexible, Excel-based reports designed specifically for Business Central. From the very first demo, it was clear that Cosmos would meet L’Ecole’s needs for performance, usability, and sustainability.
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“With Cosmos, we built allocation reports that actually reflect how wine moves across our locations. That’s something we could never do in our old system.”
With guidance from their implementation partner Amican Group, L’Ecole implemented Cosmos while they went live with Business Central. This allowed the team to immediately recreate critical reports essential to inventory tracking, allocations, and regulatory compliance. According to John Moreau, who spearheaded the ERP transition and now serves as Business Intelligence Manager, Cosmos was “the path of least resistance for the most benefit.”
Cosmos brought back the legacy reports the team was familiar with and opened the door to entirely new ways of analyzing the business. John used Cosmos to rebuild L’Ecole’s inventory allocation process from the ground up, creating reports that analyze sales velocity, channel performance, and vintage-level demand across multiple tasting room locations. These allocation reports are now used to drive smarter inventory decisions and avoid under- or over-stocking key products.
Another game-changer was the ability to automate reporting. Regulatory reports that once took hours to assemble each quarter are now automatically scheduled and sent out on the first day of every month. Tasting room inventory sheets are also scheduled, giving staff immediate visibility into discrepancies and reducing turnaround time for inventory corrections.
Even more importantly, Cosmos has enabled John to focus on strategy rather than spreadsheet wrangling. By removing manual data prep from his daily workload, he’s been able to take on more BI initiatives and respond faster to new business needs. And because Cosmos is built in Excel, the entire system is maintainable by others—even if his role evolves in the future.
“Cosmos helped us build a sustainable reporting infrastructure. We don’t want to rely on custom code or a single developer. We want tools that anyone can use, now and down the road.”
For a winery rooted in tradition but looking ahead with data, Cosmos has become more than just a reporting tool – it’s a strategic asset. From inventory control to compliance to cross-location coordination, L’Ecole now has the visibility, agility, and confidence to support its continued growth. And with a reporting foundation that’s built for business users, not just developers, they’re equipped to keep evolving.
“It’s a no-code tool, built in Excel, and it just works. That makes it ideal for a winery like ours where the next person may not be a developer.”
