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Case study: Merlin and Scarsdale Veterinary Group

By MWI Animal Health

Collaboration enabled the successful launch of the new PMS
Two business colleagues problem-solving at a computer together in the office.

IVC Evidensia inherited and overcame significant complexity and scope challenges when switching Scarsdale Veterinary Group to the Merlin Practice Management System (PMS). 

Home to one of the largest 24/7 referral hospitals in the UK, Scarsdale's complexity was unparalleled, involving small animal, farm, and equine practices, with hundreds of staff across multiple sites. 

IVC was in the process of migrating certain practices to the cloud-based Merlin. Ciaran Wallace, Senior Project Manager at IVC Evidensia explained that a unified PMS across all of the practices lets IVC Evidensia offer consistent levels of service and drive clinical productivity. From a practice management perspective, one PMS allows greater central management on the range of products and services offered to patients. They can also integrate the workforce management system with Merlin to enable clinicians to dedicate more time to veterinary care.  

The challenges 


“Of all the migrations I’ve undertaken over the years, this one was the most complicated,” said Roger Sweet, Project Manager, IVC Evidensia. 

In the case of Scarsdale, the transition was exceptionally demanding due to the following factors:

  • Massive data migration: Ten times more data than the average Merlin transition, this migration required moving circa 60GB of data, including tens of millions treatment records and over hundreds of thousands of client files. 
  • On-Premise to Cloud: Scarsdale migrated from an on-premise server-based PMS to Merlin’s cloud platform. The team overcame significant challenges related to differences in data structures between the systems. 
  • Physical logistics: hundreds of computers needed to be upgraded, imaged, boxed, shipped and set up. 
  • Limited time: IVC Evidensia reached out to MWI with the request to complete the migration within a 6-month time frame.

MWI's actions 


To tackle these challenges, MWI mobilized a highly collaborative and dedicated team. The process involved continuous, open communication and meticulous planning between MWI and IVC Evidensia. “It was an effort that touched all levels of MWI,” remarked Helen Clarke, Data Manager, MWI Practice Technology. 

MWI approached the migration through the lens of innovation and customer service. For example, they had to build a new way to get data into Merlin because existing tools couldn’t handle Scarsdale’s volume of data. The project team met weekly with IVC to address issues and keep the migration on track. 

Making everything come together was a collaborative effort. As Roger Sweet said, “We couldn’t have done it without each other.” Key steps in the process included:

  • Personalised support: The Merlin implementation process involved personalised support, with four data migration specialists dedicated to this project versus the typical one. This was essential due to the multiple workstreams and moving parts. 
  • Comprehensive planning and testing: The process included three test migrations to ensure accuracy, compared to the usual one test migration. Two Merlin team members were on-site for these test migrations, providing an extra layer of support. 
  • On-site and remote consulting: The team conducted on-site visits and remote consultations, ensuring all staff were trained and all equipment was set up correctly. This included assembling and imaging circa 200 PCs for the main site. 
  • Dedicated resources: One of the data migration specialists dedicated around 700 hours in advance of implementation to this project, significantly more than the 120 hours typically required for complex migrations.

The results 


The successful implementation of Merlin at Scarsdale is a testament to MWI’s expertise in handling complex migrations at scale and the collaboration between the two parties.

Implementation by the numbers

  • 10 times larger than usual data in the source file 
  • Tens of millions of treatment records for hundreds of thousands of clients 
  • 3.5 migration days, Thursday evening to Sunday evening 
  • Over 100 hours worked by 6 members of the data team 
  • Field engineers spent 220 hours on-site setting up and installing equipment

Scarsdale highlighted the successful collaboration and meticulous planning needed to pull this off, calling out how MWI went over and above to make the changes a pleasurable experience. 

The migration process spanned from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon and ensured that all data was live and functional by Monday morning. Roger Sweet said, “I left the site Sunday afternoon. All the data was in, all the data matched, all the data was correct.” During the initial hyper-care period, any issues were resolved promptly. 

For IVC Evidensia, the move to a cloud-based PMS improves efficiency, accessibility, and scalability. The shift from a legacy on-premise system to Merlin gives access to better customer service, clinical productivity and more innovative product development. 

Takeaways 


Tailored support, robust features, and seamless integration capabilities make Merlin an ideal solution for multi-site practices looking to enhance efficiency and service levels.  MWI offers tailored and established onboarding capabilities to make the transfer to our system as smooth as possible. As Roger Sweet aptly put it, “Every PMS has its own benefits. At the end of the day, it’s what you want out of it.”

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