ERP Software from XData Helps with Kansas Wild Horse Program

Published: January 23, 2007

by Alex Woodie

ERP software from Xdata Solutions is being utilized to automate several processes at the Kansas Correctional Industries (KCI), a program managed by the state's department of corrections that puts inmates to work at various tasks, including helping to tame wild mustangs rounded up on the prairie.

Last week, Xdata announced that KCI has gone live with its Graphical Xdata (GXD) suite of ERP software, which runs on OS/400 and Windows servers. According to Xdata, the software has streamlined various business processes at KCI, including order-entry, manufacturing order generation for KCI's metal products, chemicals, and clothing business units; materials transfers; and the generation of consolidated financial reports that comply with KCI's reporting requirements.

GXD is also used with the Kansas Wild Horse Program, a program administered by KCI for the Kansas Department of Corrections in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management. Under the program, inmates at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility help saddle-train the horses so they can be adopted by the public. The horses are being removed from wild lands to prevent their starvation due to drought and fires.

"Working with a wild horse will present a challenge to these men," says Louis Bruce, the warden for the Hutchinson facility. "They must set expectations, provide structure, and earn the animal's trust and respect. These are traits that once learned could provide long-term benefits to offenders."

KCI is currently running GXD on Windows-based IBM BladeCenter servers. However, the organization, which also uses iSeries servers, may opt to move GXD to the OS/400 server in the future, says Reid Biberstine, sales and marketing director for South Bend, Indiana-based Xdata. "Like many others we have encountered, they wanted to choose one platform today and be still able to easily hop to a different platform with the same software at any point in the future," he says.

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