SUCCESS STORY • 4 MIN READ

Sunkist transforms forecasting and sees 90% time savings

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Sunkist transforms forecasting and sees 90% time savings

THE CLIENT

Sunkist Growers

Sunkist Growers, the largest citrus marketing cooperative in North America, manages thousands of growers and dozens of packing houses to deliver fruit across the continent. Behind every shipment of mandarins is a complex network of harvest estimates, contracts, funding models, and sales goals, all of which were historically managed through disconnected systems and spreadsheets.

Sunkist needed a better way to operate at scale. With Upzoids and Microsoft Power Platform, they modernized critical processes and cut planning time by 90 percent.

INDUSTRY

Agriculture

CHALLENGE

Fragmented tools, limited visibility

SOLUTION

A Power Platform ecosystem with Dataverse at the core

TECHNOLOGIES USED

Power Platform

RESULTS

Up to 90% time savings on annual goal-setting and bonus
Improved accuracy with audit trails and auto-calculated projections

THE CALLENGE

Fragmented tools, limited visibility

Despite having an ERP system in place, Sunkist lacked a unified solution to manage grower relationships, harvest projections, and sales planning. Departments operated in silos, depending on a patchwork of manual tools that made it difficult to scale or collaborate effectively.

There were no shared systems for tracking estimates, validating harvests, or supporting internal teams or external packers. The existing vendor solution was heavily customized and difficult to extend as the company needed to scale.

They needed a Microsoft-aligned partner who could modernize their operations using best practices and long-term strategic thinking.

"The client struggled with siloed systems and manual tools that made it hard to scale or collaborate."

Our Solution

A Power Platform ecosystem with Dataverse at the core

Using Microsoft Power Platform, including Power Apps, Power Pages, Power Automate, and Dataverse, we designed and implemented a suite of interconnected applications tailored to Sunkist's operational model. These apps work seamlessly with their ERP and are built with scalability, maintainability, and usability in mind.

Rather than relying on code-heavy customizations, we focused on using out-of-the-box capabilities wherever possible, accelerating time to value and enabling future innovation.

Power Platform tools designed for Sunkist

Citrus tracker

A Power App that tracks growers, blocks, varietals, and harvest history at the most granular level. Estimates and harvest results are managed centrally, with full audit history.

Packing house portal

An external-facing portal that allows packers to submit estimates, view harvest data, and update acreage, replacing spreadsheets with a secure, structured interface.

Sales goal + bonus planning

A custom forecasting tool that uses years of historical data to auto-generate sales goals and bonus structures. Previously handled manually, this now takes minutes instead of weeks.

Capital funds forecasting

One of the most complex Power Apps Upzoids has delivered, this tool supports a multi-step funding process combining historical data, board voting, and financial modeling to project future funding needs.

Contract management

Tracks contracts with major distributors and automates renewals via a

Six-week projection map

Allows packing houses to submit rolling forecasts, helping Sunkist better align supply with demand in real time.

THE RESULTS

A faster, more accurate way to plan and forecast

Internal teams are already seeing major benefits from centralized data, automated workflows, and significantly reduced reliance on spreadsheets, and are looking forward to an even greater impact once external teams are fully onboarded.

Up to 90% time savings on annual goal-setting and bonus

Improved accuracy with audit trails and auto-calculated projections

Faster onboarding for packing houses with user-friendly portals and documentation

Real-time forecasting across grower estimates, harvests, and financials

Unified data model using Microsoft Dataverse

Why Upzoids

A partner who understands the mission

Sunkist chose the Upzoids team based on our deep expertise in Microsoft technologies, hands-on experience with Power Platform, and ability to deliver quickly without unnecessary complexity. By leveraging Dataverse, we provided a unified data model that connected departments and streamlined forecasting across external partners.

Throughout the project, we prioritized configuration over customization, ensuring that the systems were not only powerful, but also maintainable and scalable long-term.

WHAT'S NEXT

Building on a foundation for future growth

With more than 95% of the platform already live, Sunkist is now exploring new opportunities, like migrating sales processes to Dynamics 365 or integrating Microsoft Copilot for self-service help across internal and external users.

By building on Microsoft's ecosystem, they've gained a future-ready foundation for innovation and a partner committed to helping them grow.

"The team at Upzoids helped us streamline operations into one unified solution that finally gave us clarity across growers, harvests, and sales. Their Microsoft expertise and strategic approach set us up not just for today, but for the scale we need in the years ahead."

John Doe

Director of Operations, Sunkist Growers