|
|
|
|
| Case Studies
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kern/Access Accounting (November 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Established in Switzerland in 1947, the Kern Group has gained a unique place in the document management sector. Driven by
innovation and a continual commitment to customers, the company continues to thrive and prosper. In 1983, Kern Limited was
set up to meet the needs of customers across the UK and this business continues to go from strength to strength. Kern Ltd has grown and diversified to supply technology across the mailroom and packaging market. It currently employs over
115 staff at its headquarters in Fareham, Hampshire, and across the UK as field engineers. Kern has been using Access Dimensions since 2002, and from an accounting viewpoint the solution met the company needs.
However, as Kern continued to grow, the burden of manual timesheet submission and input caused issues with the accuracy
and timeliness of project data. Kern saw Dimensions’ web-enabled suite, FocalPoint,
demonstrated and
realised this was the solution it had been looking for.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The National Autistic Society/Sapphire Systems (August 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
The National Autistic Society (NAS) is the UK’s leading charity for people with
autistic spectrum disorders and their families. Founded in 1962, it continues to
spearhead national and international initiatives and provide a strong voice for
all people with autism. The NAS provides a wide range of services to help
people with autism and Asperger syndrome live their lives with as much
independence as possible.
The NAS had been using a manual procurement system and the management
team wanted the system to be automated to gain better control over the
process and introduce standard procedures. They were also looking to
automate accruals to get advance warning of committed expenditure – and
more importantly, to flag extreme expenditure. The decision was made to implement Proactis Spend Control from Sapphire.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Castlemead Homes/Armstrong Consultants (July 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Formed in November 1994, Castlemead Homes is dedicated to a single ideal – to create luxury homes of character and
distinction. The company prides itself on its ability to marry the best of modern building technology with the unchanging values
of traditional craftsmanship.
Based in Wrexham, Castlemead Homes builds quality developments that range from two-bed apartments to luxury five-bed
houses. Each individual property type has its own external variations to ensure a degree of individuality.
With numerous sites in the local area, including Whitchurch and Llangollen, Castlemead Homes is a leading developer within
the North West. It also has a number of sites in Blackpool and Swindon. In a constantly shifting housing market, the ability to provide concise information on demand is essential for any financial
director within the construction industry. Castlemead’s main objective was to implement a system that would align the costing spreadsheet with sophisticated reporting
facilities, so eliminating the need to re-key information and providing substantial time savings. Castlemead researched a list of vendors and chose Access Accounting to be implemented by Armstrong Consultants.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WIN plc/Oracle (June 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
A pioneer in cross-operator short message service (SMS) delivery, WIN plc provides innovative mobile data services to
European clients, handling more than 30 million mobile transactions each month. The company’s 300 clients include major
European telecoms operators, large media corporations and entertainment companies, and enterprises such as the BBC and
Barclaycard. WIN plc's challenges were to replace a tier-two, back-office financial system with an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite that could process
large transactions accurately and quickly; ensure scalability to help meet strong growth; and deliver an on-time, on-budget implementation. WIN chose Oracle for its flexible, scalable financial management applications.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Furniture123/CODA (June 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Established in 1999, online retailer Furniture123 offers thousands of quality furniture items online at competitive prices, made
possible by its low overheads.
From the outset, it was clear that integrated systems were essential to ensure a seamless experience for the customer and
accurate delivery and accounting for Furniture123. Furniture123 has to track sales from the moment an order is placed on the website through the
delivery process and be able to account for discounts, multiple orders, different payment methods and returns. This meant that
the company had to find a finance system that could integrate easily with its website database and its purchase and sales order
processing system Proactis. CODA’s Dream software could.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ian Macleod Distillers/CODA (June 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Based in Broxburn in Scotland, Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd has been operating since 1933 and currently produces and sells over
15 million bottles of whisky and other spirits a year. These include brands such as Glengoyne Highland Single Malt Scotch
Whisky, Isle of Skye Blended Scotch Whisky, London Hill Gin and the Chieftains selected casks range.
In recent years, the company has made significant investments in production capacity to meet increasing demand for its
products from around the world. It currently employs 70 staff at two sites, its head office in Broxburn and the Glengoyne
Distillery, acquired in 2003. It also half-owns a bottling plant located in Broxburn.
In 2004, the company purchased CODA’s Financials to replace its existing 20-year-old finance system. But it knew
the CODA system had far more potential to benefit the company, so in early 2007 CODA’s consultants were called in to help identify how this could be done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Holt JCB/Access Accounting – exclusive interview (April 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Established in 1979 and based in
Avonmouth, Holt JCB is a privately
owned company and has the JCB
franchise for construction, industrial
and waste machinery, as well as JCB
attachments, parts and service, for
the South West of England and South
Wales. Its previous system was bespoke for the automotive sector but its most significant concern was its ability to
customise its operation and tailor the workflows to match its processes. It needed a solution that didn’t constrain its
business and could be easily adapted to its changing needs.
The company had four main criteria, among others, for selection: it had to have a Windows interface (the existing system was text
based), a flexible and accessible data structure, interface easily with third-party products and Microsoft software, and
also have a sensible cost structure. In the end Holt JCB narrowed it down to four suppliers who had the potential to meet its needs. However, Access Accounting’s Dimensions solution was the only one that could tick all the boxes and in
particular offer a true SQL database.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Armatool/IRIS (April 2008)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Established for over 20 years, Armatool is a wholesale supplier of hand tools to building, roofing, timber, engineers and
plumbing merchants, DIY, tool and hire shops.
Armatool has relied on Exchequer from IRIS Enterprise Software to manage its
accounting workflow since 1996, when it decided to move from a slightly
antiquated version of Sage to a financial management solution that would offer
automation of many procedures and provide for effective stock control. Armatool has grown its turnover and staff over the last decade or so, as well as
moving into larger premises. This allows the company to fulfil its ideal of
despatching all orders within 24 hours of receipt, on a next-day delivery.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hartford Hospital/Infor (August 2007)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Behind the scenes at Hartford Hospital, one of the largest medical centres in New England, US, a powerful system is required
to keep the back-office business operations running smoothly. The organisation uses Infor FMS SmartStream to manage the
internal processes and maintain good relationships with vendors and suppliers.
Hartford Hospital is an 800-bed regional medical facility that supports the city of Hartford, Connecticut, and surrounding areas
with tertiary care, a community health centre and Centres of Excellence renowned for specialty care. Sixteen different affiliates
include Mid State Medical Centre, Clinical Lab Partners, VNA Health Care, and various physicians groups.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BSRIA/Access Accounting (May 2007)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Building Services Research and Information Association
(BSRIA) is an independent organisation, providing collaborative
research, product testing, consultancy, project management
and market intelligence for the building services industry. With
almost 50 years of experience and a team of 120 specialists to
call upon, it is able to meet the information needs of everyone from engineers and contractors to government bodies and
utilities. Two persistent problems caused BSRIA to re-evaluate its business and accounting systems. Firstly, consolidated management
accounts could take up to 20 days to prepare. Secondly, project managers found it difficult to monitor the progress of their
individual projects…and even harder to gain control over costs. BSRIA decided to look at Access Dimensions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seafield Logistics/CODA – exclusive interview (April 2007)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seafield Logistics has grown through acquisition to become a £32 million transport, warehousing and packaging
business, headquartered in Worksop and with operational centres across the UK. Seafield has over 1.5 million square feet of dedicated or multi-user warehousing in a number of locations across the
UK. It also operates a contract packing business which can handle promotion pack assembly, hand packing, shrink
wrapping, returns management, labelling and sortation and container de-stuffing. Seafield Logistics, which is owned
by investment company Conway Logistics International, has plans to grow its turnover to £100 million within five
years. IT systems, and especially a strong financial system, are critical to enable this growth. Seafield needs
accurate financial information to run the company efficiently and to underpin its expansion plans. Its new CODA
financial system is providing detailed management information.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service/TechnologyOne (April 2007)
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service covers an area of 390,859 hectares in the
counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, with a population of 714,100.
It has an establishment comprising 332 full time operational staff, 369 retained (part-time) staff, 21
fire control staff, as well as about 98 non-uniformed support staff.
Each year it attends about 9,000 incidents and provides other services such as fire safety advice. The Service conducted an evaluation of solutions available which involved detailed user workshops to determine the best-inclass
financial solution which met the Service’s demanding financial processes.
The Service short-listed Access and Agresso products alongside TechnologyOne financials, but selected TechnologyOne.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apta Pottery/Access – exclusive interview (April 2006)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founded over 25 years ago, Apta Pottery supplies garden pottery and associated products to independent garden centres
in the UK and Ireland. With over 500 stockists in the UK, Apta employs 100 staff and has a turnover of more than £12 million. It was voted Garden
Industry Supplier of the Year in 2003 and 2004. Apta went live with Access Dimensions and Access Payroll on 1st January 2005. The software it had was a bespoke package and the company supporting it had become a one-man band. Apta wanted something that was modern and flexible, and had more support. The system it was
running was dated and not Windows-based. Access Dimensions software seemed to offer
more flexibility and was capable of integrating with modern technology.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BUPA/Foundation Systems (March 2006)
|
|
|
|
|
|
BUPA Care Services is a combination of BUPA Care Homes, which is responsible for care homes, and the medical
staff recruitment agency, BUPA Healthcare Professionals. The company was created in February 1998 after the
purchases of Goldsbourgh plc and Care First. It is the UK’s largest care home operator. Having evaluated the software and services options available in consultation with industry experts, BUPA Care Services
decided to standardise its financial management on SunSystems, with Foundation Systems providing consulting,
implementation and maintenance services.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trinity Mirror/Lawson Software (November 2005)
|
|
|
|
|
|
With over 250 titles, Trinity Mirror is the UK’s largest newspaper publisher. The company’s portfolio of more than 500
media brands includes national and regional newspapers, websites, magazines and exhibitions. Trinity Mirror was born out of the merger of Trinity
plc and Mirror Group plc. Trinity Mirror Shared Services is a division of Trinity Mirror plc, set up in 2000 to create a
central shared IT service to manage procurement and financial services for the entire group. The decision to invest in new financial software was taken by the newly merged group in the summer of 2000. Trinity Mirror worked with an external consulting firm and Lawson Professional Services and partners, to help determine
the exact software requirements and establish Trinity Mirror Shared Services. They decided that Lawson procurement,
accounts payable and general ledger solutions would be ideal to address internal business requirements and the shared
service centre, based on Chester Business Park, was born.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Empire Corporate Federal Credit Union/Lawson Software (October 2005)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lawson Software’s Financials suite is enabling Empire Corporate Federal Credit Union to consolidate financial
applications across the organisation into one integrated system. Empire Corporate recently completed the
implementation on time and on budget.
The applications are helping the corporate credit union establish more efficient business processes, improving internal
and external member satisfaction. Empire Corporate is running the applications on IBM’s iSeries platform.
Empire Corporate is a $4.4 billion financial institution that provides wholesale investment, credit, payment and
correspondent services to more than 1,000 credit unions primarily in northeast USA. Empire has a national field-ofmembership
and is headquartered in Albany, New York.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Walsall Housing Group/OpenAccounts (June 2005)
|
|
|
|
|
|
When Walsall Housing Group (WHG) was formed from
a stock transfer from Walsall Metropolitan Borough
Council, it needed a financial software system that
would be ready from day one, and could successfully
support its management of 23,000 houses in the region
and ongoing regeneration work.
To meet these challenges, WHG has been using a
financial software system from OpenAccounts.
OpenAccounts has provided WHG with the flexibility,
functionality and reliability required to set up a system
to go live on WHG’s first day of operation, and facilitate
and record the transactions of its annual turnover of
approximately £53 million.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CB Richard Ellis/OpenAccounts – exclusive interview (March 2005)
|
|
|
|
|
|
CB Richard Ellis is a UK-based global network of commercial real-estate advisors offering a range of client services
and consultancy. Its main drivers for adopting an e-business based accounting and invoicing system were that the business’ previous process forms from the front office to the back-office functions
were manual and needed modernising. It also needed to minimise its manual processing errors and improve
the completeness and accuracy from the front office. The company also wanted better information access to the front
office. It decided to go with e-Finance from OpenAccounts because, for the same price as other products, it could be
used for multiple form flow processes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Natural History Museum/CODA & Cognos (March 2005)
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Natural History Museum is the UK’s national museum of nature, housing over 70 million specimens. Its 900-plus
staff play a leading role nationally and globally in nature research and education. In recognition of this role, around 70%
of the museum’s funding comes as grant-in-aid from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, amounting to £39.6
million in the financial year ending in March 2005.
But government funding continues to fall in real terms and so the Natural History Museum must increasingly stand on its
own feet. That means the museum has to place greater emphasis on seeking other forms of income, maximising its
current income streams and streamlining its resources. A combination of the CODA-Financials accounting solution and Cognos reporting tools has provided the Natural History
Museum with real-time processing and reporting, coupled with the ability to structure its accounts to meet its diverse
needs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Hive/Maconomy (February 2005)
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Hive is a London based WPP company that offers both business application hosting
and full financial services to companies in the WPP Group. Both the hosted solution and
the full financial services are run using the Maconomy job management and financial
application.
The Hive set up the Maconomy application in 1998 and by the start of 2003 had 15 WPP
companies using the service. These 15 companies are from a variety of disciplines
within the communications industry.
The Hive hosts the Maconomy application on its server giving companies full access via
the web. Each hosted company’s application is held on a separate database ensuring
complete confidentiality of information. Beyond hosting, the Hive provides a full shared service including financial accounting, WIP management, billing, credit
control, time and expense recording, payroll management and HR administration.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|