Objectives

One of the objectives of the project was to overhaul the way that the finance team worked and to reduce the number of staff members within the finance team in preparation for the relocation of the head office. Three new systems were to be implemented, these comprised the finance system, the purchase to pay system and the budgeting and forecasting platform.

The purchase ledger system that was chosen for this purpose was Tranmit which was capable of handling large numbers of purchase orders efficiently and effectively making good use electronic functionality, it was also chosen due to the way it interfaced and worked with the finance system and budgeting / forecasting tool that were also to be implemented at the same time. The finance system chosen was Great Plains and the budgeting and forecasting tool selected was TM1.

The Organisation

This project was undertaken for a leisure and hospitality organisation that comprised 227 sites around England. The organisation employed in excess of 800 staff around the country, turnover was in excess of £350 million revenue per annum, whilst undertaking more than 10,000 purchases on a monthly basis. The organisation had just been taken over and was relocating its premises from the south of the country to London and Milton Keynes.

Staff in all areas were being replaced, out of the finance team only three members of staff moved to the new location. New systems needed to be implemented, new staff had to be hired and trained on the systems being implemented.

Tasks

This task was multi-faceted in that not only was the finance system replaced, but so too were the purchase ordering system and the budgeting/forecasting platform at the same time. Working groups were formed, software was analysed, assessed and selected, timelines were built, project plans were implemented along with staff being recruited and trained

Results

The implementation and use of Tranmit meant that manual purchasing systems and processes were replaced with electronic functionality, reducing the time taken to action purchases, update the ledger and process payments to suppliers. The implementation of the new finance system and budgeting / forecasting tools and their interaction with Tranmit meant that the general ledger was updated in real-time, consolidated reporting available at the press of a button, budgets and forecasts easily updated and integrated with the financial data produced from the finance system. The training up of new staff meant that the functionality of the new systems could be used to best advantage.