ERP and BI Success Stories

Client: Common Equity Housing Limited (CEHL) Product: MYOB Greentree Industry: Housing Challenge: Common Equity Housing Limited (CEHL), a registered Housing Association, facing some system challenges, decided to look for a new solution. CEHL is a large not-for-profit housing provider in Australia with a housing asset base of $920 million; it was important to look for improvements that would help all areas of the business. Uniquely, CEHL provides affordable housing through more than 100 independent cooperative providers.  A number of disparate systems were individually meeting the needs of the various departments, but simple things like checking if purchase orders were within budget had become very difficult. Clarity on expenses against specific assets across such a large base was proving difficult, and communication on activity between co-operative members and the management group were hampered. With rental income constrained it made sense to see how system improvements would help reduce costs and provide better platform information sharing and scaling in the future. Timothy Dart, the Manager – Finance CEHL, and the team decided to seek a solution that could provide “the glue” for the co-operative group. Looking at the current solution which included:

• A Housing System
• 7 Access Databases
• 27 Spreadsheets
• MYOB Greentree as back end accounts

Solution: A change would be needed to bring these into one solution and to reduce or eliminate a large amount of time spent on reconciliation. After an extensive search of the possible solutions, the answer was right under their nose: the MYOB Greentree platform. It included some components which would provide the base they were looking for. There were some critical components needed to deliver a solution. Assets – fundamental to CEHL was the need to uniquely identify each asset and then to be able to track costs and revenues against these assets and also manage communication and maintain history. Valuations & Revaluations – being able to manage the valuation of property on fair value is vital to allow decisions to be made for portfolio management, growth and compliance. Transaction Volumes –  as the organisation was growing there was a need to simplify the processes and slim down transactional activity. Monitor the Programme – part of the foundation of affordable housing is the ability to manage rents across the program to subsidise very low-income earners. Transparency – as a not for profit organisation with some members transparency is important for all parties involved. These became the key to providing a single solution, and MYOB Greentree delivered by providing a system that managed the front end of the business as well as the back-end accounting. Of course, CEHL needed a partner to help implement such a complex solution. They chose to work with MYOB partner Endeavour Solutions (Aust). “Endeavour has been very good for us” says Timothy Dart, Manager - Finance for Common Equity. Anna Rizio, owner and Consulting Manager for Endeavour, along with her team, were key to making it all happen. They understood both what CEHL were trying to achieve and how to help the staff through the journey. Timothy Dart says, “Anna helped to spread the changes rather than delivering one big bang”. This helped from a financial point of view and from a people point of view. It was a great team, and the results show the benefit of a well coordinated effort by everyone. The staff feedback has been very positive. With this type of implementation, there is always some pain during the process, and Timothy sums this up very well. The progression went like this:

• Lots of optimism and excitement
• On going live, what is this! – reality set in
• Over say 6 months they dealt with issues and understood implications
• Efficiency gains are now coming
• People see the benefits now and couldn’t go back

There was expected to be less customer feedback as nothing much had changed externally however there have been a number of benefits realised:

• The unique ID for Assets was well received (BIG HELP)
• This has helped to coordinate discussions and create cross-department co-ordination
• Tracking communication (before “you should be talking to each other”)
• Dealing better with tenants
• MYOB Greentree is now a “single source of the truth”
• It has flushed out things that need to be sorted out
• GEO locations have been introduced

“Cost savings will be the outcome” says Timothy Dart and CEHL is ready for any growth opportunities that come their way.   [caption id="attachment_2659" align="aligncenter" width="447"] Pictured here: CEHL Manager Timothy Dart and Harvey.[/caption]   About CEHL Common Equity Housing Limited (CEHL), is a registered Housing Association, a provider and developer of affordable housing. CEHL is an enabler; they partner with member co-operatives to deliver an effective, sustainable co-operative housing program. They also work with housing and co-operative industry associations and project partners to provide their housing Program and enable co-ops. With $920M housing assets from 2200 homes across Victoria, they are the largest independent operator in Australia. They provide services for their clients including training and assistance, negotiate deals, advocate and assist with legal compliance. They are lifting people out of poverty by building communities and assisting tenants.   About Endeavour Endeavour provide business software solutions and accounting solutions to mid-sized businesses from branches in Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Started in the 1980s, they have hundreds of customers and provide solutions in many business sectors. Their point of difference is in building solid business relationships with their clients, and part of this is to make sure they share a common culture with their client and the most effective communication and processes are used. Their mission is to bring the best possible solutions to their clients using the highest level of service. They measure this in client satisfaction levels and longevity of their business relationships.

Client: Tandex Product: MYOB Greentree Industry: Trade Services Challenge: An outbreak of Legionnaires‘ disease in Melbourne in 2000 killed four people and put 95 more in hospital. The outbreak was traced to an air conditioning cooling tower at the newly opened Melbourne Aquarium. Obviously, the disease is taken very seriously by health authorities, and businesses rely on companies like Tandex Pty Ltd to ensure that their cooling towers are free of the Legionella bacteria. Failure to do so can result in heavy fines for the offending business and probably more frequent inspections. “You’re dealing with an organism that is so prevalent in nature an adverse result can occur at any time given the high number of variables that can contribute to bacterial growth,” explains Michelle Lawler, Tandex’s Manager of Administration and Finance. “This highlights the need for a robust software system which supports our strict preventative maintenance programs.” Tandex is a family-owned company specializing in water treatment, including inspections and manufacture of chemicals. Accurate testing and prompt response are essential. “The Health Department regulations are very strict,” Michelle says. “If we’re testing for bacteria levels and get a result that’s higher than the specific limit, we’re expected to act on it within 24 hours.” To ensure that the hundreds of companies it serves in Victoria and New South Wales are inspected regularly, Tandex chose Greentree to manage its processes. When discussing the previous process, Michelle responded with: “Painful is the first word that comes to mind,” Michelle recalls when asked what the job was like before Greentree. A now-discontinued software called Tracker served it for about 18 years, supported by several Access databases. A Y2K-related issue in 1999 forced the hasty purchase of Sage Accpac (now branded as Sage 300 ERP), which proved to be a poor fit and required a myriad of additional spreadsheets. Transactions had to be double or triple entered and printed to ensure all these databases stayed updated. “It was just awful,” Michelle says. “If a customer changed a phone number or contact, we had to update up to four or five databases and spreadsheets. We had probably 50% more admin staff just because of all increased workload.” “Our old systems generated heaps of paperwork,” says Michelle, “and every month the service guys would have to collate all the reports manually.” Consolidating into a single system that could be easily customised for special BPM needs became a top priority for Tandex. When the choice was narrowed down to two, Greentree got the nod over Pronto. “In the end Greentree was the most flexible package that had the required modules and a more pleasant look and feel to it,” Michelle says. “Some software is really boxy looking and limits the amount of custom fields.” Solution: “We are now so much more efficient and our system is saving us heaps of time and money,” Michelle enthuses. “All our staff are in the one system looking at the same data. Changes are easy; transactions are entered once and even automated for some processes, leaving us time to work on new business ideas and improvements to our systems. “The modules we love the most are Approvals & Alerts and the Workflow desktops. Our A&A module is like another member of the management team, watching our data entry, picking up mistakes instantly, preventing problems before they occur, reminding us of all the important timelines...it’s fantastic. “We’ve set up reminder emails to our customers so they know when we’re coming next, which is important if it requires them to shut things down.” Workflow enables completely reliable monitoring of the hundreds of tests conducted every month by Tandex’s technicians. With Greentree BPM, service reports can be analysed and depending on the results, it may suggest more frequent inspections. Greentree delivers peace of mind Michelle estimates that Greentree has cut paperwork by at least 50%, while the number of administration staff has been able to be reduced by 60%. “Greentree has removed the uncertainty,” she says. “It’s like an internal customer service manager who is constantly working 24/7. He’s got his eye on every staff member, every service request, every deadline, and just communicates it so effectively to everyone. “Greentree has given us full transparency over what’s happening in our business; how it’s performing day by day instead of waiting for end-of-month reports. We can see and fix problems immediately, change our systems if needed and achieve much faster improvements in quality, production and services.”

Client: Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea Product: MYOB Greentree Industry: Not For Profit Challenge: Sisters of Mercy’s new managing institute needed to bring together widely scattered financial systems, at an affordable price. Since the mid-19th century, Sisters of Mercy has been running educational, health and community care establishments in Australia. Today its ministries educate around 10,000 secondary school pupils every year, as well as providing health services for nearly half a million people, and residential or community care for over 3000. However, aging and shrinking congregations brought the need to change. “Our Mercy congregations had never previously had a hierarchy as such,” explains Ian Hobbs, ISMAPNG ‘s Director of Finance and Administration. “Each congregation in Australia and PNG was completely independent and reported only to Rome, so they all did their own thing.” In 2010, it was decided to amalgamate 15 of the 18 congregations scattered around Australia and PNG into a single organisation that would act as the church sponsor of all the individual ministries. In order to best perform its good works, Mercy decided to put itself on a more businesslike footing. ISMAPNG now handles the congregations’ administrative and financial affairs. They own or rent about 900 properties, including schools, hospitals and rest homes. There are also the expenses incurred by the more than 900 Sisters in their pastoral and support work, plus the wages for around 170 miscellaneous staff, and invoices from various suppliers. “Previously each congregation had decided what business systems they would use, if any,” Ian says. “Some were employing professional accountants, contractors or part-time business managers – they all had different ways of going about it.” Some congregations used MYOB as a cash book; others used products like Sybiz and Attache. But one congregation in Adelaide used Greentree – and this proved to be the way forward for the new institute. Solution: Greentree beat the likes of Sage ERP X3 and SAP B1, but Endeavour faced a four-week  deadline to get the new system up and running. The process included importing large numbers of supplier and employee records from many different sources. MYOB Greentree does everything ISMAPNG wanted it to do from the outset, and the institute’s staff are continuing to learn the extent of its capabilities. “It’s allowed us to not worry about the system, and instead concentrate on making our data work for us, which is where we really need to spend the time,” Ian says. In recent years Sisters of Mercy has branched out into advocacy, drawing public attention to human seekers and refugees. There’ll always be new demands for its services, and Ian Hobbs says ISMAPNG can face the future equipped with a system that will expand to fit its changing needs. “We have successfully implemented an enterprisewide accounting system that we can now shape to streamline our operations and allow us to do more for the Sisters and for their ministries,” he concludes. “In terms of our ministries, the need is far beyond what any one organisation could cope with – as much as you can put in, there’s a need for it, so that will continue to grow. I suspect that the way we go about it will change, but Mercy will still be pursuing that mission for a long time.” About Sisters of Mercy:  They number over 1000 people and provide services to over half a million; they own or rent more than 900 properties in two countries; their Greentree system services some 30 sites. Who are they? An organisation driven not by profit, but by compassion, and a commitment to improving lives.

Client: Hydroflow Product: MYOB Greentree Industry: Wholesale & Distribution The Story: Around the middle of 2002, financial controller Les Young decided the company had finally outgrown its incumbent package, Attache. Growth generates need He looked around at the alternatives, including Exonet and Exchequer. But Young eventually settled on Greentree. “It was the best fit for our business, with additional features that the others didn’t have,” he says. After a painless transition, Greentree went live at Hydroflow in September 2002 and now has a total of 12 users across the North and South islands. Young has been impressed by its capabilities. “I like the processing of sales orders, its reporting abilities, the ease of getting information out of it – detailed information is very good - IT processing and general functionality is very slick.” As Hydroflow got bigger over the years, its accounting and data requirements also increased. Around the middle of 2002, financial controller Les Young decided the company had finally outgrown its incumbent package, Attache. Growth generates need He looked around at the alternatives, including Exonet and Exchequer. But Young eventually settled on Greentree. “It was the best fit for our business, with additional features that the others didn’t have,” he says. After a painless transition, Greentree went live at Hydroflow in September 2002. Les Young has been impressed by its capabilities. “I like the processing of sales orders, its reporting abilities, the ease of getting information out of it – detailed information is very good - IT processing and general functionality is very slick.” Seamless integration Greentree CRM module provides a solution that can be easily tailored to suit most businesses, with seamless integration into the core Greentree financial and distribution modules. Hydroflow has also purchased the CRM module, which it feels should be a great management tool to help with its marketing function. Greentree has given Hydroflow much better control over its stock. “It was very difficult to achieve with our previous system,” Young says, “but good stock control makes everything easier.” Young says Greentree provides customer and supplier balance history information in a much simpler way, too. Young also appreciates the way Greentree can handle a large data file. ”I like the processing of sales orders, its reporting abilities, the ease of getting information out of it — detailed information is very good — IT processing and general functionality is very slick.” Les Young, Financial Controller, Hydroflow Distribution “We use the same data file from year to year, so the size of it increases constantly. But with Greentree we have been able to retain all the information in a very detailed format.” Across the board, Greentree has enabled an easier flow of information for this plumbing supplies firm. About Hydroflow: Distributing a wide range of valves, pipe fittings and plumbing hardware, Hydroflow has a presence throughout New Zealand. It has built an excellent reputation in water reticulation, backflow prevention and farm water solutions. As Hydroflow got bigger over the years, its accounting and data requirements also increased.

Client: First National Real Estate Product: MYOB Greentree Industry: Property and Real Estate Challenge: Managing large volumes of expenses Shane explained that managing expenses was increasingly a monthly headache for everyone involved across the organisation. “We have roughly 25 credit card users who are based all around Australia,” he says. “A lot of our staff were sick of the process around collecting all their receipts throughout the month and putting them into a spreadsheet before sending them in.” However, as many businesses experience, the real issue started when the various managers in different states had to then reconcile and approve a multitude of spreadsheets and receipts. Incorrect or double entries, missing receipts and out-of-sync information all took its toll on being able to create a timely and efficient process. “We looked at the best way to improve our reconciliation system. We had looked at other alternatives but the fact I was working so well with Greentree made eDocs a really easy decision.” Solution: eDocs eliminates double entry Greentree eDocs reduces the time it takes between arrival and approval of an invoice or receipt. The information is entered once, eliminating double handling and the need to print the document. Expense receipts, invoice PDFs and emails can be captured automatically and entered into the system. While Shane was initially only looking for a better way to manage expenses, he quickly realised that eDocs offered up a much more powerful way for First National to manage all of its payments as well. “We could basically stop printing all of the invoices and having them manually coded,” he says. “We could then allocate them to all our managers and have those documents automatically flow through the system. One of the biggest things is the ability for the management team to code and allocate all of the invoices directly to their budgets. It gives them a better understanding of what happens in their direct departments.” About First National Real Estate: First National Real Estate, a customer of MYOB Greentree for over two decades, formed in 1981 as a base for setting up administrative services, marketing and training. Its Finance Director, Shane Ryan, uses MYOB Greentree to manage business procedures, financial reporting and compliance.

Client: Maria's Pasta / Maria's Select Foods Product: MYOB Greentree Industry: Food and Beverage What Has ERP Software delivered: Large quantities of Maria’s Pasta products are sold to caterers and wholesalers throughout Australia and export markets, in order to keep up with the demand its distribution system has to be flexible to its production style. General Manager Paul Italiano says that MYOB Greentree has enabled them to take Maria’s Pasta to the next level. “We have been able to re-engineer our sales process, but with the production process…the system, unlike many others I looked at, was flexible enough to fit around us, rather than the other way round. It’s offered us improvements and efficiencies, without forcing us to re-engineer.” With customers waiting for an immediate response to queries, efficient access to information is essential. Greentree provides an on-screen order inquiry facility that allows the team to find the status of orders by customer number, sales order number or the customer’s purchase order reference. Orders, packing slips and invoices can then be easily ‘drilled down’ for viewing the complete details and status of each line. The Greentree Workflow module then provides a dynamic desktop view, with information updated to all relevant desktops across the organisation as soon as it is entered. Debtor information can be included in financial desktop objects, making debtor management even easier and more efficient. Customer account reconciliations were lengthy and had to be re-keyed…now there is a more user-friendly system, saving administation time. Commenting on the quicker month-end processing, Paul explains, “Being date driven, Greentree is delightful! We have actually saved one day a month. It has taken a lot of pressure off.” What Maria's Pasta Say About Endeavour as a MYOB Greentree Partner "We’ve been using Greentree since 2000 (and CBA prior to that). The role of the Greentree partner is to understand our business and to help us leverage our investment in Greentree. For over 20 years we have had excellent support, primarily because the team at Endeavour understand our business and have the knowledge and skills to make Greentree work for us."

Paul Italiano, General Manager, Maria’s Select Foods

  About Maria's Pasta: Maria's Pasta manufacture, source and distribute large quantities of food and beverage products to caterers, wholesalers and the public throughout Australia and export markets.