Stisted Church of England Case Study

Based in Braintree, Essex, Stisted C of E Primary School recently became an Academy, a public funded school that operates outside of local authority control. With the existing accounting software no longer relevant, DMC’s Accounting Platform for Academies proved the perfect solution for Office Manager, Elaine Davey.

Company name: Stisted Church of England (VA) Primary School
Company site: www.stisted.essex.sch.uk
Product: Accounting for Academies
Date: 23/03/12
Region: Essex
No Of Seats: 2

Summary:

In summary, DMC Accounting Solutions for Academies has enabled the Academy to:

• Increase efficiency and reduce administrative tasks
• Reduce operating costs
• Produce detailed financial reports to aid management decisions
• Manage charitable reporting requirements

Situation:

Elaine Davey explains: “Up until then we’d been using SIMS Software for Schools but I wasn’t convinced it could do everything we needed now we were an Academy. I’d been looking around at various alternative software packages and came across Sage.

“Basically I needed something that could handle the reporting we have to do to the YPLA, demonstrating how we’re spending the funds they give us. Our accountants had given us a list of possible software solutions and Sage seemed to tick all the boxes.”

However, rather than simply install the software and leave it at that, Elaine felt she needed a package that offered additional support. “After all we were planning to move our entire financial system to a completely new accounting platform, just one month after becoming an Academy. I needed a smooth, hassle-free transition at what was an exceptionally busy time.”

Why did Elaine choose DMC to supply, install and support the Sage platform? “Our accountants gave us a list of potential providers for us to investigate, I visited the DMC website and arranged a demonstration visit and was suitably impressed. Not only could they install and train us up on the system but they actually offered their own Accounting for Academies platform for the Sage software designed around the specific needs of Academies.”

Solution:

The DMC Accounting for Academies package promised to be simple to use and YPLA compliant, which was exactly what Elaine was looking for.

“Obviously it’s still early days,” she explains. “We’re only months into our new Academy status and are still going through a massive learning curve. So I can’t yet quantify how much time the Sage system saves me. But what I do know is that, without it, I’d be knee-deep in spread sheets.

“The new Sage platform simply pulls out the relevant information and puts it into the report that needs to go to the YPLA. It does what I need it to do and, in the future there are other pre-built reports available within the DMC Accounting for Academies platform so I can report to the Governors and so on.”

DMC came into the school to train Elaine and her team on the new Accounting for Academies platform. “We spent a day of scoping where we decided what we wanted. Then we had a day of installation when DMC moved all our financial information across from the old system, followed by a couple of days’ training and finally a day’s support when we went live. “DMC were really helpful throughout the training process and there wasn’t any pressure or anything, so it went very smoothly indeed.In hindsight I feel that going live at the start of training would have been beneficial so the training could be conducted on a live system.”

Benefits:

Has DMC and the Accounting for Academies platform lived up to expectations?

“Oh yes,” Elaine says, “Now we’re up and running it’s great to have a Help Desk I can call on whenever I have an issue. I usually get through to them first time and they’re all so approachable and helpful. They don’t mind talking me through the system and spending time explaining it to me.

“Oh, and I really appreciate the way they don’t treat me like an idiot because I may not always understand all the technical wizardry involved. Yes, they’re very good at giving me the help I need in a way that’s simple to understand.

“As for the software itself, well it ‘does what it says on the tin’, freeing me from all those spread sheets. And once we’ve got used to being an Academy I expect we will find that, yes, it’s saved us an awful lot of time and hassle! It was definitely the right move for us.”

In summary, DMC Accounting Solutions for Academies has enabled the Academy to:

• Increase efficiency and reduce administrative tasks
• Reduce operating costs
• Produce detailed financial reports to aid management decisions
• Manage charitable reporting requirements