Efficiency is easy for Cheltenham All Saints’ Academy with the Access Edu Suite and Managed Payroll service

Rick van Driel, Director of Finance and Operations at All Saints’ Academy, Cheltenham has over 15 years’ experience in the education sector working at both multi-academy trusts and private institutions. Having worked at different times in bursar, finance and data roles as well as managing various schools’ IT operations by now Rick recognises quality school finance software when he sees it.

A good school in a strong financial position, ASA Cheltenham is seeking to incorporate other schools into a multi-academy trust prior to the government’s 2030 deadline. Part of this process relies on being able to provide solid transparent financial reporting, which the integrated Access software suite allows seamlessly.

“It simply just works” says Rick. “Staff aren’t wasting precious hours looking for information, it’s just so easy to get data out of our systems. Colleagues can find what they’re looking for at the click of a button and provide information quickly to auditors and governors too”.

Already a user of Access Education Finance and Budgets, ASA Cheltenham felt it was common sense to incorporate Access school HR software as the systems work well together and the pricing is affordable.

Many schools continue to use the local authority’s payroll service while they go through the process of academisation. Rick was keen to move away from this and have one complete system with Access’ school HR software and managed-payroll service linking up to their existing budgeting and finance software.

“Access Education’s licence fee is very competitive, and we could add as many users on as required, it’s the best product for what our school staff need” says Rick. “Being cloud based is really beneficial too and the software helped us out during the Covid-19 pandemic with staff being able to use it at home.”

“Robust systems from Access allow decent processes to be put in place which adds priceless value to the school” says Rick. “The finance and budgets modules were implemented very smoothly, and training provided was more than adequate, though our staff find the systems very easy to use thanks to great help functions and guidance”.

Rick says the Access product suite helps contribute to ASA Cheltenham’s strong financial position thanks to the costs saved since having the software. He also comments that the software will easily support any school transitioning into a large multi-academy trust.

“Overall our experience is really positive, and we highly recommend this software to other schools” says Rick.