Access Education Budgets & Finance saves Southwark Diocesan Board of Education Multi-Academy Trust over a fortnight a year in admin
Challenge
- Trust lacked visibility due to siloed accounting system in individual school
- New schools joining the trust using legacy budgeting software at most
- Finance systems not suitable for trust’s growth plans
Approach
- Access supported SDBE’s move to centralised budgeting and accounting software
- Trust also adopted DfE’s Chart of Accounts to improve consistency and automate manual tasks
- Comprehensive remote training provided to trust during Covid lockdowns
Results
- Efficiency gains – one day a month saved thanks to software
- Positive Ofsted for four schools within trust in early 2022 following challenging pandemic
- Web-based, central functionality and customisation of system contributing towards success
Overcoming issues
Southwark Diocesan Board of Education Multi-Academy Trust (SDBE MAT) is a busy multi-academy trust based in South London. With the government’s drive to academise all schools by 2030 and with SDBE’s potential for growth, the trust decided it would be best to move to centralised school finance software to futureproof their expansion plans.
While SDBE had been using Access’s finance and school budgeting software since 2017, the software was siloed in within each academy which became difficult to manage as more schools joined the trust. Changes in personnel within individual schools also drove the move to a fully centralised budgets and finance system.
Having your software has made life straightforward.
Adoption
“We did lots of preparation in readiness for the switch to the centralised system and because of this we were fairly swift in our move across” says Jo Chapman, Finance & Operations Business Partner at SDBE MAT and leader of the project. “Our phased approach took less than six months: Planning began in April 2021, the formal switch process commenced in June 2021, the software was made available mid-September and by October 2021 we were fully moved over to the centralised system.”
During this time, the trust also adopted the DfE chart of accounts and consolidated their supplier list which contributed towards the improvements they have experienced since moving to the centralised system.
“Throughout the process we were provided with excellent training and support by Access” says Jo “the implementation went smoothly and the instructions provided were accessible to everyone within the trust’s finance team, even those without a formal accountancy background”.
The best things about the software is the central functionality, that it’s web based and the level of customisation it can provide.
Results
As a result of adopting Access Budgets and Finance the trust has saved one day a month, which over the course of a year, means over a fortnight of time gained back thanks to the software. “The centralised module makes it easier to push out journals, which means we do fewer” says Jo “a big time saver”.
The trust moved to a centralised operating system over a challenging period with Covid lockdowns and disruption to contend with, yet despite this, the implementation contributed towards four schools’ positive Ofsted inspections in early 2022.
“Reporting for governors is very solid. We are also developing customised reports for the board and all stakeholders within the trust” says Jo. “Plus simple things like drag and drop functionality makes it easy for everyone to use. In summary, it just works!”
SDBE continues to grow and is currently in the process of onboarding a new school that joined on 1 September 2022. “We will continue to review the way in which our schools utilise the software and make changes to processes at school level” says Jo. ”Thanks to the software, it does the heavy lifting for us.”