Irwell Valley Homes (IVH) provides homes for general needs social rent, as well as specialist services in supported accommodation, for over 20,000 people across Greater Manchester. IVH’s mission is to ensure people live well in their homes and communities. However, to achieve their mission effectively, they needed a robust financial management system that could support their needs, improve efficiency, and provide accurate, real-time data.
The Challenge
When IVH came to Xledger they were facing a few challenges in their financial reporting and procurement processes:
1. Complex reporting requirements:
IVH was reliant on Excel-based reporting which was inefficient and time consuming and often led to delays in management reporting. Irwell required a system that would produce more timely and accurate reports in formats that met the needs of various stakeholders. The ability to report with the required level of granularity against multiple budgets and forecasts, was lacking and would need to be overcome.
2. An integrated system audit trail:
They required a system that provided a full audit trail that could track all user activities, particularly for supplier updates, workflows, and payment approvals, with detailed time/date stamps.
3. Inefficient Purchase-to-Pay solution:
IVH were using a third-party OCR solution which again was time consuming and labour intensive. Approvals for utilities and more complex invoices were completed outside the system. BACS payments were also approved and uploaded to the banking software outside of the Finance System. Irwell required a system with a fully integrated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and payment solution.
4. Improve user engagement with finance processes:
They needed a more intuitive system that would be easy for all users, including non-finance staff, to navigate and use. This included the use of real time self-serve dashboards and reporting capabilities.
The Solution:
After careful evaluation, Irwell Valley Homes selected Xledger as their cloud-based finance management solution, to address their challenges.
The integration is aimed at consolidating all property transactions into Xledger which can be used to aid processing and reporting processes.
The solution provided by Xledger streamlined the purchase-to-pay process by incorporating automated workflows, integrated payments, and OCR technology. Enhanced document management features supported the purchasing function, while automated reconciliations and the capability to manage partial VAT further improved efficiency. Fully automated integrated bank statements for multiple entities.
Xledger enabled Irwell Valley Homes to build core monthly management reports ready for Go Live, with the flexibility to create additional reports as needed. The system’s customisable chart of accounts and variable reporting dimensions allowed us to replace outdated Excel-based reports, significantly increasing efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness.
Xledger has provided an end-to-end purchase-to-pay solution (in-system purchase orders, OCR, workflow, document management, integrated payments, automated reconciliations, and VAT handling), supported by the payment integration with the Bank which connects seamlessly with the payment approval controls, improving security and audit trail reducing fraud risks and improving transparency for Irwell Valley Housing.
Xledger’s intuitive design made it accessible for all users, including those without a finance background. This was a key factor when we were selecting a new finance system, ensuring wide adoption across the organisation.
The Xledger experience
“We were impressed with the professionalism of the Xledger team throughout the sales and implementation process,” says Jeanette Pickup, Financial Controller. IVH highlighted the following aspects:
- Effective project management: The project was well-managed from the start, with a clear and precise project plan.
- Consistent communication: Weekly project meetings and consultancy sessions kept the project on track and helped build a strong working relationship between teams.
- Flexible and supportive team: Xledger’s team was always available and supportive, providing a mix of online learning through Equip and consultant-led training sessions.
“We very quickly built up a good working relationship with the project team which continued throughout the implementation. As the consultants were qualified accountants they were knowledgeable and able to challenge our thought processes when needed. Throughout the implementation consultants took time to discuss issues and offered multiple solutions for us to consider.
The Project Manager was supportive throughout the project, the weekly meetings were always productive and focused. In addition, the Xledger team were available for ad-hoc meetings at short notice if required.
Post Go Live, the quality of support from the Customer Service Team has remained as high as the Project Implementation team,” Jeanette continues.
The Result
With Xledger, Irwell Valley Homes now benefits from a financial management system that supports their mission. The organisation can efficiently manage its finances with improved efficiencies, transparency and customer service.
“We would recommend Xledger to the other Housing Associations, the process from arranging demonstrations to Go Live has been well managed at all stages of the project. Every member of Xledger we have interacted with has been professional and knowledgeable. At the start of the project, we set very clear objectives of what we wanted to achieve from the system implementation, which we recapped on throughout the project, ensuring we didn’t lose sight of them. Xledger has supported us in meeting all of the objectives to a high standard. We look forward to continuing to build our relationship with the Xledger team.” Jeanette concludes.
