CU Jul-Aug 2020

CASEstudy
Groundworks in operation on a typical building site
T & W Civil Engineering ‘diggers at the ready’
Accounts department had to keep paper
copies of everything. If anybody needed an
invoice, whether it was the surveyor or site
manager, it became a time-consuming
process obtaining it.
EASYBUILD IMPLEMENTATION
A decision was made to change the
accounting and procurement systems with
EasyBuild being the preferred supplier. The
software has been up and running for close
to 10 months now and has brought a
number of benefits to the business, solving
the challenges outlined above.
Adam outlined the benefits of the new
system. "We now get real-time information.
Orders generate committed costs within
the system, providing us with a view of the
costs incurred by site at any point in time,
without relying on invoices being received.
This is particularly useful for surveyors
when they're doing monthly valuations, and
from a buying perspective we can now run
reports and see trends on a weekly, or even
a daily, basis.
"We can also supply managers with more
information," he continued. "Orders placed
directly in the system link to cost headings
for each product, improving the accuracy
and depth of management information. For
example, rather than a high-level view of
our overall material spend we can now see
how much we have spent on every single
product on every site and track the trend
each month."
That gives T & W greater confidence in the
figures they can generate, as all of the
detail is obtained and posted based on the
order (which is at product level) rather than
when the final invoice is input. Accruals are
also more reliable due to the creation of
committed costs at order stage.
Benefits have accrued in other areas as
well. EasyBuild has increased support for
the commercial team, and surveyors can
now see costs in real time, drilling down
into each transaction and pulling up
invoices directly on screen thanks to the
system's document management
functionality, enabling them to carry out
their role without delays.
The old system of invoice matching has
now been replaced with one that matches
them automatically, with orders raised
directly in the system, and the process for
querying items or clearing them for
payment has been made much easier.
Accuracy and speed of use have also
been improved, with both the procurement
and accounts processes integrated into a
single system. The amount of information
that needs to be keyed in and the time
incurred from raising the order to
generating the payment has been reduced
- and there are further options within the
system that the company can use to
reduce this further.
LEVERAGING OTHER TOOLS
Supplier’s invoices are received in a
number of formats - including scanned
paper documents and emails - and T & W
is now looking to automatic the collection
of invoice details from these, perhaps
using OCR technology or other EDI
platforms.The company is in the process of
implementing a system of on-site
requisitions using EasyBuild's mobile app.
This change is key to the business and will
provide another layer of automation and
help reduce the risk of the wrong products
or quantities being ordered. The company
are also looking to implement budget
controls to help them track material usage
against expectations.
STAFF RESPONSE
Adam said that there was some
nervousness and reluctance within the
office initially as many of the staff had been
with the company for a long time and knew
the previous systems like the backs of their
hands. Change is always difficult, he
explained, and no matter what role is
performed, the impact of change is always
one of the main considerations that have to
be taken into account - both in choice of
supplier and the implementation process.
Within a few weeks of using EasyBuild,
though, the feedback was good, and it
became second nature
Asked to define the outcome of the
company's choice, Adam was very positive.
"EasyBuild is a relatively simple system.
This, however, is one of its strengths rather
than a weakness. We saw more
comprehensive systems when looking for a
supplier, but we felt the additional
complexity would bring more complications
rather than benefits."
www.easybuilduk.com
July/August 2020 21