Enhancing Financial Management for Early Childhood Centres with Solver Cloud

Background

Solver Cloud has proven to be a valuable solution for a large provider of Early Childhood Centres (ECC) in New Zealand. These centres rely on funding from both parents and the Department of Education, which is paid in advance based on projected attendance. However, this funding model necessitates careful analysis and reconciliation against actual attendance figures.

Challenge

The ECC provider faced challenges in managing funding effectively, particularly due to variations in child attendance. For example, holidays like Easter often result in multiple days of no attendance, complicating the reconciliation process. Additionally, accurately calculating key performance indicators (KPIs) and ratios of funding revenue to teacher and building lease costs required precise data management.

Solution

Solver Cloud addressed these challenges by providing robust analytical tools and data management capabilities. Key features of the solution included:

1. Real-Time Analysis: Solver Cloud enabled quick reconciliation of funding against actual attendance, allowing the ECC provider to respond promptly to financial discrepancies.
2. Accurate KPI Calculation: By utilizing eligible attendance days within a month, the provider could accurately calculate KPIs and assess the relationship between funding revenue, teacher costs, and building lease expenses.
3. Watch Category Feature: The ability to add a “Watch” category at the Centre Dimension level allowed centres with declining attendance to be grouped separately. This facilitated quick analysis and targeted interventions for centres needing support.
4. Custom Attributes: Solver Cloud’s flexibility allowed the addition of attributes to existing dimensions from the ERP solution. This capability streamlined the grouping and sorting of data, making it easier to create reports and budget templates.

Results

The implementation of Solver Cloud led to significant improvements in the ECC provider’s financial management:

• Streamlined Funding Reconciliation: The ability to quickly reconcile funding against actual attendance improved financial accuracy and transparency.
• Enhanced KPI Insights: Accurate calculations of KPIs allowed for better financial planning and resource allocation.
• Targeted Support for Centres: The Watch category feature enabled timely analysis and intervention for centres experiencing drops in attendance, promoting overall organisational health.
• Improved Reporting Flexibility: The addition of custom attributes facilitated tailored reporting for various stakeholders, including the Board, Finance Team, and Regional Managers, enhancing decision-making capabilities.

Conclusion

By leveraging Solver Cloud, the Early Childhood Centre provider transformed its financial management processes, gaining better insight into funding and operational efficiency. The solution provided the necessary tools to navigate the complexities of ECC funding, ultimately supporting improved outcomes for both the organisation and the children it serves.

Outcomes

By implementing an input screen for daily child attendance at Early Childhood Centres, we enabled real-time tracking of each centre’s breakeven status.

This immediate access to data enabled timely decisions, such as providing support, merging centers, or closing one to save costs. While hard to quantify, this daily awareness empowered quicker recovery actions, eliminating the need to wait for month-end results.