Transforming Tertiary Education Financial Management with Solver Cloud

Background

Tertiary education institutions face unique challenges when it comes to managing complex operational data, particularly with multiple courses in which students enroll. The need for efficient data management and financial oversight is critical in this environment.

Challenge

Unlike early childhood care (ECC) settings, tertiary education requires sophisticated tracking of various operational data sets, including courses, properties, and payroll. Integrating these diverse data sources into a cohesive financial management system was a significant challenge. Without a streamlined approach, the institution struggled to maintain accurate financial reporting and budgeting processes.

Solution

Solver Cloud, combined with its Data Warehouse capabilities, provided the institution with the tools necessary to address these challenges. The Data Warehouse allowed for the integration of various operational data sets, ensuring that any data saved had a direct impact on both the operational and General Ledger data sets.

Key features of the solution included:

1. Budget Templates: Solver Cloud enabled users to create budget templates that followed a structured process. For instance, in payroll management, users could run multiple iterations for wage increases and finalize the data before summarizing it by entity, cost centre, and other relevant categories.
2. Automated Updates: Once the final payroll data was saved, a separate template could be executed to automatically update the General Ledger with the budget values, ensuring consistency and accuracy across financial reports.
3. Enhanced Template Design: Solver Cloud’s attributes for grouping and sorting allowed for the clever design of templates. Users could create nested expanding groups, significantly reducing design time compared to traditional ERP reporting tools, which often require hard-coded columns and rows.

Results

The implementation of Solver Cloud yielded remarkable benefits for the tertiary education institution:

• Streamlined Financial Processes: The integration of operational data sets into a single system allowed for more efficient financial management and reporting.
• Improved Budget Accuracy: The ability to run multiple iterations and automate updates reduced the risk of errors and enhanced the accuracy of financial data.
• Time Savings: The clever design capabilities of Solver Cloud minimized the time spent on template creation, allowing staff to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Conclusion

By adopting Solver Cloud, the tertiary education institution transformed its approach to financial management, gaining better control over complex data sets. The solution provided a robust framework for budgeting and reporting, ultimately supporting more informed decision-making and operational efficiency.

 

Challenge

The development company relied on operational data sets that were distinct from their General Ledger data. This separation posed difficulties in accurately modeling financing, particularly regarding bank facilities and swap rates, which are critical sources of funding. The actual interest rates were tied to the Reserve Bank’s 90-day Bill Rates, and understanding how to incorporate swap rates into the financial model was initially daunting.

Solution

Solver Cloud emerged as a powerful tool to address these challenges. With its flexibility and specialist capabilities, it enabled the development company to build a comprehensive funding model.

The solution involved creating three budget templates along with a final Profit & Loss report:

1. 90-Day Bill Rates Template: This template served as the primary driver for the other two templates.
2. Bank Facility Template: Updated with the latest 90-day Bill Rates.
3. Banking Swap Rates Template: Also updated concurrently with the new rates.

The process was straightforward: once the 90-day Bill Rates were saved, users could open the Bank Facility Template, apply the new rates, and save the data. This was replicated for the Swap Rate Template, ensuring both interest templates accurately reflected the total interest costs in the General Ledger.

Implementation of Input Flow

A significant enhancement provided by Solver Cloud was the introduction of the Input Flow function. This feature streamlined the data entry process. With Input Flow, users only needed to enter data in the 90-Day Bill Rates template. The Bank Facility and Swap Rate templates would automatically update their calculated values at the database level, significantly reducing the number of steps required and increasing data accuracy.

Results

The implementation of Solver Cloud allowed the development company to efficiently manage their financing model, resulting in:

• Enhanced accuracy in interest cost calculations.
• Streamlined processes that reduced manual entry and potential errors.
• Improved overall efficiency in financial operations.

Conclusion

By leveraging Solver Cloud, the property development company successfully transformed their approach to financing major construction projects. The solution not only simplified the modeling of interest rates but also provided a robust framework for ongoing financial management, ultimately leading to better decision-making and improved operational efficiency.

Outcomes

In Tertiary Education, integrating financials, courses, properties, and payroll into Solver Cloud significantly streamlined the budgeting and forecasting process, reducing it from days or weeks to a matter of hours.

Managers overseeing courses, property, and payroll can now view the company-wide financial picture, and when department heads receive their budgets, the input template is already 90% populated. They only need to enter their direct expenses, resulting in a major process improvement.