Kern
Formed in Switzerland in 1947, the Kern Group has gained
a unique place in the document management sector. Kern Limited was
formed in 1983, it currently employs over 115 staff and has a HQ in
Fareham, Hampshire.
The challenge
Kern has been using Access Dimensions since 2002, and from an
accounting viewpoint, the solution met the company needs. However,
as Kern continued to grow, the burden of manual timesheet
submission and input caused issues with the accuracy and timeliness
of project data.
Complex needs
Like many manufacturing and service companies, the majority of
Kern's costs are in labour. Over 90 per cent of Kern's staff are
field engineers, who manually log time to each project, which is
then translated into a cost and allocated to its relevant database
within the financial system. Sandra Richardson, Finance Manager
comments, "Accurate and timely processing of labour hours into the
costing ledgers is of key importance to us. Furthermore, reporting needs are
complex due to the differing contractual arrangements, covering for
example, overtime and callout costs." A dedicated staff member
spent much of their time entering and re-entering an incredible
22,000 manual timesheet entries each year, a job that needed to be
done meticulously to avoid errors.
Time consuming
As well as the need to improve overall efficiency, Sandra was
aware of the postal and filing costs associated with paper
timesheets. And as well as being time consuming, the information
within the system was always out of date since the data could never
be updated quickly enough. By insisting on an electronic system
that would update in real-time, Sandra knew that greater visibility
into the processing cycle would be achieved, speeding up approvals
and payment - and in turn, providing a better service to the staff
by giving the company much more up-to-date information. Sandra saw
Dimensions' web-enabled suite,
FocalPoint, demonstrated at her Access Dealer's user day and
realised this was the solution she had been looking for.
"Our investment has proved very good value for money,
paying for itself in 12 months based just on labour cost savings."
Sandra Richardson
Finance Manager
The solution
After a period of consultation, Sandra chose FocalPoint timesheets and
expenses modules. Being web-enabled, Kern engineers would be able
to enter data through a browser while off-site, and automated
alerts could be set up for approvals, before being sent directly to
the costing ledgers for efficient processing.
Company-wide acceptance
The system has dramatically changed company working practices
and attitudes, something Sandra attributes to its ease of use. "We
have been delighted with the acceptance FocalPoint has received
from our engineering staff, some of whom had limited experience of
computer technology. They found it so easy to use that within two
weeks of the training, they had fully accepted the new way of
working."
Customisable
A key strength of the solution is its ability to be
customised to fit specific working practices. Sandra cites this as
another key factor in the system's acceptance, commenting,
"FocalPoint has delivered preconfigured, easy-to-use timesheet and
expenses entry screens." In addition, the system is based around
logical workflows to speed up business processes, something that
Sandra finds of prime importance, "The approval workflow is
prompted by the software, meaning that approvers are proactively
notified so that they can process quickly, typically within 2-3
hours."
Meeting the requirements
The solution has met all Sandra's requirements - and the figures
speak for themselves. The number of manual data entries has reduced
from 22,000 to 3,000, a 90 per cent reduction in labour hours as a
direct result of integration between the core
ledgers and the timesheet and expense entries. "We're 'greener'
too," Sandra comments. "There have been significant savings in
stationery expenditure as well as elimination of the cost of
mailing paper copies to the office and filing them."
Further benefits
FocalPoint has also provided excellent return on investment.
Being web-enabled, the cost per
user licence makes it financially viable to roll the timesheet
functionality out across the entire organisation. Sandra comments,
"Our investment has proved very good value for money, paying for
itself in 12 months based just on labour cost savings." In
addition, bringing web enablement to the desktops of many more
users has changed working practices positively - and has, in turn,
"contributed to a big culture change within the workforce and
opened up the opportunity for continued growth."
When the time comes, most IT and Finance Managers know their software systems need to change but have a mountain to climb in persuading senior management to make the necessary investment.
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