Accounting software ensures university is ready for tough governmental targets

Colchester, UK - 30th July 2007 -Southampton Solent University has completed a major overhaul of its finance software as part of its investment to improve management information. This will support the University's planned growth in line with the government's target to see 50 per cent of young people entering higher education by 2010. The organisation, which recently gained university status, has been increasingly under pressure to find a solution that would streamline its business and provide the flexibility to provide management information accurately and quickly under the fierce competition to attract new students.

Godalming-based David Howard Consulting was appointed to carry out a systems audit and to project manage and implement Access Accounting's award-winning Dimensions solution.

Loretta Hartnell, head of accounting operations, commented, "Our student numbers are growing rapidly so it's vital that we have an efficient system for debt management. We have more than 16,000 students, each with varying degrees of debt, ranging from the cost of accommodation to a library fine. We wanted a system that could integrate our various data sources to produce a clear debt summary for each student. With this increased visibility, we are now able to manage debt much more effectively."

The ability to integrate Access Dimensions with the existing software solutions was essential to gain automatic reconciliation between the systems and avoid errors caused by re-keying information. There was also a need for better reporting features so that financial staff could produce their own customised reports rather than relying on the over-burdened IT department to produce them.

"The team at Southampton Solent University are delighted with the installation, in particular, the integration with the existing third party systems," said Loretta. "The Dimensions 'look and feel' is also easy for users to pick up."

The benefits of the new business and accounting software have been felt all over the University's campus - not just within the accounts department. Staff working remotely, who had previously relied on paper-based accounts, can now obtain real- time information on what a student owes by simply logging into the system.

With the increasingly testing challenges of the sector, Loretta is confident that the University has made the right choice.

"The majority of the higher education sector use the same software, but I firmly believe that the Access Dimensions solution has a higher level of flexibility and meets our very specific requirements. It may be breaking the mould, but we are already starting to reap the benefits from the new system which will help us to meet the targets we are currently facing."

For more information on Access Accounting and its range of software solutions, please contact 0845 3453300 or visit www.access-accounts.com

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