Case Study: KLM UK Engineering save at least 2.5 days each month with Access Finance software

KLM UK Engineering Limited is a leading UK-based Aircraft Maintenance Repair Organisation (MRO) offering high-quality service and products from its head office location in Norwich, at Norwich Airport.

KLM UK Engineering has been based at Norwich Airport for 40 years, employs approximately 390 people and provides line maintenance support throughout the UK. The Company prides itself on having an experienced and skilled workforce, delivering superior service and high-quality products at a competitive price.

A quicker, easier, more reliable system

Before implementing an Access Financial Management system, KLM were struggling with some core functional challenges with their financial management software.

“From an IT perspective, one of the challenges we faced was that we had to connect back to our main site which is Air France KLM in Amsterdam, so all the financials had to be keyed in over in Amsterdam on a mainframe system. The connection back to Amsterdam was slow and at times went down, so we were looking to have a system in-house that we could have more control of” – Mark Walker, IT Manager

These connection issues had significant ramifications on the efficiency and productivity of the financial team at KLM.

“Our old software took 24 hours to update so, we were looking for something that was instant. We really needed something that could give us more accurate data, in a more timely manner.” Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

Aside from the slow running of the old system, there were also some key challenges when it came to usability of the software itself, that KLM hoped to address with a new system.

“In our old system things were different if you looked at creditors compared to debtors, which meant if you had one person working on creditors they couldn’t easily switch over and work on the debtors' side as well. The reason we chose Access was usability, every system in there is the same. Now if someone rings up with a query, whoever takes that call can now easily switch between the two and be able to answer the query.” Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

Streamlining time-consuming and error-prone processes

Since implementing its new system, KLM have seen vast improvements in the efficiency and accuracy of many of its key financial processes.

“As a combined package with all the different modules it’s helped us streamline and consolidate our internal process and bring it all under one umbrella.” – Mark Walker, IT Manager

Moving away from a paper-based system has meant that data is far more accessible and visible, across the company.

“The ease of getting the information out of the system is what we’re finding is one of the main advantages at the moment.” Andy Skitt, Finance Manager

It has also helped to save time in both processing and accessing information within the financial team.

“I’d say the main benefit we’ve had is just ease of use. Before it was just time-consuming to go hunting for paper copies of invoices. Now it’s instant, you can find the record you’re looking for and see it in detail, you can see the double entry straight away without having to go through multiple screens.” - Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

The ease of use, streamlined processes and better accessibility of data Access Financial Management Software provided KLM had an instant impact on the efficiency and productivity of the core finance team.

“The software’s made my job quicker I’d say. There are tasks I’d do before that would take a long time, journals in particular. Our payroll journal had about 150 lines, and it would take 2 hours to implement and put into the system, now I hit one button and it’s done. On top of that, it’s then in the accounts straightaway whereas before it would also take 24 hours to update so it’s made a big difference.” Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

These improvements have had tangible benefits when it comes to the company’s month-end processes. Not only has the software saved the team time, but it has afforded them the freedom to do more with their information, adding value to the process overall.

“For month end we work to a very strict timetable. Using the old system it was very difficult to meet those timescales. With Access Financials, we can now do month end in a day and a half, which gives us an extra two and a half days to analyse the figures and make sure everything’s accurate before we consolidate the information to KLM/Air France on the fifth working day. So, it’s just freeing up our time to do other things, to analyse the data rather than just number crunching.” - Andy Skitt, Finance Manager

Wider company benefits from additional modules

Since first implementing its Financial Management System, KLM have introduced a number of other modules to their suite of software. The first of these was an expense system, delivered through Access Workspace. This has helped KLM to replace a formerly paper-based and error-ridden process that had caused them problems and delays in the past.

“Previously people would send us paper copies of expenses, we would enter it into an excel spreadsheet, check all the data, check the receipts against paper copies, it was quite time-consuming, and full of lots of errors as you can imagine” – Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

This time-saving has not only been felt within the finance team, but also across the wider business.

“The biggest benefit for me is having the workspace app. If I’m out and about and I get an invoice I can just scan it straight in on my phone and then I’ve got all my receipts ready to go so I don’t have to go through the laborious exercise of filling in an Excel spreadsheet, attaching all the receipts, it’s now all digital. It’s probably been one of the best features that we’ve implemented.”

Digitising expenses has also given KLM a much more comprehensive view of spending activity across the business.

“Access Workspace has definitely improved our visibility of expenses. Before we had no idea what expenses were out in the company, waiting to come to us. Now we can view what status they’re at, we can see if anyone’s got a record they haven’t actually fully submitted to us, then we can make sure they get paid for it. It’s just better visibility all around.” Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

KLM has also implemented a project management and purchasing system.

"If I need to look up an invoice, I now have the ability to look up a supplier, pull up an invoice, and check on the history and records, whereas before I’d have to phone up one of the guys in finance and get them to find me the paper copy. With this system, I’ve got much quicker access to the information I need. Mark Walker, IT Manager

"I would say adding Access’ project management solution to our portfolio has definitely made things more accurate" Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

“For services like hotels, taxis and miscellaneous purchases we were still using a paper-based system. We wanted to get into the 21st century, but we couldn’t use our other automated system because that was for aircraft parts so we chose to implement the Access project management solution as it integrated directly into our financial management solution.” Andy Skitt, Finance Manager

The team have found that since implementing the new system, the process has become a lot smoother and more efficient.

“Before we had Access’ project management system most of our commercial orders were done on paper. Things could get lost and it’s just not a very good way of recording anything so, for us it was really good to have it digitally, just tidying up that whole process basically and actually matching invoices against it was a lot more efficient.” Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

Support and training KLM UK Engineering can rely on

KLM have developed a really good relationship with the team at Access and have found that at every stage of their journey, the support provided by Access has been top-notch.

“From an implementation and support point of view, we’ve been very impressed with the level of support we’ve got from Access.” – Andy Skitt

Though rarely needed, it’s a comfort to the teams at KLM to be able to reach out the Access Product Experts if they have any queries.

“From my perspective as IT manager the support model is simpler, so I don’t need to go to like three places to support three different things, I now just come to Access support which has been marvellous. My team fully praises the Access guys on the service desk. They really rate the guys and the responses they get.” – Mark Walker, IT Manager

But reactive support is just one element of the relationship with Access that KLM have benefitted from. From implementation to ongoing use, Access have also been proactive in helping KLM get the most out of their Financial Management System.

“The ongoing support is really good. We get almost weekly reminders about webinars that we can follow, and they have been very useful. We’ve implemented changes subsequently because of those webinars, some of our processes have definitely improved because of the webinars we’ve been able to view.” – Claire Tattersall, Deputy Finance Manager

Download case study in PDF format