Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Chatham House Brings Its Affairs 'To Order'
Overview
Country or Region:United Kingdom
Industry:Not-for-profit
Customer Profile
Chatham House is one of the world's leading institutes for the analysis of international issues.
Business Situation
With 40 different cost-centres, and many ongoing projects, Chatham House needed a flexible accounting system that could provide real-time reports and allow detailed financial analysis.
Solution
Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® provided both the functionality and the flexibility Chatham House was looking for.
Benefits
More accurate measurement
Flexible reporting
Finance team is more strategic
Audits take 30% less time / "With Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® our management accounts take five or six days to generate, but under our old system it would have taken up to three weeks."
AndyCobbett, Head of Finance, Chatham House
Chatham House, formerly known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) is one of the world's leading institutes for the analysis of international issues. Founded in 1920, Chatham House is an independent research institute, think tank and membership organisation for individuals, corporations, governments and NGOs. Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains®(now part of Microsoft Dynamics™) provided both the functionality and the flexibility Chatham House was looking for.
Situation
Chatham House is one of the world's leading organisations for the analysis of international issues. Membership-based, it aims to help individuals and organisations to be at the forefront of developments in an ever-changing and increasingly complex world by working to stimulate debate and research on political, business, security and other key issues in the international arena. The Chatham House Rule, famous worldwide for facilitating free speech and confidentiality at meetings, originated here.
With 15,000 individual members and 267 corporate members, Chatham House carries out an extensive programme of research and regularly convenes meetings for leading experts, policy makers, politicians and business people from around the world. The varied programme of activities, which includes its conference and research programmes, are each treated as a separate cost centre. Within each cost centre, there are individual projects to control; in a typical year the finance department has to account for over 200 projects.
Chatham House had been using a financial system that would not allow its accounts department to access cost centres before the end of the accounting period. This inability to track a project's ongoing costs was proving problematic and created the initial pressure to invest in a new system.
"Projects run on tight budgets," explains Chatham House's Head of Finances Andy Cobbett. "So, close management of project finances is crucial. Better information means the difference between a project finishing within budget or with no money left."
Being a charitable organisation means that Chatham House has to follow certain accounting practices and that requires a flexible and adaptable financial system. Not least of which is the need to produce a variety of reports for different audiences, all with differing standards of financial expertise.
Solution
With 40 cost centres, 200+ projects and multiple funding streams, Chatham House needed a sophisticated finance application that would enable its accounts department to play a more proactive role in the operations of the organisation.
By choosing Microsoft® Business Solutions– Great Plains®, the finance department has resolved these problems, raised its profile internally and invested in a system that is both cost-effective and reliable. Selecting the right partner was central to achieving these goals, and this is where IT services group Touchstone was able to bring its considerable experience to bear. Touchstone TateBramald is a Microsoft Business Solutions partner with extensive experience in the charity and not-for-profit sector. This enabled it to get a thorough understanding of Chatham House's business needs and has contributed to the project's success.
"Working with a partner like Touchstone Tate Bramald, who understands our needs and ethos, has been a positive experience," says Cobbett. "Touchstone was committed to giving us an outcome we would be delighted with and its commitment gave us confidence throughout the implementation process."
Timing was also a concern; the new system had to go live within five months of the initial tender and the contract itself was signed less than three months before the live date—a short deadline by most people's standards.
Andy Cobbet explains: "We had to have the new system go live in April, so that it could run for a full year. This put plenty of pressure on Touchstone to implement on time and although everyone had to work very hard, we weren't disappointed."
Beyond these concerns, and looking at what the new system should offer, functionality is—not surprisingly—of paramount importance. "One of our priorities was that we wanted to be able to do automatic bank reconciliations; Microsoft Great Plains offers a very neat solution for this. The system also copes perfectly with late cash book entries," says Cobbett.
Benefits
One of the major improvements Chatham House has experienced since the implementation of its new system has been in the area of reporting. Using the FRx® report module, Chatham House was able to quickly establish a series of formats and frameworks for the reports it would need. The system allows for reports to be generated and emailed to recipients automatically. Rather than issue a 'one-size-fits-all' reporting format, the new reports have transactional data embedded in them, allowing readers to drill down to a level of detail that is right for them while keeping the top-line information easily digestible for all users. Issuing reports by email has given great efficiency gains and is a far more enjoyable way of working.
Cobbett says that because the new Microsoft Great Plains system offers so many improvements over the previous system and has much greater functionality, it is almost impossible to quantify the RIIA's return on investment. But there are a number of areas where key improvements can be identified. Again this can be seen with the reports the finance department now generates, as Cobbett explains: "With Microsoft Great Plains our management accounts take five or six days to generate, but under our old system it would have taken up to three weeks and even then, we would have been provided with far less information than we are able to get now."
It's a similar story when it comes to auditing; "We've saved about one week out of the three working weeks it normally took to conduct audits," says Cobbett.
Implementation of Microsoft Great Plains has transformed the way in which Chatham House is able to manage project finances, something that is at the heart of its activities. It has also given Chatham House a more efficient and effective way to issue reports—vitally important to any charity.
And in doing this, the new system has helped to transform the work of the finance department—it is no longer a reactive operation, but instead can offer strategic advice based on accurate information on project finances.
Cobbett concludes: "The more we use Microsoft Great Plains, the more we get out of it and it is helping to raise the financial awareness of people from outside the department. In addition to the efficiency gains, I feel that the new system has brought about a better approach to managing project finances than we could previously have hoped for. Finance is much higher up the agenda in the thinking of our client departments; people have trust in the financial information."
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship
and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to: