Sports and Leisure Management transforms its business using Microsoft technologies

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1 Microsoft Customer Solution Customer Solution Case Study Sports and Leisure Management transforms its business using Microsoft technologies Overview Country: UK Industry: Entertainment and Recreation Customer Profile Sports and Leisure Management (SLM) is a specialist contractor providing managed services in local government leisure since Business Situation SLM wanted to gain control of its purchasing processes in order to address its problems with fire-fighting, as well as have a real time view of the company ' s financial information, to make more informed business decisions. Solution Migration from a Multisoft solution to a Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains solution running on an integrated Microsoft platform. Benefits Significant cost savings Improved business decisions Faster reporting Improved staff motivation Supporting SLM's growth vision "Bottom-line, the change has been that we are back in control. From the initial control of purchase ledger, there has been a ripple effect of benefits across the business." Jane Jebb, SLM Sports and Leisure Management (SLM) is a specialist contractor providing managed services to local government since 1987; currently managing 32 sports and leisure centres in Leicestershire, it employs 1700 people. Following years of local success, SLM wanted to become the leading contractor in the UK and felt that a more strategic use of technology could help achieve and manage its growth plans. A combination of technologies, including Microsoft Business Solutions-Great Plains at the heart of the solution, has subsequently helped SLM overhaul the financial management of its company, resulting in a transformation of its culture.

2 Situation Following several years of successful, rapid growth, SLM decided it was necessary to review financial processes across the company. It was apparent that its purchasing and budgeting systems were not effectively supporting the business, and in some instances causing significant problems and inefficiencies. The first issue to be resolved was the company ' s purchasing process. Each leisure site was managed by a branch manager, responsible for buying and receiving all goods. Suppliers sent invoices direct to the site, which were checked and signed off by the branch manager. The information was put onto the current IT system, Multisoft, linked to the head office which paid the invoice. However the technology did not provide a real-time, integrated view of the process, which meant that head office couldn ' t deal with supplier queries, as no one had visibility of where the invoice was in the purchasing process. Time was being wasted with head office chasing branch managers on queries which should have been automated, visible and actionable in the IT system. Additionally, if invoices were sent directly to head office, the problem of how branch managers check and sign off invoices would be left unresolved and SLM wanted them to retain responsibility for buying and delivery of goods. The second major issue was getting the branch managers to take responsibility for their budgets. The current IT system made it difficult to manage budgets people couldn ' t manipulate or extract the information they needed, and by the time they could get a report generated, the information was too out of date to influence business decisions. There was little comeback for over-spending on budgets, no reward for successfully hitting targets and ultimately, therefore, little motivation for taking responsibility for budgets. At the same time, the Multisoft system was felt to be unstable. It kept crashing, requiring four back ups every day to ensure information wasn ' t lost. To compound matters, SLM found out that Sage was withdrawing support for its Multisoft system. Says David Bibby, Finance Director at SLM: Our current IT system was not giving us the information we needed across the business, when we needed it. It was too difficult to get an up-to-date view of finances, with both targets and budgets proving meaningless. It became clear that we needed an IT solution that would simplify and automate our financial processes. We wanted to stop firefighting and start making strategic decisions about the business. " Solution After reviewing several alternatives, such as Systems Unions ' Sun Systems and Sage ' s Line 200 (the natural upgrade path from its current Sage dealer) it was clear that the Microsoft Business Solutions-Great Plains solution put forward by partner Sytation, a Microsoft Gold Certified partner, met its business requirements most closely. The Microsoft Great Plains system provided an integrated financial management solution for SLM, sitting on a Microsoft platform. This included Microsoft Windows Server 2003 as the operating system, Microsoft SQL Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 for and Microsoft Office XP at the front end for the leisure centres. In addition, Sytation introduced Microsoft ' s FRx Forecaster, a planning, budgeting and forecasting tool, which links directly into the Microsoft Great Plains solution. Nick Richards, head of sales and marketing at Sytation, says: SLM had specific

3 challenges which needed a unique IT solution. Microsoft Great Plains system was at the heart of the accounting solution, integrating the core financial data and automating the financial processes. To fully meet SLM ' s needs, we brought in additional partners to plug the gaps. It was a complex process to bring together all the different components of the final solution but the results have more than made up for the challenges. " Sytation brought in its sister company, Software Index, to supply a specific programme to address the invoice registration and approvals process, as well as VersionOne who supplied their scanning and document management solution. To reduce the management burden of this unique solution, Sytation brought in XKO, also a Microsoft Gold Certified partner, to host each leisure site. Now, each scanned invoice sits at the hosting centre, with each site having access to the relevant information. The hosted Microsoft Great Plains solution runs across each of the 32 managed leisure sites. David Bibby, Finance Director at SLM, comments: It ' s not often possible to be so positive about an IT project so complicated. Sytation understood our business very quickly, and the solution not only addresses our current requirements, it has room for expansion. If we ' d invested in getting more skilled and trained on the system, it would have been even easier. Despite this, Sytation showed great project management skills, which meant the system was up and running in four months from the actual placing of the order, delivered on time and within budget. " Benefits Just one year on from going live, the project has been a phenomenal success. Financial information across the business is now visible and real-time across each branch through to the head office, which has resulted in an immediate improvement in efficiency. With Microsoft Great Plains at the foundation of the IT solution, it has been possible to revolutionise SLM ' s purchasing process. Using Software Index ' Invoice Approvals and Accruals ' program, a clerk at head office simply enters each invoice into the Great Plains system, which automatically sends an to the local branch manager using Microsoft Outlook. With a hyperlink to a web server using Microsoft Internet Information Server, they can then log in to see the actual invoice that needs approving. This is done using VersionOne ' s document imaging and scanning solution. Each invoice has a barcode from which the scanner picks up the relevant information and automatically links the scanned data into the Microsoft Great Plains system. This gives branch managers the option to check the invoice before final approval. Introducing an automated technology system for the purchasing process closes the loop between head office and branch manager, greatly reducing the room for error. In addition, when branch managers raise an order using the Microsoft Great Plains e- Requisition module, head office is automatically informed. This provides head office with visibility of future invoices meaning that they can deal with most supplier queries. With purchasing invoices now centrally controlled, access to information is no longer a timely process resulting in less time firefighting problems with suppliers and deliveries. Branch managers are freed up and their jobs transformed. For the first time, effective budget management and forecasting is becoming a

4 reality. Using Microsoft FRx Forecaster, each budget holder is able to build up a total picture across the business of its finances. They can get access to the information they need, such as the current status of budgets. This is all real-time and automated, resulting in considerable time savings. For example, it used to be a cumbersome process to produce monthly accounts, usually taking ten days to get to a draft status and 17 days to get to a final version. Now, developing draft reports takes only five days with final reports produced within 10 days. David Bibby, Finance Director at SLM, comments: It ' s fair to say that the management of the company has been transformed as a result of this IT project. We ' ve moved from a position of fire-fighting to being able to make informed, forwarding looking decisions about the business. Our staff are motivated because when targets are achieved now, we ' re able to reward this and quickly. At the same time we ' ve made incredible savings and are more profitable. The business is in better shape than it ' s ever been we ' re delighted. " Jane Jebb, Finance Manager at SLM, says: Bottom-line, the change has been that we are back in control. From the initial control of purchase ledger, there has been a ripple effect of benefits across the business. Accounts can be produced easily. The information I get access to now means we can react and address problems quickly. We ' re helping managers manage the business better. We ' re looking at providing more detailed information, such as sales against each square foot of the gyms KPIs for each manager that we never imagined before. " The company is now confident that the financial data is accurate, up-to-date and meaningful. Employees are motivated because forecasts are now more realistic and achievable, with budgets more accurate. The savings which the new IT solution has delivered bring this to life. In the opening of four new sites, the company saved between 15,000 and 20,000. There was no requirement to hire more staff because the Microsoft Great Plains solution was so intuitive and flexible. The newly managed centres quickly turned around from a lossmaking situation to becoming profitable very quickly, each making 10,000 in profit. This is obviously a highly sustainable business model.

5 For More Information For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) Customers who are deaf or hard-ofhearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) in the United States or (905) in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: For more information about Sytation products and services, call or visit the Web site at: For more information about Sports and Leisure Management products and services, call or visit the Web site at: Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft FRx Forecaster are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Document published April, 2005 Software and Services Solutions Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains