White Rose Academies Trust

About White Rose Academies Trust

White Rose Academies Trust is a Multi-Academy Trust based in Leeds. The Trust consists of 4 secondary schools and a primary school. With a vision to transform lives through education and an ethos grounded in high aspirations, responsibility, and proactive behaviour, the Trust sought to modernise its financial management system to better support its strategic goals and growth plans.

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Previous System Challenges

White Rose Academies Trust faced several challenges with its existing on-premise accounting solution, Iris. The need for a more flexible, cloud-based system became evident as the Trust aimed to streamline its financial processes and integrate seamlessly with existing applications such as IMP for budgeting and Arbor for management information processes.

Key pain points included:

• Complex and time-consuming manual bank reconciliation and purchasing processes which had to be done manually via Excel Spreadsheets
• A manual budget management process which required data to be exported over to IMP and Arbor, proving to be time-consuming and inefficient
• Limited data protection and backup capabilities with an on-premise solution

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Objectives

To address these challenges,White Rose Academies sought a modernised finance solultion that would achieve the following objectives:

• A modernised true-cloud solution with scalable systems that would provide greater flexibility and accommodate growth as new schools join the Trust
• A streamlined and optimised Purchase-to-Pay process
• Automated and consolidated financial reporting for all academies within the Trust
• Custom dashboards to increase visibility of the financial performance of each academy
• Boost compliance and efficiency of VAT Return processes 

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White Rose Academies Trust + Sage Intacct

After careful evaluation, White Rose Academies Trust partnered with ION to implement Sage Intacct for Education. This cloud-based solution was chosen for its robust features tailored to the needs of Multi-Academy Trusts, and its ability to integrate with existing systems such as IMP.

ION successfully configured and implemented Sage Intacct for Education, providing White Rose Academies Trust with a comprehensive financial management system that addressed their key challenges and strategic goals. The benefits realised by the Trust include:

• Automated Processes: The new system removed manual processes such as bank reconciliations and purchase order management, significantly boosting efficiency and eliminating reliance on Excel spreadsheets.
• Integrated Systems: Sage Intacct is built to seamlessly integrate with IMP, allowing for efficient data transfer and consolidated financial management.
• Enhanced Reporting: Armed with real-time data and analytics, the Trust now produces accurate and timely management accounts, consolidation reports, aged creditors and debtors reports, all at the click of a button. Customised dashboards also allow the Trust to easily see the financial performance of each school with up-to-the-minute data.
• Data Protection and Backup: Cloud-based data storage ensures enhanced security and backup capabilities, providing peace of mind for the Trust's financial data that was previously stored on-site.
• Compliance: Sage Intacct for Education is MTD compliant, facilitating easy and direct submissions to HMRC.
• Scalability: A true cloud-based solution, Sage Intacct for Education is both scalable and ready to support the Trust's growth. With the ability to add new schools or users internally, the Trust has eliminated the need for ongoing consultation fees as they scale.

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What White Rose Academies Trust said...

Sam Bradley, Chief Financial Officer at White Rose Academies Trust, said:

“Sage Intacct for Education, implemented by ION, has revolutionised our financial management processes. The new cloud-based system is built to seamlessly integrate with our existing systems and provides us with automated reporting and enhanced data security. This transformation has enabled us to focus more on strategic growth and educational excellence. We received a strong and consistent delivery from ION and look forward to our ongoing partnership.”

By partnering with ION and implementing Sage Intacct for Education, White Rose Academies Trust has transformed its financial management, enabling greater efficiency, enhanced reporting, and robust data protection. This education-specific solution has brought the Trust into the modern realm of cloud-accounting while supporting the Trust’s mission and future growth plans.

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