Project Description

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Overview

Scotch College, located in the Western region of Australia is one of the top private schools for boys in the city of Perth. It provides education for students from pre-kindergarten to year 12.

Business Challenge

One of their biggest administrative challenges centered around workforce planning. Inconsistencies in the data they were using when planning staffing needs caused significant challenges in establishing realistic budgets and effective staffing schedules.

How Access Analytic Helped

In their search for a better workforce planning solution, Mr. Anthony and his project team reviewed several different options, including ones from Adaptive Insights and Crowe Technologies. They even considered just using Power BI. Although a few of the options they were considering had elements that they liked, Scotch College found that Solver had a better workflow option compared to the others, and it was more intuitive to use. They also considered Solver because it would allow their own users to self-manage changes to their reports and input templates.

As part of the selection process, Scotch College worked with Solver APAC’s partner Access Analytic to assist them with the implementation.

The initial project plan included integration of human resource, payroll and general ledger data into Solver for the reports Scotch wanted. In the beginning the primary users were expected to be the CEO and CFO. The setup would also provide a few reports, such as forward enrollment, to a few other co-workers, along with the ability to export PDF reports to several more.

Prior to Solver, Scotch College would utilize Crystal Reports to provide this, which would then require IT support to get involved. Once the system is fully operational, the reporting capabilities will likely change. Scotch realizes they will need to devote a little more time and resources to plan that rollout more strategically.

Going beyond financial data management, Scotch College uses Solver to report staff demographical information to the Commonwealth. They have also begun using Solver to forecast enrollment numbers several terms and years forward with better accuracy. One of the positives Scotch College has come to realize is the ability to customize the application to suit the school’s particular requirements for reporting.

Solver’s performance has exceeded Scotch College’s expectations. It performs their critical processes really well and is more powerful than they expected. One minor challenge is that it can be a little more complex at the beginning, but once you understand the basics, the features and setup make sense. If you are an “enthusiastic amateur” it might take you a little longer to get up to speed, especially if you only use it once every so often.

The best features of Solver that Mr. Anthony has found so far: “The reporting tool and the flexibility to tweak and modify reports quickly to suit our purposes,” he mentions. “The fact that our own users can make the changes themselves is a huge advantage. The fact that there is no longer a need to have IT support our reporting efforts saves not only time but frustration in having to wait on someone else before you can finish your own work.” Additionally, Ian mentioned that the college has a newfound level of confidence in the accuracy of the data used in their reports.

Business Benefits

  • Ability to customize the application to suit the school’s particular requirements for reporting.
  • Increased confidence in the accuracy of the data used in their reports.
  • Accurate forecasting for enrollment numbers.
  • Increased efficiency and time-saving.