The Organisation:

Canberra Labor Club Group (CLCG) is a hospitality organisation comprising four licensed venues within the Australian Capital Territory, the first of which (Canberra Labor Club) opened in 1979. The group also includes a hotel, a conference and events centre, and various commercial properties around Canberra.

The group is dedicated to supporting the local community through sporting teams, community organisations, and its range of amenities including sporting and gaming facilities, function spaces, and diverse dining options.

CLCG has approximately 200 staff, with 15 of those being the back office and administration team based out of the head office at the Belconnen venue.

The relationship between CLCG and Professional Advantage (PA) began more than 15 years ago when CLCG transferred their Microsoft Dynamics GP support to PA.

The Need:

CLCG faced a decision regarding their financial and operational software. They were using an older version of Dynamics GP, for which support was soon to expire. Historically, CLCG upgraded to a newer version of Dynamics GP every 3-5 years, but this time they were posed with the question of whether to upgrade their Dynamics GP or implement a whole new solution.

A compelling option for them was Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, a solution they were initially made aware of through their relationship with PA.

The Solution:

Business Central is an enterprise resource planning solution offered by Microsoft. It is a cloud-based solution and is therefore the ideal candidate for organisations transitioning away from on-premises solutions.

“Utilising Business Central in the cloud provided us with improved access and flexibility.”
Simon Wallace, Chief Financial Officer, Canberra Labor Club Group.

Microsoft release a major update to Business Central twice a year, and being in the cloud allows these updates to happen automatically, ensuring that organisations don’t fall behind on updates and are always on the newest version and have all the latest features.

“With Business Central there is always something new, and with the automatic updates, we receive those improvements straight away. Our solution is immediately better and more efficient with every upgrade.”
Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

Adopting the latest version of Business Central also ensures the security of the solution and CLCG’s data.

When it came to selecting the right partner for CLCG and their Business Central implementation, they never felt a need to look beyond their current partner of PA.

The Results:

Achieving a paperless and fully digitised environment was a key objective for CLCG.

“With Business Central, it was a natural progression to a paperless environment.”
Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

CLCG are processing 500 invoices a week, a process that has now been moved online which has eliminated the need for in office and archive storage.

“When you want to find an invoice, whether recent or archived, you just go to Business Central.”
Simon Wallace, Chief Financial Officer, Canberra Labor Club Group.

Everything is now managed online across all departments, enhancing remote work capabilities and improving work-life balance by accommodating personal lives and circumstances.

“The ability to work remotely without diminishing output or affecting processes has led to more efficiencies.”

Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

The move to online invoicing facilitates good relationships with suppliers as the team no longer have to cater for lost invoices, and has significantly reduced the stress of audit time.

“We simply give auditors access to Business Central, saving us time and money.”
Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

The streamlining and automation of processes thanks to the introduction of Business Central has significantly improved efficiency. Information can be entered directly into Business Central without formatting information or setting up tailor-made integrations, and errors are not only quickly identified, but are also easily rectified.

The user-friendly design of Business Central has made operations much smoother, with key areas identified including:

• Reporting and the ability to drill down.
• Quick and simple navigation.
• Simultaneous work on multiple areas or windows.

Restructuring their data was also a key objective of the project. In doing so, CLCG have merged their multiple clubs into one company within their systems, saving substantial time across various processes.

“Instead of processing and reporting on multiple separate companies, it is now one process. This has eradicated processing between clubs.”

Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

CLCG’s Business Central solution was tailored specifically to their needs thanks to the expert consulting team at PA.

“Our consultant was highly experienced in both Business Central and Dynamics GP, and the longevity of our relationship with PA meant they knew our business. They were able to customise our solution and create an environment that was familiar, aligning with previous features we relied upon, whilst also enhancing our processes and user experience.
Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

PA also ensured the setup was designed to facilitate ease of use, with dashboards and welcome screens appropriate for various users and minimal clicks between processes.

The team now enjoys better visibility, with real-time questioning accommodated during management meetings; immediate issue identification possible from across the teams; and quick problem resolution.

 
“Our users can self-serve promoting a proactive approach to both utilising the system, and learning more about what can be done. They know the information is available and accessible.”

Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

This increased accessibility and transparency has fostered greater accountability across the organisation.

It is no surprise that the time savings experienced by CLCG have been significant, and include:

• Reducing invoice processing from 1 week to a couple of days.
• Approval processes that once took 2 to 3 days now return to finance within a few hours.
• Half a day a week of filing is no longer required.
• The ability to rectify errors has gone from 1 hour to almost immediate.

The Release Management service provided to PA Business Central clients as part of the Client Care Program is consistently proving its worth in managing the regular updates from Microsoft.

“Our PA Release Manager ensures we receive all the relevant information and notifications and prepares us for a successful update. Proper attention is paid to us during this process and we feel supported.”
Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

Reactions to Business Central have been highly positive.

“The team, including upper management, can access Business Central and subsequently see what is happening in the organisation and the value the solution brings.”

Shane Perceval, Financial Controller, Canberra Labor Club Group.

The Future:

CLCG are committed to continuous improvement and are already planning the next steps in further enhancing their operations.

“We are always looking for new ways to improve our systems.”
Simon Wallace, Chief Financial Officer, Canberra Labor Club Group.

These include improving reporting capabilities which will lead to even greater visibility of finances; progressing through stage 2 of the project as they explore additional solutions that integrate with their existing systems, such as Microsoft Power BI; and further increasing automation and digitisation with Business Central add-ons.

These future plans are ones PA look forward to being a part of as the partnership between PA and CLCG continues.

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