Organisation

Doylo Lifestyle Group

Industry

PA Product

KEY POINTS

  • Doylo Lifestyle Group operates several venues that provide the local community access to multiple bars, restaurants, and entertainment and sporting destinations.
  • The group utilised three different systems to manage their financial and operational performance. This slowed down the reporting process and access to data insight.
  • Doylo chose Professional Advantage as their implementation partner to upgrade their systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Solver CPM platform.
  • The leadership team at Doylo is pleased with the reporting and budgeting processes automation they have achieved. They can now access timely and accurate reports they can run as and when needed.
  • Doylo Lifestyle Group are always looking to innovate and to improve their processes. As such, they are considering integrating Solver with Power BI to expand on the value they are getting from their data.

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The Organisation:

Located in New South Wales, Doyalson Wyee RSL Club Limited trading as Doylo Lifestyle Group (Doylo) is a member-owned lifestyle club. Their 30,000 members have access to community facilities, social clubs, and sporting events operating under brands that include Doylo, Sporties, Active Fitness HQ, and Raw Challenge.

With the acquisition of 55 hectares of land, Doylo is expanding to add housing, childcare, medical care, and a wellness centre, as well as a QSR (quick service restaurant) precinct.

Getting Started:

The Doylo leadership team knew that they were going to spend significantly in real estate development costs to expand the footprint of their community facilities. With multiple entities, projects, and stakeholders to manage, CFO Jason Willis decided that they needed an accounting and financial reporting system that could handle a high level of complexity.

“We were looking for an ERP solution that would allow us to continue on our growth trajectory and assist us in keeping track of major projects we have coming up. We also needed a reporting and budgeting system that would allow us to do all our detailed modelling on the different projects.”

Jason Willis, CFO, Doylo Lifestyle Group.

The company had been using three systems—an accounting package, a reporting tool, and a separate budgeting system—all of which were on-premises deployments that had become outdated. The reporting system pulled data directly from the accounting system, causing performance issues.

Reporting was slow, and it was difficult to make changes. The budgeting software was even more problematic. Every budgeting report had to be exported and manipulated.

Users would lose track of the correct version or make changes that impacted the formulas. When validation checks didn’t catch changes, such as changes to hidden fields, managers had to do tedious detective work. The overall process was manual, time-consuming, and error-prone.

Modernising Finance:

“Switching to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and adding Solver required a substantial financial investment, but it was absolutely necessary.”

“I cannot imagine undertaking a project of this size and scope without having modern technology in place. When we looked at total cost of ownership and savings in labour cost, our technology investment was easily justified."

Jason Willis, CFO, Doylo Lifestyle Group.

Doylo had worked with Professional Advantage in the past and trusted their recommendations and competency as a technology adviser. After a detailed requirements gathering phase, Doylo ultimately chose to move to Business Central for accounting and operations. They were impressed by the solution’s ease of use, affordability, and functionality. Plus, they could continue working with Professional Advantage.

“Professional Advantage was as detailed as we needed them to be, while keeping us focused on our larger vision. We trusted their guidance, and they worked seamlessly with Solver as one united team.”

Jason Willis, CFO, Doylo Lifestyle Group.

 

With Business Central up and running, the team turned their attention to implementing Solver for financial reporting, budgeting, and forecasting. The biggest goal was to be confident in the accuracy of their reports. Solver enabled them to standardise templates that could be used year after year.

“We built all of our corporate and divisional KPIs into our reporting. We do not calculate any KPIs manually. All the data is linked from Solver, so there is no risk of error, and the board of directors has confidence in the numbers presented.”

Jason Willis, CFO, Doylo Lifestyle Group.

Realising Results:

Today, nothing is done manually. Every division in the group—gaming, food and beverage, brand and marketing, wellness and recreation, operations, and property development—automatically run their own trading statements. They can also run their own budgets and reports as often as they want, which are then produced monthly for the board of directors.

Timely, accurate financial reports make it possible for Doylo to adjust variables to improve profitability and customer experience. For example, dining and gaming staff scheduling is updated weekly, based on projected attendance. The Raw Challenge mud runs use dynamic budgeting based on the number of participants.

Budget approval previously took months of back-and-forth emails and meetings. Now division managers can collaborate in Solver directly, making notes with feedback or questions. When the company decided to switch the start date of their financial year, all the reports immediately lined up to the new reporting periods. Doylo also found bonus features in Solver, like the ability to create an investment capacity calculator that informs them of cash available and potential debt they could take on. 

“The business is extremely happy and I am very confident with the implementation of Solver, Business Central, and with Professional Advantage. I identified the requirements necessary to grow and adapt with our developments and they responded effectively with innovative and flexible solutions. We are excited to develop further reports and templates and look to integrate Solver with Power BI in the foreseeable future.”

Jason Willis, CFO, Doylo Lifestyle Group.