“Our teams can create meaningful budgets with the data and insights they receive from both solutions.”

Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

The Organisation:

Mingara Leisure Group is a not-for-profit organisation that operates five registered clubs within New South Wales, comprising Port Macquarie, The Entrance, Roselands, Blue Mountains, and the original club of Mingara on the Central Coast. Mingara began life in 1971 when a meeting of locals identified the need for a community club. The purpose they specified, which still stands true today, was:

To provide a significant contribution to the quality of community life.

Through this statement, Mingara Leisure Group work to give back to the community through the facilities they have available, inviting in and reaching out to the community, and providing resources to support the community.

Mingara Leisure Group has over 400 employees, 90% of whom are the front facing staff in the various clubs. Whilst all the clubs operate independently with their own general managers and teams, Mingara Leisure Group resides across the top of the groups, bringing them all together and providing support services, finance, group marketing, high level property services, and ICT.

The Need:

Mingara Leisure Group’s financial and reporting requirements had been met for more than a decade by Microsoft Dynamics GP—implemented and supported by Professional Advantage (PA)—and an internally purpose-built reporting solution. When the team began to re-evaluate their use of Dynamics GP, it made sense to also reconsider their reporting solution. Ultimately, with the support of PA, Mingara Leisure Group made the decision to migrate from Dynamics GP to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and upgrade their reporting solution to Solver.

You can read more about this in our case study with Mingara Leisure Group discussing their migration to Business Central here, and our case study about their upgrade to Solver here.

The Solution:

Migrating their ERP solution to Business Central was always the intention.

“Business Central was always the solution we would move to from Dynamics GP.”
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

Therefore, the options for a reporting solution were dictated by what was available for Business Central, and what PA was able to provide. Jet Reports was the initial option, but it was clear that this would not meet the requirements in the long-term. Fortunately, PA had only recently added Solver to their solution portfolio, and quickly brought it to the attention of Mingara Leisure Group.

“Immediately we could see that Solver was the solution for us. It was flexible, easy to use, offered simple report writing, and provided fully functional P&Ls. Department managers are also able to comment on their P&L which was a big bonus for us.”
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

The Results:

When making the most of two different solutions, the seamless integration between them is vital; Solver offers this with many Microsoft solutions, including Business Central.

“The integration between Business Central and Solver is so seamless that we forget about it.”
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

This also ensures that data is correct in the individual solutions, accurate and identical across the solutions together, and up to date. This is a welcome change from dealing with inaccurate data being present in their previous solution and coming through into their reporting, and links not always being maintained.

“The two solutions operate very well together, and the data connection is perfect. If it is in Business Central, it is in Solver, and vice versa.”
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

With the reassurance that all of the information they are working with is correct, the team can focus on utilising this data and integration in their processes. The automation that this collaboration offers has been a significant improvement for the organisation. Prior to Solver and Business Central, they required someone to create reports manually, including changing data and updating information. This left them vulnerable to human error and was incredibly time consuming.

“The big one for us is that, after creating a suite of reports in Solver, we select our driver and budgets, and we receive the information immediately. We have saved 1 person 2 days a month.”

Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

As this process, like many others, is automated, it allows multiple people within the organisation to complete it.

The ability to drill-down into the data is present in both solutions, and the ease of use, ability to find information, and uncomplicated aesthetics have been credited with encouraging staff to reach for knowledge themselves.

“Users can drill-down through various levels of detail and self-serve to their requirements. No longer do they have to go to finance to obtain relevant information.” 
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

By housing all the data and insights of both solutions in easily accessible formats, the team are able to act on this information with more confidence.

“Our managers and teams have more responsibility. They are able to use the information so readily available to them, and that they know is accurate, to report, plan, and budget. They can then be held accountable with the trust that their information is reliable.”
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

The Future:

Planning beyond the benefits already experienced, Mingara Leisure Group intend to utilise the jobs module of Business Central and build reports in Solver to allow for better visibility. Knowing that they can expand reports, and as they gain more experience and familiarity with the solutions, the team are becoming more confident in asking what is next.

“There are discussions in the business about what our team wants to see, what other data we can bring in, and how we can create visualisations. Everyone is keen to grow and develop. We are also reaching out to PA so they can bring their experience to our future planning.”

Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

As in their plans for Business Central and Solver individually, they are looking into what Microsoft Power BI can bring to their organisation.

“Power BI connects with both solutions. We have seen examples of some high-level templates, so look forward to exploring this in the future.”
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.

The implementation and integration of these two solutions is helping to lead Mingara Leisure Group into the future.

“We are running with new technology, fully compatible with Microsoft, in the cloud, and accessible anywhere by anyone. This is a big part of our transformation journey.”
Cathy Studte, Project Accountant, Mingara Leisure Group.


You can read about the individual implementations and success of Business Central and Solver within Mingara Leisure Group in the separate case studies.
Mingara Leisure Group and Business Central.
Mingara Leisure Group and Solver.

You can also read about the relationship between Mingara Leisure Group and Professional Advantage in this client story.