The finances of the child and family health organisation, which as well as the national society includes 124 legal entities and 629 branches, are managed by a Wellington-based financial team.

Plunket general manager of finance and information systems, Alison Molloy says the existing eight year-old system was unable to provide the organisation with the financial information it needed, when it needed it.

“Our existing system had not been updated for some time and was pretty basic. It was not at all flexible and much of our data wasn’t captured centrally, making information retrieval for our monthly reporting complicated,” says Molloy.

“We needed a system that would support our business processes by automating some of our manual processes, such as uploading budgets. We also need high quality, easy-to-read management reports to help in our decision-making, to ensure our resources are being used effectively.”

Following an intensive tendering process Plunket chose Microsoft’s Navision over other solutions, and selected technology partner Topaz Solutions for the implementation.

“I had heard good things about Navision before, such as its use of dimensions that enable flexible reporting. This would mean we could report on a chosen area of service within the organisation on a national level, providing us with a whole picture of the country, to enable us to plan better,” says Molloy.

“One of the other benefits is that it integrates with Microsoft Excel. Many of our users are not very technical, but most have a working knowledge of Microsoft Word or Excel, so even though this was new technology it was not scary.”

“At Plunket we take our financial responsibilities, and how we spend our stakeholders’ money, very seriously. The Navision project has been a medium-sized financial investment, but the key is that it is future-proofed. It allows us to operate better now and will allow for any growth and changes in the future.”

John Lockhart, relationship manager at Topaz Solutions, which has been working with Navision since 2000, says the solution will be an important foundation for Plunket’s growth.

“As Plunket continues to grow and its reporting requirements continue to increase, the organisation’s financial information system needs to have the flexibility to adapt to the changing information needs. Navision was a clear fit for them.”

David Guy, partner group manager at Microsoft Business Solutions, says Navision will allow Plunket to focus on its important organisational activities by streamlining its reporting processes.

“Plunket has been able to replace its entire existing system with Navision - a single fully integrated solution that connects everyone in the organisation to who they need to be connected to,” says Guy.

Molloy says implementation started in December 2004, is tracking well towards its completion goal of the end of June.

“We chose Topaz Solutions because they had done their homework. They had thoroughly researched us and demonstrated how they understood our complicated information needs. Also they more than met the partner evaluation criteria of experience, culture, resources, commitment, track record and reputation. They clearly know what they are talking about.”

For more information about this case study contact
Anne Frith
09 362 5865
askdynnz@microsoft.com
Microsoft New Zealand
PO Box 8070, Symonds Street, Auckland

January 2006

Free whitepapers on ERP
from Microsoft