Challenges
- Separate systems for finance, HR, and payroll
- Slow processes that were time consuming for staff
- Errors in processes required constant audits and rework
- Difficult to analyze real-time data to make decisions
Solutions
Results
- Integrated finance, HR, and payroll
- Automated, best-in-class K-12 workflows
- Standardized data sharing
- Real-time analytics and reporting
Northeastern Catholic District School Board, based in Ontario, services multiple communities in Northeastern Ontario with 14 schools. The Finance and IT teams knew their disparate processes across multiple systems were slowing them down and causing repeated errors.
The teams had been managing most of the finance, HR, and payroll processes across separate systems. They knew it was time consuming, error prone, and difficult to analyze data effectively. For example, the payroll team had to run a report from the payroll system, export it to Excel to manipulate it, and then finally upload it into the finance system.
“It could take up to three days to run a payroll report,” says Jessica Carriere, Manager of Finance. “Errors in payroll were common and required repeated checks, audits, and rework.”
Sometimes, if employee leave wasn’t entered by administrative staff, the employee would be overpaid, and Finance would have to issue an invoice to the employee to get the money back. All of these different systems meant data could only really be manipulated and analyzed in Excel, making real-time analysis almost impossible.
Searching for the Right Integrated Solution
Carriere partnered with Glen Nakashoji, Manager of Information and Communications Technology Services, to find the right finance, HR, and payroll solution.
“Beyond the software, we wanted to leverage best-in-class knowledge and experience in K-12,” says Nakashoji. “We wanted to benefit from a vendor who has worked with multiple districts before and can share some best practices.”
Finding a Partner, Not a Vendor
The NECDSB team reviewed a number of possible vendors before moving forward with the PowerSchool Atrieve solution and team.
“We looked at a number of vendors, but only one of them had K-12 expertise, were deployed in Ontario, and had the integrated solution we needed,” says Nakashoji. “We knew PowerSchool already had 114 districts across Canada, and that was very comforting.”
The district was looking for more than just a vendor. They were looking for a partner as well.
“PowerSchool brought in the full Atrieve team of experts,” says Nakashoji. “They really demonstrated they understood what we needed, and they had the resources to support us through the implementation and beyond.”
Deploying Integrated Finance, HR, and Payroll
“[PowerSchool] implemented the solution in record time,” says Nakashoji. “It was a good, quick win for us.” Fast implementation allowed them to use a fixed asset solution in month- and year-end.
Their next step is to complete the integration with HR and payroll by the end of the year.
“We’re on track for the fully integrated solution,” says Carriere. “This will really reduce the risk of human error and cut out all the manual processes, reviews, audits, and data entry.”
A key part of the final solution goes beyond streamlining processes to providing real-time actionable data to make better decisions. This will allow them to implement dashboards for principals and superintendents, giving them direct access to real-time data and the ability to correlate actuals to budgets.
“This will give us more time for analysis and recommendations, instead of spending all our time on processing and data manipulation,” explains Carriere.
