The far-reaching positive impacts of effective school finance systems School management software providers are increasingly complexity around the time and insights required to stepping up and supporting schools by releasing new manage multiple school finance systems Additionally, solutions that overcome emerging challenges in the with the majority – around 90% of a school’s budget is education sector The latest finance software solutions spent on salaries, rates, bills, and examinations – it’s no being released for example, are highly beneficial to wonder that schools carefully consider the remaining finance staff in terms of greater efficiencies, visibility budget and how it should best be spent of finances and accuracy Yet they also have far wider positive implications for multiple schools such as multi- Making lives easier through the use of finance technology academy trusts (MATs), a variety of school departments, in schools will greatly contribute towards reducing the as well as teaching staff and students pressures associated with managing school finance By upgrading the core finance system in schools, both administrative and finance functions will improve, and School finance challenges Budget pressures and uncertainty, National Insurance and pension costs, the National Funding Formula, monitoring standards and rising pupil numbers, all contribute to stresses and insecurities around school finance In addition, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, while spending per pupil is now being maintained in real terms between 2017 and 2019, if you take the whole of the spending review period from 2015 to 2019, the impact of inflation and increasing pupil numbers means a real-term cut of nearly five per cent MATs, academies and maintained schools all similarly feel financial pressures, with the latter facing additional teaching, learning and school management will also be enriched as a result Here we explore the finance system functionalities we believe will have a positive impact on all schools, academies and MATs – based on qualitative research – in their daily working lives when faced with finance management challenges Complete financial management from one platform Cloud-based and easily accessible Multiple logins, duplication of information, staff quickly and easily accessing school finance information making decisions based on information stored in regardless of time and location Particular areas of the disparate systems These ways of working are becoming system should be locked down with varying levels of increasingly outdated and inefficient – even in one permissions for different staff members depending on single maintained school, not forgetting how difficult the layers of required confidentiality – for example this must be for multi-academy trusts, working from around salaries Being cloud-based enables greater different school systems and getting to grips with where efficiencies and time-savings, with staff seeking out and money is being spent across schools The future of finding the information they need the instant they need school, academy and MAT financial management must it Plus a cloud-based system ensures the information be a single consolidated financial view from one single staff access is up-to-date and in real-time, providing a platform – to keep on top of where every penny is spent good basis for accurate decision making A cloud-based system is the recommended option for or received in real-time An easy to read dashboard Encrypted, secure and GDPR compliant Many school finance systems - built up over the years With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and enhanced with add-ons - have become complicated deadline now well behind us, many organisations are to use and may no longer provide schools with the still considering what else could or should be done to streamlined snapshots of information they need A ensure compliance A school, academy or MAT finance simple, intuitive interface with a holistic view of a system holds vast amounts of confidential data and school/schools’ finances is what is now required by should be secure enough to guard against hackers or finance staff and senior leadership teams - without mobile devices getting misplaced As well as providing information slicing and dicing for hours on end efficiencies, time savings, visibility across academies and more – it should also provide peace of mind, security and compliance without creating extra work or requiring additional budget Reporting, forecasting and improving financial activities With the introduction of performance related pay, many schools experienced an unprecedented layer of complexity to their finances Yet school finance software can help significantly The ability to accurately forecast teacher pay budgets means you can have greater cost control and improved tracking of money coming in and going out A school finance system should also offer flexibility If you want to see a report created in a certain way and reporting on a specific area, your systems should be able to deliver this for you with ease Your systems should be able to create bespoke dashboards to monitor key financial information so you can identify areas of financial risk or ways to make cost savings The detail Deep and layered insights should be available to you through your school finance system You may not need every single insight each week or month, yet having it there for you if you need it is important, particularly for MATs needing multi-layered insights into groups of schools You might need to see a particular transaction or dig into an anomaly; or compare departmental or academy-wide spending Whatever you need to see, having the detail to hand rather than spending hours searching for it is a must Detail does not mean complexity however; accessing the system should still be simple regardless of the level of detail it provides No surprises Some school finance software providers may charge extra for additional users and if this affects you, your costs could fluctuate annually There are providers who offer their products on an unlimited user basis and this is far more beneficial if you are seeking greater control over your outgoings The future of school, academy and MAT financial management must be a single consolidated financial view from one single platform A simple transition Workflow transparency Schools are often reticent to upgrade their finance With so many tasks being automated in business these systems because it can be seen as disruptive, time days, why not automate in schools too? For example, consuming and complex Yet there are a number of there’s no need to walk from one end of the school to the providers who can manage the entire process for you other or put something in the post to one of your schools and ensure there are no hitches along the way A finance if a finance system can automate this for you With some system upgrade that isn’t professionally managed can school finance providers embracing automation, your cause unnecessary increased workload for IT teams and teams could benefit from using intelligent workflows to finance staff A system that is fully implemented and streamline key financial processes For example: ready to use without issues will allow your staff to hit the ground running, and begin to make efficiencies from the start Ongoing technical support should also be available and you’ll need a team you can trust so your IT team and • Activities such as authorising transactions can be automatically notified to the appropriate user, based on predefined rules • You should also be able to import data for activities finance staff aren’t spending hours trying to get the like journals and bank reconciliation and have the system up and running again if there is a glitch ability to export information directly to Excel Who benefits? If you are in the process of sourcing a new finance system Once you have all of these in place and you have chosen for your academy or MAT, ticking off all of the above your preferred system, the positive impacts will be far- would be an ideal first step towards ensuring the solution reaching and will benefit the following stakeholders in you choose is fit for purpose the following ways: If you are converting to an academy, an effective finance system will ensure you have the data Your academy and financial systems in place to effectively manage your new responsibilities It can provide you with all the functionality an academy or academy converter could need If you’re a multi-academy trust you need excellent control over all your schools’ finances An up-to-date system will enable you to gain insights from each schools’ finances with ease For example, you will be able to identify which schools are achieving good pricing from their suppliers Your MAT and then see if there is a way to work with this supplier across all your schools Deeper insights across schools will provide you with opportunities to identify potential areas of cost cutting Plus, by using this factual evidence you’ll be able to share best practice across schools Having the right finance systems in place will also provide you with data upon which to base your future expansion plans Finance and administrative teams Business Manager Director of Finance Without doubt your finance and administrative teams will benefit from the implementation of a new school finance system They will need to adapt to the change, yet by selecting a comprehensive system that saves time and is intuitive to use, the outcome will be highly positive Business Managers and Directors of Finance need reliable evidence from a trustworthy and realtime finance system that is automated and accurate Any errors will have been minimised due to less reliance on spreadsheets and paper-based documents An effective finance system provides them with clear, concise and correct accounting to support strategic planning Through the use of a new finance system your leadership team will have a complete financial Leadership teams picture and forecast right across the school or trust Alongside this they will have increased confidence when talking about your finances because the numbers in the system will be up-todate and accurate Dated finance systems are often a drain on your IT resource who may be receiving a number of IT teams calls each week and endeavouring to make it work as you need it to By investing in a new fit-forpurpose system, you can free up the time IT spend on your old system and they can work on more proactive tasks instead Teachers and learners With less of a focus directed at spending time sorting out the finances, you can spend more time and effort on teaching and learning, and your school development plan Without administrative and financial distractions, the focus shifts back to your main purpose – teaching and educating your learners The implementation of any new software in any organisation is often seen as challenging – even more so in time-poor and financially-stretched education establishments Yet, how long can your school, academy or MAT continue with finance software that isn’t capable of delivering the tasks your teams are working on? In light of the difficult financial landscape schools are facing at the moment, there is only so long schools can continue working on spreadsheets or using pen and paper to manage finances Even an older school finance system may be doing more harm than good The implementation of a new modern school finance system can have a multitude of far-reaching positive impacts on the whole school, departmentally and for a range of stakeholders, from senior leaders to students About SIMS The SIMS management information system is now at the centre of 21,000 schools in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and internationally in over 40 countries Our award-winning product range enables schools to manage student and staff information across all areas of school life To support the efficient running of academies, MATs and schools, we also have a financial solution that has been designed by experts with over 30 years’ experience in building finance solutions for the education sector This is a unique proposition capturing the needs of educational finance users at its heart The solution consolidates SIMS data that is already used by thousands of customers every day from one interface, providing financial management for an academy or multi academy trust in a safe, scalable and trusted environment If you are considering sourcing a new finance system that is fit for purpose for your school, academy or MAT, now and for years to come, find out more: Call: 0800 170 1736 Visit: www.capita-sims.co.uk/finance Capita SIMS, Franklin Court, Priory Business Park, Cardington, Bedfordshire MK44 3JZ t: 01234 838080 | f: 01234 832036 | e: sales@capita-cs.co.uk | w: www.capita-sims.co.uk A trading name of Capita Business Services Ltd Registered office: 71 Victoria Street, Westminster, London SW1H 0XA Registered in England No 2299747