Clarence Valley Council now has a state of the art accounting and property rating system that provides consistent financial reporting across the organisation.
Manager Financial Services, Ashley Lindsay, said business software solutions company, Technology One, was awarded the tender to implement the system.
“The system fully integrates the accounting, payroll, property rating, statutory building and town building approvals, human resources and assets systems of Council,” he said.
The challenges for the finance team have been many. The dispersed nature of the administration and operating environment of Council has made the task especially challenging. Additionally, Council has been faced with the integration and consolidation of six former Council accounting systems into one. Given that each system was essentially different in scale, scope and structure, this consolidation process has been resource intensive.
“A feature of the Technology One solution is its significant capacity to enhance workflow, productivity, electronic approvals and efficiencies,” Ashley Lindsay said. “This is particularly relevant for an organisation, such as Clarence Valley, with multiple operational locations.”
Director Corporate Services, Ross Bryant, said that these significant changes in systems and operational environments have been achieved within a very short timeframe.
“A process on this scale would normally take 12 months to plan and implement,” he said. “However, Clarence Valley Council achieved implementation in only five months. Little of this progress would have been possible without the dedication of staff who worked long hours against very short deadlines, while maintaining their existing work commitments. Building a single organisation while operating six independent financial systems has not been easy.”
Ashley Lindsay said the finance system is the heart of the organisation and its implementation has been imperative.
“The systems foundation has been set and we are moving forward and setting new benchmarks in financial management and reporting”, he said.
