Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering

The challenge

Reducing finance workloads and modernising systems

‍

Running the finances of a 7,000-strong membership organisation was a big task for two hard-pressed part-time staff. The Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) allows members to pay their dues either annually or monthly, creating a lot of data in the CRM software that had to be laboriously reconciled with the finance system every week. Monthly management reports involved a lot of work in spreadsheets – and every January, the finance team put in days of extra work to get the year-end accounts ready for a February audit.

‍

The organisation knew it needed a cloud-based CRM system and that it would be impossible to integrate its on-premises Exchequer finance software with such a system. A move to modern, cloud-based products was essential.

‍

The solution

Two days a quarter saved on VAT alone

‍

CIPHE chose iplicit through a tender process. “iplicit was approachable and honest about prices and about everything else and the move was cost-effective for us,” says Natasha Fallows, Head of Finance. “It was so easy to change from Exchequer to iplicit. I could keep all my nominal ledger codes and everything went over seamlessly to iplicit. Our implementation consultant, Helen Gouldbourne, hand-held me through the whole thing, making sure we understood what we were doing at each stage before moving onto the next part.”

‍

The move to iplicit has brought a host of benefits.

‍

Automated partial VAT. CIPHE is partially exempt from VAT, which used to mean complicated manual calculations. “iplicit now works that out for me. That’s been a game changer and has probably saved me a couple of days’ work per quarter,” says Natasha.

‍

‍Prebuilt reports. “I’ve saved a lot of time on monthly management reports,” says Natasha. “When we had Exchequer, I had to download everything into Excel and do a lot of manual adjustment. In iplicit, I’ve created a report I’ve called Board Report and everything is perfectly set out there, the way I need it.”

‍

Forecasting and budgeting without spreadsheets. Natasha now does her forecasting and budgeting in iplicit. “I don’t export very much at all to Excel – I do almost everything in iplicit,” she says.

‍

Easier audit. iplicit makes it possible to store documents alongside each line item in the system – making audit simpler because the auditors don’t have to ask to see records.

‍

Faster approval workflows. Before iplicit, purchase invoices had to be send to staff for approval. Now, budget holders are automatically notified when invoices need approving and can respond online, saving a good deal of time.

‍

Testing in a sandbox. iplicit’s sandbox area is still available to the team, so when year-end comes around, Natasha and her assistant can practise any processes they haven’t done for a while.

‍

Ongoing support. The team has never had to wait long for support – and iplicit’s monthly customer webinars keep users up to date.  

‍

The outcome

Time saved and audit made easier

‍

The team has found iplicit to be a user-friendly system that’s transformed efficiency. “I’ve definitely saved a lot of time on the monthly management reporting. We’ve also saved a good deal of time in invoice workflows because iplicit has smoothed out that process a lot,” says Natasha.

‍

“Things used to be hectic between year-end on December 31 and audit in the first week of February – but that’s calmed down a lot. I don’t really see the auditors now because they’re happy to use their auditor login to iplicit and work remotely.”