Salterns Academy Trust

The challenge

Move on from unwieldy finance system and inefficient reporting

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The small central finance team at Salterns Academy Trust manages a significant workload. The team of five key staff members is responsible for the full breadth of financial operations across the trust. This includes setting up customers and suppliers, processing and paying invoices, raising sales invoices, managing debtors and creditors, overseeing ordering and procurement, and ensuring robust financial control. The CFO leads on management accounts, budgeting and forecasting.

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Due to the trust’s operating model, even processes not explicitly labelled as “finance” frequently sit within the finance function, particularly where ordering and procurement are concerned. The work is both high volume and time-pressured.

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These responsibilities are delivered from school premises in the busy environment of an expanding multi-academy trust. The trust operates four entities within iplicit – one for each school and one for the parent entity. Although the trust is a single legal entity for statutory reporting purposes, it is essential that each school’s financial position can be separated and reported individually.

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“Prior to implementing iplicit, the trust relied on an ageing finance system that had become increasingly unwieldy,” says CFO Vicky Bruce. “While it was technically possible to extract data, the system lacked flexibility and modern functionality. Reporting processes were cumbersome and inefficient.”

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The legacy system was heavily paper-based. Documentation required physical storage and manual circulation for signatures and approval. Only once documents had been physically signed and returned to the finance team could they be processed. This created delays, limited visibility and placed additional administrative burden on an already stretched team.

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The solution

Trust has a modernised, scalable system with strong controls

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iplicit has significantly enhanced efficiency across Salterns Academy Trust, with the CFO citing it as one of the most intuitive platforms she has used. Its clarity and simplicity of design have enabled rapid adoption across the trust and reduced reliance on workarounds or manual intervention.

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Key benefits include:

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Configurable workflows: Custom approval workflows have been developed, including journal approval processes that provide enhanced oversight and internal control. This flexibility allows authority levels to be clearly defined and managed in line with the trust’s scheme of delegation.

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Sandbox environment: This allows training and system development using live data without operational risk, supporting continuous improvement and confident system administration.

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Strengthened document management: The ability to attach supporting documentation directly to transactions within the finance system improves transparency, auditability and accessibility. For example, supplier terms and conditions can be stored alongside invoices, ensuring that relevant documentation is centrally available rather than held in isolated paper files.

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Integrated purchasing and expense processes: These are now fully embedded within the system. Budget holders can clearly see outstanding actions and approvals, and many utilise the iplicit mobile app to authorise transactions remotely. The authorisation dashboard provides clear visibility of items awaiting approval, supported by structured workflows that are straightforward and logically designed for non-finance users.

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Reduction in paperwork: Transitioning to a cloud-based platform has enabled the trust to eliminate the majority of paper-based processes and significantly reduce physical filing. Documentation is received via a central finance email account, removing the risk of invoices being held in individual inboxes. Any paper documentation that is received is scanned and uploaded to iplicit.

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Overall, the move to iplicit has modernised financial processes, strengthened internal controls and created a scalable platform capable of supporting further growth.

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As the trust prepares for that continued growth, it was essential to implement a system capable of accommodating additional schools without significant cost, disruption or reliance on external consultancy.

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“Experience of previous finance systems suggested that structural changes – such as adding a new entity – would typically require specialist intervention, often accompanied by consultancy fees and extended implementation timelines,” says Vicky.

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“In contrast, iplicit provided the flexibility to manage expansion internally. When the trust added a new school to the system, the process was straightforward and completed in only a few steps. There was no requirement to duplicate or rebuild an entire database, nor was there a complex configuration process.

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“This ability to adapt the system quickly and independently has reinforced confidence that iplicit can scale efficiently alongside the trust’s growth strategy.”

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The outcome

Expanding trust is finding more efficiencies

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The trust makes use of iplicit’s professional services to ensure that system configuration continues to evolve alongside its requirements. Implementation has not been viewed as a one-off event, but as part of a structured programme of continuous improvement. This approach enables the trust to benefit from ongoing platform development while maintaining stability and control in its financial operations.

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All members of the finance team regularly participate in iplicit’s Beyond the Day-to-Day customer webinars, which showcase system developments and enhancements. Following each session, the team reviews the features presented and assesses their potential application, ensuring system development is deliberate, aligned to strategic priorities and will deliver measurable value.

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One current area of focus is fixed asset management. At present, fixed assets are maintained manually via spreadsheets, with calculations performed and uploaded separately. Automating fixed asset management within iplicit is expected to deliver significant time savings, improve accuracy and strengthen financial control.

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“As the trust continues to expand, the intention is to use iplicit’s functionality more fully to drive further efficiencies,” says Vicky. “The system’s intuitive design and configurable workflows have already simplified processes across the finance function, providing a scalable platform capable of supporting sustained growth.”