Housing Association customer achieves 60% efficiency benefits from solution
Fortis Living, the Worcester-based Housing Association, has been shortlisted for the Best Innovation in Financial Technology/Software award at this year’s HANA (Housing Association’s National Accountancy) Awards. The recognition is for its use of Advanced’s Collaborative Planning (CP) solution.
Since using CP, Fortis Living has achieved up to 60% time saving for central finance staff regarding their budget work. This is largely down to centrally controlled data access, which allows users to view relevant information, yet only alter what they have authority to change. Internal controls are strong and time is not wasted by managers having to search for their cost centres. The CP solution from Advanced delivers real-time devolved budgeting and planning collaboration, ensuring managers are empowered to proactively manage their budgets.
“As part of our careful management of arrears and rent loss through voids, Advanced’s CP solution gives us great visibility and repeatedly highlights the financial position to those responsible. Finance staff are no longer spending their time just getting the data together, they are using their time to gain insight from the data and inform adjustments to plans going ahead” commented Andrew Williams, Group Accountant at Fortis Living.
Mark Dewell, Managing Director – Commercial and Third Sector – at Advanced, comments:
“This award shortlist validates the efficiencies and positive impact that our Collaborative Planning solution can deliver and is a validation of the success in how Fortis Living has embraced the software. This solution is very flexible and has been tailored to meet the needs of every budget holder, despite their wide-ranging responsibilities, including both capital and revenue. Housing Associations are increasingly having to stretch their resources as far as they can and this is a great example of technology delivering real resource returns.”
In addition to administrative savings, CP has played a big part in helping Fortis Living gain clarity over its financial position and support decision makers in making the right decision. For example, its integral workflow system which automates the way in which forecasts or proposed budgets are submitted by budget holders to senior managers, and then authorised (or rejected) by senior managers, helps keep track of their manager’s progress, highlighted through simple colour coding. There’s also a full audit trail providing transparency at every step of the financial processes.
Advanced has a strategic relationship with Capita, who delivers the solution to Fortis Living. The CP integrates with the housing management solution from Capita that Fortis Living also uses.
The HANA Awards celebrate the most pioneering and innovative finance teams and individuals in the social housing sector. The winners will be announced at the lunchtime awards ceremony on 6 July 2017 at the Radisson Blue Portman Hotel in London, which will be attended by Fortis Living, Capita and Janette Martin, Managing Director – Strategic Partnerships & Alliances – at Advanced.
