WorkPac

WorkPac solves financial reporting challenges with IBM Cognos and Cortell

WorkPac is a leading recruiter specialising in the mining, construction, office support, professional and health sectors.

Since 1997 it has achieved significant growth and now has 26 offices and over 300 employees, located in the mining hubs of Australia.

They are one of Australia’s Top 500 private listed companies. Listed as one of the Australia’s Top 100 fastest growing companies they have also appeared in the Queensland Business Review’s feature on top companies.

Time to modernise

Andrew Crealy, Chief Financial Officer joined the company in 2007 as Operations Manager for Finance. His task is to manage the day to day running of the financial and accounting reporting and improve the commercial running of the business.

In 2008, Andrew decided it was time for WorkPac to look for a new finance system for forecasting and budgeting. They needed a system that could sit well with the company’s existing platform and one that would enable the forecasting and budgeting to be conducted and produced online.

“When I joined the company we were producing reports in hard copy and sending them out to the branches. It took 3 weeks to produce and mail out the monthly accounting reports and this was just too long. By the time the branch managers received their reports they were already focused on closing the next month rather than the sales and profit budgets,” said Andrew.

Making a decision

WorkPac shortlisted 4 companies and made it clear that their final decision would be based on functionality and price. They were determined to find a solution that was not totally reliant on external consultants to fix and upgrade. It was also important that the maintenance could be done in-house.

The IBM Cognos TM1 product stood out because it allowed WorkPac to stage the roll out and development of the solution. The initial phase would have an Excel look and feel, and then move to a web-based model. This made it more user-friendly and helped with the change management program.

“We were particularly impressed by Cortell and the IBM Cognos team who took our real data and then presented their product using our information. This helped with the final implementation and made the handover better than imagined,” said Andrew.

The flexibility of the IBM Cognos solution was important. It needed to be easy to implement and maintain so that WorkPac would not be constrained by the availability of external consultants if they needed to adjust the solution to meet their business requirements.

The seamless team

“The IBM Cognos, Cortell and WorkPac employees worked seamlessly together as a team. The combined breadth and experience in the 3 companies created a depth of market reach that we could capitalise on in other areas of our business and the relationship has now become a strategic one for us.

“Overall the implementation went very smoothly and there were no insurmountable issues. The project was completed using only 60% of the budget and in half the expected time. It was a dream run, really,” said Andrew.

Highlights

Instead of having the information available in 3 weeks, it is now available on day 3. This has improved the profitability of the company, with the latest figures showing record growth for the company with nearly 340% profit line growth.

“Our communication lines are now truly open in the business and this enables my team and me to be business partners to our managers rather than just accountants. Our focus is on achieving growth and profitability and not on questioning data.”

“The customer service we received from all three companies and the commitment they have shown to our business is well above average. It has increased our confidence and assures us that we’ve made the right decision; these kinds of investments are not cheap. The results have been fantastic and we are looking forward to developing the solution even further,” said Andrew.