Centage Case Studies Strategic Budgeting Ensures Success of Community Support Programs for Wood’s Homes

Edit This Case Study Record

	Strategic Budgeting Ensures Success of Community Support Programs for Wood’s Homes Centage

Strategic Budgeting Ensures Success of Community Support Programs for Wood’s Homes

Centage

Technology Category	Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries	Healthcare & Hospitals
Services	Training
Challenge	Wood’s Homes, a multi-service, non-profit children’s mental health center based in Calgary, was facing a significant challenge in managing its financial operations. As a large organization with over 450 staff and 100 volunteers, it provides 35 programs and services for 20,000 children and their families each year. The Finance Manager, Pat Keppler, was responsible for more than 122 financial statements, across 35 programs, many backed by 5-6 different funders. The organization was using a traditional spreadsheet-based approach to budgeting and forecasting which lacked the capabilities necessary to effectively manage the large volume of data. With over 7,000 account codes and associated individual budgets, the organization needed a more strategic financial tool to manage effective growth and continue to support the needs of its community. Read More
About Customer	Wood’s Homes is a multi-service, non-profit children’s mental health center based in Calgary. With over 450 staff and 100 volunteers, Wood’s Homes provide 35 programs and services for 20,000 children and their families each year in Calgary, Lethbridge, Canmore, Strathmore, Fort McMurray and Fort Smith, N.W.T. Founded as an orphanage in 1914 by Reverend George Wood, Wood’s Homes is today recognized across Canada for its innovative services, some of which were the first in Canada, and is widely recognized as a knowledge and training center in the field of children’s mental health. Read More
Solution	Wood’s Homes turned to Budget Maestro from Centage to better manage the budgeting & forecasting process, and lay the foundation for long term success. After just four days of in-person training, Pat had a working budget model and was up to speed and confident in the solution and her ability to leverage the technology to simplify and streamline daily responsibilities. The solution allowed Pat to manage various budgets based on a number of parameters – % of manager time/salary, number of staff, amount of funding allocations of support costs to all departments, etc. By automating the budget process, Pat could easily report on the funders requirements and, with the click of a button, prove the program budget is being allocated appropriately and/ or if there is a discrepancy or change needed, Pat could easily make that change which would cascade down and be reflected throughout the budget. The solution also allowed Pat to better manage balance sheets and cash flow fluctuations, something not possible with Excel, and develop accurate income forecasts. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Healthcare & Hospitals

Services

Training

Challenge

Wood’s Homes, a multi-service, non-profit children’s mental health center based in Calgary, was facing a significant challenge in managing its financial operations. As a large organization with over 450 staff and 100 volunteers, it provides 35 programs and services for 20,000 children and their families each year. The Finance Manager, Pat Keppler, was responsible for more than 122 financial statements, across 35 programs, many backed by 5-6 different funders. The organization was using a traditional spreadsheet-based approach to budgeting and forecasting which lacked the capabilities necessary to effectively manage the large volume of data. With over 7,000 account codes and associated individual budgets, the organization needed a more strategic financial tool to manage effective growth and continue to support the needs of its community.

About Customer

Wood’s Homes is a multi-service, non-profit children’s mental health center based in Calgary. With over 450 staff and 100 volunteers, Wood’s Homes provide 35 programs and services for 20,000 children and their families each year in Calgary, Lethbridge, Canmore, Strathmore, Fort McMurray and Fort Smith, N.W.T. Founded as an orphanage in 1914 by Reverend George Wood, Wood’s Homes is today recognized across Canada for its innovative services, some of which were the first in Canada, and is widely recognized as a knowledge and training center in the field of children’s mental health.

Solution

Wood’s Homes turned to Budget Maestro from Centage to better manage the budgeting & forecasting process, and lay the foundation for long term success. After just four days of in-person training, Pat had a working budget model and was up to speed and confident in the solution and her ability to leverage the technology to simplify and streamline daily responsibilities. The solution allowed Pat to manage various budgets based on a number of parameters – % of manager time/salary, number of staff, amount of funding allocations of support costs to all departments, etc. By automating the budget process, Pat could easily report on the funders requirements and, with the click of a button, prove the program budget is being allocated appropriately and/ or if there is a discrepancy or change needed, Pat could easily make that change which would cascade down and be reflected throughout the budget. The solution also allowed Pat to better manage balance sheets and cash flow fluctuations, something not possible with Excel, and develop accurate income forecasts.

Impact #1	Significant time savings due to Centage’s tight integration with both the personnel system and the organization’s accounting system.
Impact #2	Personnel information is transferred seamlessly into the solution in less than one hour.
Impact #3	Ability to easily populate a new budget for a new program which previously took a week to develop by inputting the data by hand.

Impact #1

Significant time savings due to Centage’s tight integration with both the personnel system and the organization’s accounting system.

Impact #2

Personnel information is transferred seamlessly into the solution in less than one hour.

Impact #3

Ability to easily populate a new budget for a new program which previously took a week to develop by inputting the data by hand.

Benefit #1	Reduced time spent on inputting personnel data into the excel document from 3 days to less than one hour.
Benefit #2	Reduced time spent on developing a new budget for a new program from a week to minutes.
Benefit #3	Ability to re-budget a department, add new programs, and eliminate programs within minutes.

Benefit #1

Reduced time spent on inputting personnel data into the excel document from 3 days to less than one hour.

Benefit #2

Reduced time spent on developing a new budget for a new program from a week to minutes.

Benefit #3

Ability to re-budget a department, add new programs, and eliminate programs within minutes.

Download PDF Version

Overview

Strategic Budgeting Ensures Success of Community Support Programs for Wood’s Homes

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit