academy brochure 8pp layout 1 22/04/2014 11:15 … it from a budgeting and planning tool into a ......

Get on top of Multi Academy Trust budget planning

Education Budget Planning

Academy Brochure 8pp_Layout 1 22/04/2014 11:15

Orovia’s Budget Planning Software is a web basedsolution that has served the education sector for over 8years and is now used in over 2,000 educationalestablishments. Many Local Authorities includingOxfordshire, Warwickshire and North Yorkshire use BPSexclusively as the platform they provide their schoolswith, in order for them to produce in year budgets and3-5 year forecasts.

BPS is now used in the following educational arenas:

n Maintained Schools

n Academies

n Multi Academy Trusts

n Umbrella Trusts

n Hard and Soft Federations

n Secondary Schools

n Primary Schools

n Free Schools

n Special Schools

n Pupil Referral Units

n Nursery Schools

The Orovia development team are engaged in anongoing programme to enhance BPS with a number ofadvanced features. Existing features already in BPStransform it from a budgeting and planning tool into areal Business Manager’s ‘Budgeting Toolkit’

Introduction

“The software is intuitive and thecompany are readily accessible andquick to resolve queries. I would

recommend BPS without hesitation.”Business & Finance Director - Faringdon Academy of Schools


Overview

BPS for Multi Academy Trusts has been designedspecifically to simplify some of the complexities facedby the finance teams in a trust whose role is to managemultiple budgets for multiple Academies, even acrossLocal Authority boundaries.

BPS uses a single database for all the Academies inthe trust which enables the central finance team tohave complete visibility and control and can ensurethat all their academies produce their budgets usingthe same underlying data.

The finance team can also use BPS to take informationfrom their finance system and use this to gain a clearposition on how each Academy in the trust isperforming financially against its agreed budget,including known ‘in year’ changes.

Key Features for Multi Academy Trusts

nConsolidated budgets across the Trust

Trusts often have the requirement to consolidate theirbudgets across all of their Academies at the trust level,as well as enabling individual Academies to report ontheir own academy independently.

Multi Academy Trust


n Consolidated staffing across the Trust

This allows the trust to report on the salaries of all staffin the trust as well as reporting on staff within individualAcademies. Consolidated reporting is broken down byjob role so comparisons can be made across schoolsin the trust.

n Benchmarking reports

This provides the ability to compare the financialperformance and key financial metrics for similarAcademies in the trust.

n Single budget upload file for the entire Trust

This is an important feature as trusts have therequirement to consolidate their entire budget for theirAcademies at the trust level, as well as individualAcademies reporting on their own budgetsindependently.

n Ability to set multiple pay scales across a Trust

A growing number of trusts now have Academiesacross the country including trusts that haveAcademies in and out of London. BPS is ‘smart’ andapplies the correct pay scale with the correct Londonweighting.


n Ability to provide different support staff job roles for

academies in the Trust that are situated in different

Local Authority areas

A growing number of trusts have Academies in anumber of different Local Authorities which adds thecomplexity of handling various ‘non-teaching’ staffcontracts. BPS is ‘smart’ and applies the correct jobrole to the individual with the correct associated payscale.

nMultiple AWPU values to allow predictive future

modelling for Academies in a Trust

Academies in a trust which have multiple phases willneed to apply different AWPU values to allow for futuremodelling on rising/falling pupil numbers. BPS not onlyallows the trust to apply different AWPU values fordifferent school phases, but will also allow the trust toset different AWPU values across different LocalAuthority boundaries as well as applying MFG andcapping values relevant to the Authority.

n Trust controls which allow different levels of

autonomy for individual Academies

This means that the trust can either apply criteria suchas inflationary percentages and prevent its Academieschanging them or provide their individual Academieswith more autonomy to set its own factors.

n Trust bulletin board messaging system

Important messages can be posted by the trustfinance team which appear on the home screen ofindividual academies as they log in, this ensures thatimportant information and system updates arecommunicated effectively.

n Personalisation of reports and splash screens for

individual Academies in a Trust

Individual Academies in a trust can upload their logowhich then appears on the home screen when they login and also appears on all reports helping toencourage a sense of ownership for each Academy inthe trust.

nManage variations in superannuation rates between

Academies in the same Trust

MATs are often confronted with a number of Academiesin their trust having to budget different superannuationrates. The system is ‘smart’ and knows whichsuperannuation rate to apply, ensuring completeaccuracy.

“The helpline is answeredimmediately and the willingnessof the staff is second to none.”

Stamford Queen Eleanor School


Orovia’s development team work closely with a numberof principle partners supplying financial services toschools, Academies and Local Authorities. We sharejoint expertise in ensuring that BPS integratesseamlessly through dynamic links with our partners'systems.

Below is a list of our key partners and some informationon how our software packages interlink.

PS Financials

BPS links dynamically to the PS Financials databasewithin a Multi Academy Trust. For a Multi AcademyTrust, BPS uses one database for all the Academies inthe trust replicating the structure in PS Financials. BPSis constantly looking for changes made within the PSFinancials database and automatically makes changesto the BPS database when they occur. Changes madeto the accounting structure in any Academy in the MATare automatically reflected in the budget planner. Thebudget can then be updated and transferred back intothe finance system seamlessly. BPS can also bringback 'actual spend' on a monthly basis to comparebudget against actuals and provide an instant financialposition on how the trust is performing.

Civica Resource

BPS links dynamically to the Civica's Resource 3200database within a Multi Academy Trust. This meansthat BPS is constantly looking for changes made withinthe MAT's finance system and automatically makeschanges to the BPS database. Changes made to theaccounting structure in any Academy in the MAT areautomatically reflected in the budget planner. Thebudget can be updated and transferred back intoResource 3200 seamlessly.

Sage

An increasing number of Academies and MATs areusing Sage 50 or Sage 200 as their finance package.Orovia are experienced, accredited Sage partners andtherefore offer the same level of integration, linking BPSto Sage in the same way as it links to other financesystems.

Capita SIMS

Orovia have recently become a SIMS technical partnerand will be developing an integration module to linkBPS with SIMS FMS and SIMS Personnel 7. Links to theabove modules will be available to Capita SIMSschools and Academies in the summer of 2014.

Real Time Integration with Third PartyFinance Systems

“The product is excellent, the training excellent and thesupport is excellent! Thank you for the super service.”

School Business Manager, CFBT Schools Trust


“Sophisticated but yet reallystraightforward... this is in a

different class.”Head of a Hackney Secondary School

Customers regularly tell us that they are delighted withthe service received from our support helpdesk.

The team is friendly and knowledgeable and as BPS isa web based system, they are able to ‘login’ andprovide real time support.

The support desk number is always answered by one ofthe team and in 85% of calls they are able to resolve theissue before the call is closed.

If you need assistance, guidance or would like to talk tosomeone about any other aspects of BPS, give us a callor drop us an email.

Support Helpdesk - 01482 638533 or [email protected]

Normal office hours are -Monday to Thursday - 8:30am to 5:00pm

Friday - 8:30am to 4:30pm

Support Helpdesk


Orovia Group

Melton Court

Gibson Lane

Melton

East Yorkshire

HU14 3HH

01482 638520

[email protected]

www.orovia.com


academy brochure 8pp layout 1 22/04/2014 11:15 … it from a budgeting and planning tool into a ......

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