As part of a drive to improve businesses processes throughout its operation, Richards Bay-based Mhlathuze Water has chosen Sage Enterprise Solutions' (SES) Line 500 business management software suite for application integration.
The implementation, undertaken by SES partner, AST includes the cut-over from a moribund legacy system and the inclusion of additional functionality to further streamline processes.
In operation since 1981, Mhlathuze Water manages bulk water supply and effluent disposal over an area of northern KwaZulu-Natal spanning some 36 689 square kilometres. The company plans to expand significantly providing potable water to an estimated one million people throughout the region. In addition to the various water delivery projects in progress, it provides technical support and capacity building to communities where there are no suitable water authorities in place.
As Elzette Grierson, financial accountant at Mhlathuze Water notes, strict budgeting is critical due to the company being a parastatal and operating on a break-even assumption with no external funding. "We have to be right on budget as it relates to a tariff which is calculated at the beginning of each financial year. So for our operation to run smoothly, we have to ensure we have slick integration of the various financial processes such as debtors, creditors, payroll, banking, HR and contract management."
While the company realised the need for - and implemented - a business management solution some six years ago, the solution has to-date been unable to deliver the required functionality. So much so, that time-consuming manual controls and extensive paperwork are still the order of the day.
After extensive evaluation of a number of solutions on the market, SES's Line 500 NT-based offering was chosen as a result of its ability to provide the immediate requisite integration, its rich functionality and modularity, and ability to scale according to the company's future requirements.
Grieson says daily reporting is one of the first pressing requirements. "Management needs to be able to drill-down through an expanse of source documentation and produce succinct reports and executive information. This is key to an operation the size of Mhlathuze. In addition to bulk water supply and the management of effluent pipelines, our scientific services division offers services to other institutions and organisations in the area with specific focus on environmental sampling and analysis," she says.
Apart from the standard financial modules in Line 500, Mhlathuze also uses SES's powerful contract management and project accounting modules - key components in ensuring complex tariff calculations and billings are met.
"There are various tariffs per scheme and our customers require details of all the individual charges, as opposed to a single invoice. In addition, there is a specific formula for each of these tariffs that they also require. With Line 500 we can now insert meter readings that automatically calculate water consumption. Previously this function had to be done manually. Contract management allows you to set up a base rental as well as being able to measure consumables on a monthly basis," says Grierson.
Currently the company maintains some 80 users on the SES system; from management who require reports and conduct authorisations down to administrator level where stock and acquisition data is inputted. Grierson notes that it could also be extended in the future to assist with the company's community and rural development programmes.
Ashley Ellington, regional director at Sage Enterprise Solutions, says the ability of the company to deliver sophisticated control in managing and accounting on a project basis (for both internal and external projects) plus an effective maintenance and revenue billing solution was not only key, but helped to differentiate Sage from the competition.
For more information on the company's solutions in SA, go to http://www.itweb.co.za/office/sage/.
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