Top 10 problems solved by Infor SunSystems Cloud in Education.
Problem #3: Integration Issues
This is the third in a series of blogs highlighting ten of the most common challenges faced by finance teams in the education sector. In this blog, we focus on integration issues between MIS, payroll/HR and the general ledger, and how weak system integration creates risk for funding, compliance and audit outcomes.
The integration challenge for education finance teams
Perhaps the two most important systems in the education sector in the UK, aside from core accounting, are MIS and Payroll.
Management Information Systems (MIS) and the General Ledger (GL)
In education, Management Information Systems (MIS) are specialist systems for the management of student records, enrolments, funding, and fees. They often manage outbound invoicing and inbound payments; functions that in other sectors are more commonly managed in the finance system. The General Ledger (GL) is where these financial transactions are ultimately recorded for the purpose of performance reporting and compliance.
Integrating the two systems is essential. Speed and accuracy are paramount. There is also no sense in manually keying transactions into your accounting system when the process can be automated, eliminating errors and accelerating month-end reporting.
Payroll and HR
Integration with payroll is important in any sector. It is especially so in colleges where “pay” costs often represent 60% to 80% of expenditure.
The risks of poor MIS and payroll integration
MIS, Payroll, and HR integration issues have a direct impact on:
- Funding
- Payroll accuracy
- Cost control
- Compliance and audits
- Strategic planning
- Staff trust and morale
For a college finance team, these aren’t just technical issues – they’re existential. Weak integration can easily lead to financial instability or audit failure.
How SunSystems Cloud helps colleges integrate MIS and payroll
Real-time API and batch integrations
Integration is a feature of just about every system we implement. SunSystems Cloud is an open system that is designed to seamlessly integrate with specialist applications for MIS, Payroll and so on. Integration can be done real time via APIs or delivered through scheduled batch file transfer. Most of our recent work with MIS systems such as ProSolution and Unit-e have leveraged SunSystems Cloud APIs.
Data Lake reporting and dashboards
Your subscription to SunSystems Cloud includes a powerful Data Lake facility. As well as being able to store vast amounts of your own data, the Data Lake is the means by which SunSystems Cloud presents information for aggregation in dashboards and reports built in third-party tools such as Power BI.
A complete finance platform for education
SunSystems Cloud from LAKE is more than just a great ledger system; it is a comprehensive solution for accounting, purchase-to-pay, AP automation, expenses management, dashboard reporting, along with budgeting and planning. The combination of SunSystems Cloud integrated with your preferred MIS and Payroll is a compelling platform for organisations in the education sector.
What a successful MIS, payroll and SunSystems integration looks like
So, what does seamless integration between these systems mean in practice?
- Automated posting from MIS to SunSystems for fees, funding, invoices and receipts
- Postings from MIS to include analysis for department, course, and campus
- Payroll journals automatically posted to SunSystems to include analysis for cost centres, departments, projects, and curriculum areas
- Clear reconciliation between MIS, Payroll and SunSystems
- End-to-end audit trail from source transaction → journal → approval → ledger entry
- Information that is always up to date supports rapid month-end close, accurate funding returns and insightful management reporting
Take the next step
In the next blog in this series, we highlight problems arising from inefficiency and poor control of purchasing.
To find out how Infor SunSystems Cloud from LAKE could help your organisation, download a copy of our SunSystems Cloud Beginner’s Guide – Education.
By Jon Isherwood