Top 10 problems solved by Infor SunSystems Cloud in Education.
Problem #8: Managing Multiple Revenue Streams
This is the eighth in our series of blogs highlighting ten of the most common challenges faced by finance teams in the education sector. In our last blog, we examined limitations in strategic decision-making. In this blog, we highlight the difficulty of managing multiple revenue streams in education.
The problem
Colleges face a particularly complex financial environment because they must manage a diverse mix of funding sources, each with its own reporting, compliance, and budgeting requirements. This complexity hasn’t appeared by accident; it is the result of several long-term trends that have fundamentally changed how colleges are funded and governed:
Greater Scrutiny
Governors, auditors, regulators, and funding bodies all expect greater transparency than in the past. What used to be annual reporting is now often expected monthly or even in real time.
Greater Curriculum Flexibility
Government funding for further education has been declining in real terms since 2010. This has caused many institutions to seek alternative sources of income. As a result, modern colleges now deliver a far wider range of provision than in the past.
College Mergers
Funding constraints have also fuelled another trend. In recent years, many FE institutions have merged into larger college groups encompassing multiple college campuses and academies.
The combination of these trends presents a problem. Many colleges now find themselves trying to manage a multi-dimensional organisation using systems that were originally designed for simpler accounting structures.
How SunSystems Cloud can help
SunSystems Cloud from LAKE is uniquely positioned to help colleges respond to the problems described above. SunSystems Cloud is designed to handle multiple funding streams, reporting dimensions, and organisational structures without relying on spreadsheets and manual workarounds.
Two examples:
Multi-dimensional Analysis
SunSystems is renowned for its flexible reporting design. Analysis does not burden the Chart of Accounts with complicated segmented account codes. In SunSystems, analysis is much more intuitive. Transactions can be analysed by dimensions of your choosing, such as:
- Funding source
- Faculty
- Department
- Campus
- Programme
- Cost centre
- Project
As a result, finance teams can see exactly where income originates, where expenditure is occurring, and how each area is performing financially.
Flexible Reporting
FE finance teams often face conflicting reporting demands from governors, senior leadership teams, regulators, and others. Rather than creating multiple versions of the same data, SunSystems allows information to be presented through different reporting views. Reporting can also be automated and delivered via self-service dashboards. The result: faster reporting cycles and reduced administrative burden.
Take the next step
These are just some of the ways that Infor SunSystems Cloud from LAKE could help your organisation. To find out more, please download a copy of our SunSystems Cloud Beginner’s Guide – Education.
In the next blog in this series, we focus on rising operating costs.
By Jon Isherwood