Leisure trust selects new finance and reporting system based on Infor SunSystems from LAKE

Leisure East Devon Ltd [LED] has selected LAKE to deliver a new financial accounting solution based on Infor SunSystems. LAKE was chosen for their experience in the leisure sector and for their focus on delivering added-value.

Leisure East Devon promotes and provides community leisure opportunities in the east Devon area. LED is a not for profit Industrial and Provident Society with exempt charity status.

LED had outgrown its finance system, based on a version of Sage in use since 2006.

Sue Gabbott, Head of Finance for LED explains:

"As the Trust has become commercially focused and moved away from its public sector roots our management information requirements have grown considerably. LED is finding its current reporting structure and chart of accounts inflexible and difficult to manage. A lot of manual intervention is necessary, requiring spreadsheets to produce management reports in a useable format. Furthermore, the performance of our current system is degrading as [organisation] has outgrown the capacity available."

A decision to replace the current finance system led to a period of research to find the best systems to include in a review of alternatives. Potential suppliers were then required to respond to a formal Request for Information.

Sue Gabbott, explained their reasons for selecting the LAKE SunSystems solution:

"We scored potential systems in terms of reporting flexibility, scalability, document management capabilities and the ability to integrate with other systems, in addition to the standard functionality...

.. We liked that LAKE was focused on added value and output rather than process and accounting controls. We value the outputs of the system above all else and it is this area where we feel LAKE surpassed the competition...

.. We particularly liked the analysis and reporting; the structure is very flexible and can be adapted as needs change in a way that does not clutter the Chart of Accounts. It is nice and self contained and clean...

.. LAKE's experience in the leisure sector was a key attraction to us. We visited another leisure trust and they gave a very positive reference. We could instantly see the comparisons with our own situation."