Case Study: SNP Security
SNP Security is Australia’s largest privately owned security company. The company was established in 1923 by John Roche, and has now been in the Roche family for four generations. The success of SNP is undeniable, with the company being listed in the BRW Top 500 Private Companies Survey since 2003.
SNP is a highly regarded integrator of electronic and manpower security solutions to broad-based market segments in New South Wales and ACT. As experts in physical security, SNP provide manpower such as guards and dog patrols; electronic components including alarm systems, CCTV and electronic access control; and has two 24 hour Grade A1 Alarm monitoring centres.
SNP’s client base includes some of Australia’s leading companies including Grosvenor Place, Channel 7 and Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
SNP now has offices across the eastern seaboard of Australia and plans to expand its presence nationally. SNP’s vision is to be Australia’s undisputed leader in quality security solutions.
No control, no consensus
A major challenge faced by SNP was keeping track of costs on projects, which could range from a home security system, up to a large-scale corporate project. Each of these systems is custom designed and built according to individual needs. SNP needed a solution to monitor and control the costs for each project.
Five years ago, SNP decided to purchase Intellisol project accounting software, which seemed to be the only system available at the time for project accounting and job-costing. However, SNP discovered later that this system didn’t meet their business requirements.
Intellisol purchasing was strictly inventory based and made ad hoc purchasing difficult. For example, on a major construction project SNP might ‘buy’ the drilling of a hole for cabling as a unique one off item, and still require all time and labour to be tracked and accounted for.
In addition, as many of the construction projects SNP is involved in are deadline sensitive, the project accounting system needed to be very flexible. A lot of work is done out of hours or at short notice, so the ability to move forward on projects without administrative hassles was a crucial requirement.
After three years of using Intellisol, these difficulties had forced SNP into using two separate systems – with the finance team using Intellisol, and the operations team keeping track of jobs using spreadsheets and Access database. Obviously, with the two sides of the business – finance and operations – using different systems, SNP regularly faced issues with reconciliation.
Peter Leeson, Manager, Electronics Division, SNP Security said, “Running the two systems was a nightmare and regularly caused heated discussions between finance and operations when it came time to reconcile the systems. One month, we’d let finance win, the next month they’d let us win. It really wasn’t workable and nobody was confident about the accuracy of records.”
Finding a new way
In early 2005, SNP decided that it was time to look for a new system. They looked at a number of systems, but didn’t feel that the companies that presented possible solutions really understood the unique needs of the business.
Chris Green, IT Manager for SNP Security said, “Then, Professional Advantage, our current Great Plains support partner, discussed two possible solutions, one of them being WennSoft Job Cost. Finally, we felt that somebody was listening to our business issues and the implications of those for project accounting. The Professional Advantage team identified what we wanted, rather than telling us what they could provide.”
“We just needed a system that was simple to use and catered specifically for the project oriented industry. WennSoft seems to be the only software out there in the market fitting these requirements,” says Green.
SNP decided that WennSoft met its needs on several fronts. It had the necessary functionality to enter purchase orders on an ad-hoc basis, provided detailed information about job costs, it could integrate with both the financials and inventory systems, and it was attractively priced, providing value for money.
After deciding that WennSoft Job Cost looked like the right choice, the selection process continued. SNP had learnt from its previous implementation and insisted on a rigorous testing before making a final decision. SNP trialled WennSoft for about two months, concurrently running the old system. This meant that WennSoft was effectively in user acceptance from day one of testing.
Implementation
At the same time as implementing WennSoft Job Cost, SNP also upgraded to version 8 of Great Plains. According to Chris Green, having two projects underway at the same time presented some challenges.
“Managing everyone’s expectations during the project was challenging at times. The project took about six months in total from the first installation, with several customisations and the job-cost testing. We had people doing their everyday jobs plus testing and with deadlines and projects that were running regardless of IT upgrades, this placed extra pressures on many people throughout the organisation,” said Green.
WennSoft also needed to integrate with other systems SNP was using such as Contract Administration, a Great Plains module, and two industry specific packages which fed into Great Plains for rostering and managing the patrols business. Professional Advantage wrote the integration tables to enable this.
Benefits
SNP has had its new system in place since mid-May 2005 and the benefits have been clear. SNP has gone from two disparate job-costing systems to one system which integrates with its financials system. Problems relating to user acceptance have also gone, with everyone using WennSoft.
“Previously, we had a divide – people just refused to use the old system. But everyone’s happily using WennSoft and I believe our comprehensive testing made sure that everyone was comfortable before we went live,” said Green.
SNP has already found that end-of-month reconciliation times have shortened dramatically and expects more time savings with some additional reports they are currently developing. SNP has also been able to keep its administration staff numbers stable, despite rapid growth in the business.
“Morale among staff has also improved. The old system was very frustrating and created tension between the finance and operations teams as everyone tried to figure out who was right. Now, everyone can see the same figures at the same time, so there’s no doubt about who’s right or wrong and no accusations about who’s not doing their job properly,” continued Green.
Project managers now also have greater control and flexibility. They can measure the progress of projects against budget and time constraints, and review alternatives to ensure deadlines are met and budgets adhered to. “Project managers can now dive into the project summary, see percentage to completion and make decisions on the spot whether to throw more resources at the project or check it is tracking on time,” says Leeson.
Profitability of jobs can now be easily tracked and monitored, using features such as Revenue Recognition and Work in Progress. There is also sufficient detail available to drill down to on each project, providing information about parts and labour used for warranty management.
The future
The immediate next step for SNP is to write more reports that are specific to their business. SQL-based open architecture of WennSoft Job Cost makes it possible for the SNP team to create their own reports.
Once SNP has finalised all the reports it intends to use, it also plans to roll out the system to its other offices. Currently, the system is in place at the Sydney head office, but plans are in place to commence the roll out in early 2006, starting with the Newcastle branch. Once the roll out is complete, SNP will have visibility across the entire company.
SNP also intends to explore other WennSoft functionality. Job costing is one module of WennSoft, and SNP is considering the use of other modules in the future, such as Service Management. The company is expecting return on investment from this project in 12 to 18 months.
“In this view, our relationship with Professional Advantage is very important. Having one unified provider simplifies vendor relationships and improves our return on investment. Professional Advantage also tries hard to add value with extra services, such as free technical site audit and online info sessions,” says Green.
SNP is growing at about 25% annually, from a $55 million business four years ago to a $110 million today. A key requirement from the business is looking at improving systems and processes to help manage this growth.
“Improving our job costing system was one way that we’ve been able to improve efficiencies in the business. We’ll be continuing to look for other improvements in both our IT systems and business processes to increase our productivity as we continue to grow,” concluded Green.
For more information
Professional Advantage
www.pa.com.au
info@pa.com.au
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