Resources

The following items are downloadable PDFs from COA Solutions. Follow the links to begin download.

White Paper	Choosing a Software Provider White Paper Highlights the key factors you should consider during the tendering process so that you decide upon the best choice of supplier for your business.
White Paper Business Intelligence	Measuring People - White Paper Rick Emslie discusses the importance of measuring people performance and people metrics.
White Paper Support Services	KPIs - What is Driving the Sector This White Paper focuses on the challenges around business reporting within the Business and Support Services Sector and was jointly created by Credo and COA Solutions.
White Paper Business Intelligence	Using Business Intelligence To Grow Your Bottom Line The UK may have once been a nation of shopkeepers; It is now, most certainly a nation of shoppers. According to the National Statistics office, in 2007 the UK spent over £5 billion per week on retailed items, which represents nearly 30% growth in real terms on the 2000 figure. So, what makes a successful retail business?
White Paper	Pre-packaged HR Analytics Gary Simon, managing editor of FSN, discusses how pre-packaged HR Analytics can accelerate the delivery of strategic advantage.
White Paper Business Intelligence	Human Asset Management Why is it that the market values successful companies to be worth much more than the sum of their tangible assets? The value of Microsoft, the most dynamic company in the world today, is 15 times greater than the sum of its assets on its Balance Sheet. Chris Sands discusses.
White Paper	BASDA CIS HMRC's reform of the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) - the implications on IT systems.
White Paper Business Intelligence	Delivering Strategic Advantage using Business Intelligence As the BI market matures realisation is dawning that achieving enhanced business performance and enduring business change requires a more holistic approach. It must be driven from the very top of the organisation and supported by robust methodologies. BI should not be treated as a "one-hit" project....
Download	SCA Packaging OpenPeople offers SCA Packaging a cost effective and speedy payroll solution.
Download Business Intelligence	The Full Promise of Business Intelligence
Download Business Intelligence	Seven Steps to Flawless BI
Download Business Intelligence	Analysis
Download Business Intelligence	Scorecarding
Download Business Intelligence	Data Integration
Download Business Intelligence	Performance Begins With Enterprise Planning
Download Business Intelligence	Selecting the Right Enterprise Planning Solution This software guide provides a list of the key factors to consider as you evaluate competing enterprise planning solutions.
Download Health	Procure to Pay Health Blueprint
Download Shared Services	Delivering Value from Shared Services As the key driver within Local Government moves from efficiency to transformation, Councils need to consider step changes in the way they operate to deliver on this agenda. Shared Services offer the possibility of considerable beneficial change, with the potential of significant savings, enabling councils to put more money into front line services.
Download Business Intelligence	Making Your Best Business Decisions
Download Business Intelligence	Reporting & Dashboards
Download Business Intelligence	Dashboards
Download Business Intelligence	Business Event Management
Download Business Intelligence	Raise the Level of Performance
Download Business Intelligence	Spreadsheet-based Planning: Rough Road Ahead
Download Business Intelligence	L´Oreal to manage Customer Forecasting
Customer Retail	Harvey Nichols The company also owns the Oxo Tower and Prism Restaurants. The business is growing, with more stores planned, off-shore franchises emerging and an expanding food export business.
Customer Retail	Per Una Per Una is the company behind the highly successful George Davies womenswear range of the same name launched at Marks & Spencer (M&S) during the last quarter of 2001. Per Una is a separate company to M&S with its head office in Hong Kong and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, the UK, Italy and Turkey. In spring 2001, when M&S announced to the City that George Davies would be designing, sourcing and manufacturing a new range of womenswear, exclusive to M&S, targeting the 25-35 year old age group, the signal was given for Per Una to get up and running.
Customer Government Agencies	Central Science Laboratory (CSL) Central Science Laboratory (CSL) has recently been awarded the Best Overall eProcurement Award by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). In making this award, the judges declared CSL had shown how it linked its eProcurement initiative to the organisation´s objectives and also demonstrated sensitivity to the change management issues with its staff.
Customer Leisure	Cannons Group PLC Is one of the UK´s leading health and fitness operators. The Cannons Group operates approximately 60 leisure clubs with a central head office located in New Malden near Wimbledon and a current membership of over 130,000.
Customer Leisure	Esporta Were previously the Health & Fitness Division of First Leisure Corporation Plc. They became an independent company in 1999. They have 32 fitness units based around the UK as at 1st February 2001 and are planning to increase this number by 8 to 12 per year. They include the following facilities at each unit: swimming, Racquet sports, gym & exercise rooms, health & beauty, golf, restaurants & bars.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	ICAEW Is the largest accountancy body in Europe and widely acknowledged as one of the leading professional bodies in the world. There are more than 100,000 members engaged in public practice and the business and academic worlds.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	PDSA Is Britain´s largest veterinary charity. The PDSA is the largest private employer of fully qualified veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses; it has 150 shops and 3500 volunteers.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	New Dimensions Group Provide care facilities in residential homes and enable people to receive specialist care in their own home.
Customer Support Services	Rentokil (UK) Ltd Based in East Grinstead, have selected OpenAccounts Financials for their Group finance function across business divisions including, Office/Retail Cleaning, Pest Control, Hygiene, Rentokil Initial Supplies, Healthcare, Medical Services and Property Care.
Customer Property and Construction	CBRE CB Richard Ellis Ltd has been formed from the coming together of CB Hillier Parker and Insignia Richard Ellis. CB Richard Ellis Inc. is the world´s largest commercial property consultancy with 250 offices in 44 countries and over 10,000 employees. Within the UK, CBRE has offices in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Jersey. The company serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers with services including property sales and leasing, property management, corporate services and facilities management, mortgage banking, investment management, capital markets, appraisal/valuation, research and consulting.
Customer North America	S&K Famous Brands Inc S&K is one of the largest value-priced menswear retailers in the US. S&K stores fill a unique niche in the menswear industry by offering better-quality, brand-name apparel at substantial savings from regular department store prices.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) The RSPB is the UK charity working to secure a healthy environment for birds and wildlife, helping to create a better world for us all. Its work is driven by a passionate belief that: birds and wildlife enrich peoples´ lives; the health of bird populations is an indication of the health of the planet, on which our future depends, and we all have a responsibility to protect biodiversity.
Customer Government Agencies	London Development Agency (LDA) The London Development Agency is the capital´s economic development body, promoting economic renewal and development. It´s one of nine Regional Development Agencies. Working for the Mayor and in partnership with businesses and other organisations, it benefits all Londoners by delivering economic development and regeneration for the capital.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	Hospitaller Order of St John of God The Hospitaller Order of St John of God provides mental health services, care for older people and services for children and adults with disabilities in Ireland. It also manages programmes in Malawi, Africa and New Jersey, USA.
Customer Transportation	Dart Group PLC Dart Group PLC is a UK based aviation and distribution company that operate cargo and passenger aircraft on charter contracts and scheduled low cost services throughout Europe.
Customer North America	Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff is an entity which consists of separate businesses for different markets, real estate, manufacturing and media.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	DebRA DebRA UK is the national charity working on behalf of people with the genetic skin blistering condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
Customer Housing	Walsall Housing Group Established in March 2003 Walsall Housing Group is a group of non-profit making companies providing good quality, affordable housing for the local communities in Walsall.
Customer Housing	Three Valleys Housing Three Valleys Housing is one of the largest housing associations in Derbyshire. Formed in 2002 following the transfer of the housing stock from Erewash Borough Council, Three Valleys Housing now manages 6,000 houses, flats, bungalows and bedsits across the Erewash area.
Customer Support Services	Ventura Ventura is a leading provider of customer relationship management (crm) outsourcing services.
Customer Commercial	RAPRA Technology Rapra Technology is Europe´s leading independent plastics and rubber consultancy. Rapra provides comprehensive consultancy, technology and information services for the polymer industry and industries using plastics and rubber in any component, product or production process.
Customer Local Government	East Devon District Council During the selection process, COA Solutions provided information and presentations in a very professional manner. We selected the eFinancials solution as a result of an exhaustive tendering and evaluation process which identified COA Solutions as the authority's first choice as preferred supplier for its financial systems.
Customer Local Government	Merton Borough Council People Analytics saves London Borough of Merton £500,000. Mitcham, Morden, Merton and Wimbledon were merged to form the London Borough of Merton in 1965. Merton is just 20 minutes away from central London; a lively and diverse borough where about 190,000 residents can feel part of a real community. The Council itself is made up of 60 Councillors. These men and women set the course to be steered, but are backed up by a staff of about 5,500 council officers and teachers.
Customer Health	East Lancashire Financial Services East Lancashire Financial Services has standardised on eFinancials as its core financial management platform for delivering shared services to a growing number of NHS organisations. To date, the services delivered have provided these organisations with combined efficiency and cost savings estimated at £1.5 million.
Customer Health	North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust COA was continuing to deliver one of its major obligations, which was to be a true partner to us and help us to make sure we had a system that was truly fulfilling our requirements. Don Millard, Director of Finance
Customer Local Government	Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council The COA solution has enabled us to reduce by 70,000 the paper invoices in the office, with a further 100,000 paper requisitions and orders now consigned to history, thanks to the automation of paper based processes and we even have plans in place to further increase automation. Brian Leigh, Head of Procurement, RBT (Connect) LTD
Customer Local Government	Torbay Council In addition to the project objectives, we set a number of deliverables required from a new system. These included delivery of the e-Procurement requirements as defined by Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 157. We also wanted to reduce paper-based invoices by 20% and to deliver remittance advice and bills electronically. We required a system that would reduce the amount of time Torbay Council spends processing invoices and move toward a system where resources are targeted at purchase ordering. Clyde Perry, Project Manager
Customer Local Government	Newcastle City Council We have made significant savings in terms of our purchasing process and also improved control of spending. The time taken to process orders and payments has been greatly reduced, through our automated purchase to pay process. The solution is fully integrated into our backoffice system and corporate policies are embedded into the system. Kevin Laing, Principal Systems Development Accountant
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	David Lewis Centre The David Lewis Centre is the largest UK provider of a range of medical educational, residential and assessment services for people with complex epilepsy and other neurological conditions.
Customer Government Agencies	Sheffield Hallam University As the pace of change in the world of IT accelerates, one thing that has not changed is Sheffield Hallam University´s commitment to close partnerships with business, industry, the professions and commerce. There are strong parallels in the development of the University and e5. Both have grown successfully together and developed a sound business partner relationship.
Customer Government Agencies	Edinburgh University Centralising a highly devolved finance function is always challenging, especially when there are a large number of budget holders across an organisation. However, there is now a real drive in all sectors to increase visibility and reduce costs, with many organisations looking at areas such as e-Procurement. This is exactly where the University of Edinburgh found itself in 2004.
Customer Retail	Powergen An e5 customer since 1991, Powergen was looking for a new suite of financial software. After careful research, it decided to upgrade to the latest release of e5. In 1989 the Central Electricity Generating Board was privatised and Powergen was born. It now serves 2.8 million domestic customers throughout England and Wales. As one of the UK´s leading energy companies with an annual turnover of £3.7 bn and a complex financial system, Powergen needs up-to-date, top-quality software to help run its business.
Customer Government Agencies	University of Brighton The University of Brighton deployed Version One´s DbArchive in September 2003 in order to archive the ever-increasing volume of financial documentation. Fully integrated with the organisation´s COA eFinancials financial and eprocurement solution, DbArchive will enable the University to significantly reduce its paper usage and reclaim valuable space previously occupied by hard copies of financial documentation.
Customer North America	Christian Children´s Fund (CCF) Christian Children´s Fund (CCF) is a dynamic global force for children, working in more than 30 countries, assisting 4.6 million children and families regardless of race, creed or gender. Since its inception in 1938, CCF has provided more than $2.1 billion in services to children - most of the funding coming from individual contributors.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	Leonard Cheshire Leonard Cheshire is the UK´s leading provider of disability support services, and campaigns on the rights of disabled people. Leonard Cheshire exists to change attitudes to disability and to serve disabled people around the world. It has been supporting disabled people for almost 60 years and is active in 55 countries. The charity directly supports over 21,000 disabled people in the UK.
Customer Local Government	South Kesteven District Council Based on our pre-determined criteria, COA emerged as the winner,said Richard Wyles, Financial Services Manager. Due in large part to its ease-of-use and flexibility, COA was rated higher than competitive products by all our user groups.
Customer Local Government	Gateshead Council People Analytics improves staff attendance and saves £1.5m in productivity. Gateshead Council has earned a reputation for a modern, innovative approach to local government. It has been rated as an Excellent´ council in three successive Government-sponsored Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPA), and is the largest employer in the borough, with approximately 10,500 employees serving 190,000 residents.
Customer Not for Profit and Charities	Brendoncare Brendoncare is a registered charity, dedicated to improving the quality of life for older people. Brendoncare is a respected force among charities caring for frail older people and strives to help influence the future direction of healthcare in the sector. Driven by a commitment to quality care and a belief that an innovative approach is vital, Brendoncare continues to push forward standards of care.
Customer Health	South Essex Partnership NHS Trust Not only have McKesson and COA met incredibly tight deadlines for implementation but they have provided South Essex Partnership NHS Trust with a robust, reliable financials application that can support both stringent reporting demands and the on going change in NHS structure. Dominic Malvern, Head of Systems Development, South Essex NHS Trust
Customer Other Emergency Services	Mersey Police People Analytics puts business intelligence on the beat. How People Analytics helped Merseyside Police ensure faster, more up to date management reports. Working in the police force is a challenge, and Merseyside Police is no exception. Merseyside has a population of just under 1.5 million, and includes more than half a million households. Despite this, crime in the area is down robbery is down 18%; burglary is down 14% and car crime down 8%. Improvements are occurring year on year.
Customer Financial Services	Skandia Skandia cuts HR Reporting time from a week to two hours. With around 2,000 employees in such diverse places as Hong Kong, Cyprus, Ireland and the Isle of Man, as well as offices in the UK, Skandia´s people management strategy and information gathering needs to be watertight. The need for accurate details on all personnel across the business means that centralised and automated data collection and reporting is key to managing the workforce and supporting strategic people initiatives within the company.
Customer Local Government	Somerset County Council First and foremost, we use the system because we think it´s a great product. In the ten years we´ve been using it, it´s helped us to modernise our way of doing business. Our staff have more accurate information and can do a better job, our processes are much more streamlined, and we´ve been able to respond to e-government demands. Kevin Nacey, Acting Director of Finance, Somerset County Council
Case Study Consulting Engineers	MIRA Ltd The project and commitment accounting capabilities of OpenAccounts from COA Solutions Ltd are enabling MIRA to make better purchasing decisions and achieve an improved understanding of project costs. As a result, MIRA is more competitive when bidding for new business from automotive industry customers.
Case Study Retail	OpenPeople Scot Mid OpenPeople provides Scotmid with payroll flexibility.
Case Study Central Government	The Forestry Commission cuts through expenses management The cost of processing employee expenses is huge compared with the amount of money that is actually paid out. Not only do employee expenses have to be signed off by line managers before going to the finance team, they also require the original paper-based submissions to be completed by employees and accompanied by receipts. The expenses then have to be processed through the finance system.
Case Study	Southern Railway Case Study Train operator Southern has installed a new corporate performance management system to drive information throughout the company from a single point of access and help it to ‘think like a passenger’.
Case Study Police	Collaborative Planning for Improved Efficiency at Norfolk Constabulary Norfolk Constabulary is using COA Solutions' Collaborative Planning application for budgeting and forecasting. Seamlessly integrated with Norfolk Constabulary's e5 financial system, the new collaborative application brings increased transparency and accountability as well as supporting the drive to improve efficiency.
Case Study Hospitality & Leisure	Tattershall As a new company taking over the management of an extensive network of bars and public houses, TCG Acquisitions Limited needed to get a financial system up-and-running as quickly as possible.
Case Study Health	Countess of Chester Hospital moves to eProcurement COA Solutions' eProcurement system is enabling the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to achieve efficiencies and cost-savings, increase the use of electronic requisitions by nearly 500 percent, enhance the role of its procurement department and improve supplier relationships.
Case Study Central Government	The Met Office upgrades to COA Solutions eFinancials The Met Office opted to upgrade its Cfacs financial software to COA Solutions eFinancials. The installation went very well - to time, to budget and meeting the Met Office's requirements of an initial like-for-like conversion.
Case Study Central Government	Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) The imposition of efficiency targets by central government has led many public-sector organisations in the UK to review their internal processes. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), is one such organisation. The main role of QCA is to maintain and develop the national curriculum for education and training in England, together with associated assessments, tests and examinations. It also accredits and monitors qualifications in colleges and at work.
Case Study	HFMA Finance Directors survey FINANCE DIRECTORS IN England remain unconvinced by the financial services being offered by NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), the HFMA’s survey has revealed. Just over 100 English finance directors taking part in the survey are not yet customers of the Department of Health’s joint venture with outsourcing specialist Xansa.
Case Study	Rotherham MBC Integrating workforce planning into service planning can provide plenty of benefits for local authorities and is becoming an increasing concern for human resources departments. But it requires solid business intelligence and the willingness to learn the lessons from the information collected.
Brochure Business Intelligence	Cashflow Forecasting Provides effective management of cash through flexible modelling facilities and integration with Finance system data.
Brochure	Selecting an Accounting System BASDAs Guide to selecting an Accounting System
Brochure	The Boardroom Mark Thompson, managing director of COA Solutions, talks to Debbie Giggle about the companys growth strategy.
Brochure Airline	Inter Airline Settlement Inter-airline settlement is a task that makes formidable demands on accounts staff time and effort with a disproportionate result in terms of revenue, especially where large volumes of traffic are involved.
Brochure Airline	Airline UATP Card Management Solution The COA Solutions Card Billing & Management Solution - provides airlines with a competitive UATP product to create more direct payments, generate more OAL revenue, and improve the bottom line.
Brochure	OpenPeople HR Payroll Brochure Our product portfolio includes a range of core Human Capital Management Solutions (HCM), tailored to meet the specific needs of your business.
Brochure Business Intelligence	People Analytics Brochure People Analytics is a unique application, designed by HR professionals, that enables senior executives in HR and Finance to monitor, analyse and improve employee performance and the impact that it has on the financial measures of the organisation.
Brochure Business Intelligence	Collaborative Planning Collaborative Planning offers a unique solution for both the creation and subsequent monitoring of financial plans and forecasts across all business sectors. By enabling collaboration, the key financial processes of budgeting and forecasting are optimised and timescales and costs are significantly reduced. It introduces real-time, continuous planning and analysis in a single, web-based system.
Brochure Business Intelligence	Corporate Analytics 2008 Corporate Analytics enables you to take control of your organisation and to communicate your goals to all levels of personnel allowing management to be effective in everything they do.
Brochure Health	Service Line Reporting Accurate financial reporting is a vital part of improving performance: it enables resources to be allocated efficiently to ensure the highest quality outcome for patients and helps identify the highest priority areas for improvement.
Brochure	Corporate Brochure 2008 Outlining COA Solutions' markets, products, customers and business strategy.
Blueprint Local Government	COA Solutions Business Intelligence for Local Government Our solutions are adaptable to comply with all local government requirements and can be tailored to suit Business Intelligence needs at all levels.
Blueprint Local Government	Procure to Pay Collaboration and efficiencies are delivered through the Procure to Pay solution, with many local authorities utilising our software solutions to realise their efficiency targets.
Blueprint Local Government	Invoice Management Blueprint Read more about COA Solutions approach to Invoice Management for Local Government.
Blueprint Emergency Services	Invoice Management Blueprint Read more about COA Solutions approach to Invoice Management for Emergency Services.
Blueprint Central Government	Invoice Management Blueprint Read more about COA Solutions approach to Invoice Management for Central Government.
Blueprint Support Services	Challenge for Business & Support Services The challenge for business and support services organisations in the 21st century.
Blueprint Local Government	Budgeting Blueprint Read more about COA Solutions approach to Budgeting for Local Government.
Blueprint Health	Service Line Management The implementation of payment by results and practice based commissioning has dramatically affected the way NHS organisations are being funded and managed. With Payment by Results funding is directly related to patient activity and trusts need to assess income against their costs to assess how they are performing and to plan future service delivery.
Blueprint Health	COA Solutions Business Intelligence for Health At COA Solutions we recognise that Business Intelligence means more than simply distributing and monitoring reports to managers. We have structured our solution to involve all aspects of the finance function, including the demands of non-finance users.
Blueprint	The Challenge for Project-centric Organisations in the 21st Century At COA Solutions, we have a reputation for successfully delivering effective business solutions, on time and within budget, to organisations that deliver a mix of business services - from outsourced maintenance to business consulting.
Blueprint Health	Budgeting Health Blueprint Our budgeting and forecasting solution will enable finance to work collaboratively with clinicians and provide a finance 'workbench' to help meet Monitor's call for Service Line Management, by linking different sources of information, such as costing, activity and financial information within a single intuitive application to deliver a performance improvement and strategic planning solution.
Blueprint Health	Invoice Management Blueprint Traditionally Invoice Management has been heavily reliant on manual and paper based processes. It is not uncommon for invoices to be photocopied and physically posted around organisations leading to increased costs and the time taken to process invoices for payment.