Winton - MYOB Advanced Case Study
Winton setting the standard for NZ property development
Discover how this ASX and NZX-listed property development company is building tomorrows neighborhoods today with the help of MYOB Advanced Business.
Powerful ERP system can be customised to suit your business needs. Automated consolidation provides senior leadership with high-level, real-time insights. Velixo integration enables fast and accurate reporting across the company. Productivity gains: increased capacity with the same FTE.
As a publicly listed property developer, Winton knows property is much more than buildings. It’s about delivering thriving neighborhoods that are best by design.
Winton is an NZX and ASX-listed group of 30+ companies, that specialises in developing integrated and filly master-planned communities. Its portfolio is vast and wide-ranging. Currently, the company has 28 large-scale projects in progress across New Zealand and Australia, with around $720 million in gross pre-sales. In the past couple of years, it also launched a new luxury retirement brand called Northbrook, which currently has five villages in various stages of development.
With MYOB Advanced Business, the company now has automated consolidation and customised reporting, unlocking speed and efficiency that proved invaluable when preparing its IPO in December 2021.
Lacking consolidation and search capabilities
As Chief Financial Officer Jean McMahon explains, the company structure of Winton is what adds a layer of complexity to its financial operations.
“We’re a large group with a lot going on, but we have quite a small finance team. Because of the nature of our business, we don’t have sales coming in every day, they come in big blocks, and that process of receiving the money from the customer is all done pursuant to settlement statements prepared by external lawyers acting on the company’s behalf.”
The accounting system had served the company well, but, as Jean describes, “we completely outgrew it”. Searching for a supplier of customer involved in multiple projects was a manual process, and it lacked functionality like automated consolidation that was needed.
“We realised it was time to bring everything together into an integrated system that would allow us to efficiently obtain information across all our entities.
“MYOB Advanced Business solved that problem for us. It could do something quite complicated for a company of our size and within our budget.
“We met with three partners that could assist us and we specifically chose BDO Information Systems as we thought they were going to work well with our team and really listened to what we needed.”
Faster, quality reporting across all entities
With MYOB Advanced Business, Winton moved from having 30+ MYOB AccountRight files to a single, integrated setup. With the addition of Velixo, it has automated consolidation across the entire enterprise and can drill down further when required.
“Everything that we’ve ever dreamed of in terms of unique reporting, we’ve been able to configure MYOB Advanced Business to do for us.”
Unique sales reports uncover powerful insights
The quality of data that Winton can now access enables the finance team to report data as needed by the business in real-time, uncovering some powerful insights.
“Our customised sales reports show us gross profit per lot, but then we’re able to track revenue, expenses and cash associated with each lot, something our auditors have found really useful – and was a unique requirement to our business.”
Jean says she’s a “big believer in using technology to improve your job” and when it comes to efficiency gains, MYOB Advanced Business doesn’t disappoint.
“MYOB Advanced Business has been incredible in terms of management reporting. We can get the financial analysis for our board packs pulled together within a day now. That used to take us two weeks.”
Pre-set templates for speedy settlements
Then there’s the ability for Jean’s team to create templates which have introduced new levels of efficiency to their settlement process.
“We’ve been able to create one settlement template and then apply it to all purchases – it’s just so fast.”
Bank-feeds reducing admin workload
Another feature that was an “absolute must-have” was automated bank feeds. Jean says they couldn’t afford to have someone manually exporting and inputting bank statements, which was quite often the case with larger ERP systems on the market.
“There was no system that was going to work for us other than MYOB Advanced Business.”
Company successfully enters Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges
Preparing an IPO for listing is no simple task. It requires, among many other things, three years’ prior financial performance as well as a two-year forecast, which must be reviewed by an independent accountant.
Jean says the amount of information that her team had to pull together in a very short time was astronomical, and it was often required in a certain way that had never been done before internally.
She adds that without MYOB Advanced Business, she doesn’t believe they would’ve got through the process as quickly as they did.
“One thing the accountants commented on retrospectively was that, in their experience, when you start an IPO, there will be a huge lull between when the information is requested and when it’s received. But they were pleasantly surprised with us.”
“One of the reasons that we were able to be listed so quickly is because of the speed and accuracy of the information that MYOB Advanced Business could provide.’
Powerful system with limitless potential
“MYOB Advanced is such a powerful system and we’re so pleased with how we’ve been able to refine it for our business. We’re confident that as our business grows, our system will be able to adapt to it.”
Now that the team has had “a taste for the efficiency”, Jean says they’re moving on to “bigger and better things” – something they wouldn’t have been able to do without MYOB Advanced Business.
She says it has “changed our day-to-day job”, which means her team can start thinking beyond the mundane and do more interesting things that add value in other areas of the business.
“It has been such a positive experience. It encouraged us to not accept the norm, that if something is slow and prone to error, there’s likely a way to do things better.”
“Someone on my team says it was the best Christmas present she ever got,” Jean laughs. “But it has significantly changed how we do our jobs, in the best possible way.”
Having worked with different systems throughout her career, Jean says she never expected to find a solution that catered to all their nuances and complexities.
She encourages other groups to “explore its absolute fullness to see if it’s suitable for them, because it is such a powerful system.”
Big property developer with even bigger ambitions
- NZX and ASX listed land development company with 35 FTE and an average turnover of $200 million.
- With MYOB Advanced Business, the company now has automated consolidation and customised reporting, unlocking speed and efficiency that proved invaluable when preparing its IPO in December 2021.
Improvements since MYOB Advanced Business
- Dynamic ERP platform can be customised and scaled to suit your business needs.
- Automated consolidation provides senior leadership with high-level, real-time insights.
- Powerful reporting functionality enables in-depth sales insights.
- Velixo integration enables fast and accurate reporting across the company.
- Productivity gains: increased capacity with the same FTE.
- Automated bank feeds keep manual data entry to a minimum.
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Integrated business systems that keep your products moving, information flowing and your customers satisfied.
National Mini Storage - MYOB Advanced Case Study
Case Study - MYOB Advanced
National Mini Storage: thirty years and thriving
When National Mini Storage opened its first branch in Penrose, Auckland in 1991, it was one of the earliest self-storage companies in New Zealand. These days, they’re a leading and trusted brand in the storage market.
Just as people look for simplicity in their homes, offices and commercial properties, the company strives to make things easier for its customers, suppliers and staff.
It’s been the recipe for success for the past 30 years, and with the right ingredients – including MYOB Advanced’s reporting, approvals and forecasting capabilities – it has what it needs to grow.
Setting the standard in self-storage
Setting the standard in self-storage
Over three decades, National Mini Storage has forged an enduring reputation in the self- storage market, expanding its reach to 11 operating locations across wider Auckland (with three more in the pipeline).
What started as a concrete block under lock and key has developed into various state-of-the-art storage facilities, reinforced by market-leading technology and security.
Today, the company employees a team of 50 – and has an annual turnover of $20 million.
New CEO catalyst for change
New CEO catalyst for change
Caroline Plowman has been with National Mini Storage for 4.5 years. She came into the company as financial controller and has recently taken over as CEO – just as the world plunged into a global pandemic in March 20.
While COVID has certainly posed its challenges, in hindsight, Caroline’s promotion couldn’t have come at a better time. In many ways, it was the catalyst for upgrading the systems.
“We went live with MYOB Advanced on 1 December 2019. A few months later, we were in lockdown,” Caroline says.
As with many growing organisations, National Mini Storage was dealing with several operational inefficiencies. Caroline had first-hand experience with the manual workload involved, something she knew needed rectifying before someone else took on the books. To streamline operations, the company set about finding a new system.
“MYOB Advanced has a lot of flexibility – lots of customisations, integrations, ways to report and search for information, so you can really build it for your business.”
“When Caroline came to BDO and discussed the current system pain points we could see the efficiency gains to be made straight away. MYOB Advanced was the perfect solution, and we were able to implement the solution on time and within budget. The features of MYOB Advanced allowed us to setup some seamless processes for the team and any issues around transaction capacity from the old system are now long forgotten!”
– Carl Ferner – Associate at BDO Information Systems
Old system lacked grunt and automation
Old system lacked grunt and automation
For many years, National Mini Storage had been using Reckon. But over time, as the business added more and more storage locations to its roll, the system struggled to manage the ever- growing level of transactions. “We’ve got a few cost centres,” Caroline laughs.
“We definitely got too big for that system,” she adds.
The other big thing the old system lacked was automation. There were several processes, including bank feeds and accounts payable, that required manual workarounds. Add the extensive fixed asset register, with depreciation rates manually calculated in Excel – and there was lots of room for improvement.
“Like our approvals process, which required printing, scanning and signing paper documents,” she says.
“It’s better to automate these things and actually know with confidence that everything adds up, and you aren’t going to make any mistakes.”
The company also found it difficult to produce reports across all 15 cost centres, purely because the system was overwhelmed by transactional data. For National Mini Storage to operate smarter and more efficiently, an upgraded system was the best option.
Powerful core system complemented by add-ons
Powerful core system complemented by add-ons
When choosing a new system, Caroline considered multiple options. Xero was too small and
had limited monthly bank transaction capacity. NetSuite was on the other end of the spectrum – it was too big, too complex.
MYOB Advanced was the perfect “middle ground” for the privately-owned company. “It could do everything that I wanted it to do,” says Caroline.
Caroline worked with BDO Information Systems to implement the system and after discussing their current pain points, the potential efficiency gains were evident straight away. Carl Ferner from BDO notes “MYOB Advanced was the perfect solution, and we were able to implement the solution on time and within budget. The features of MYOB Advanced allowed us to setup some seamless processes for the team and any issues around transaction capacity from the old system are now long forgotten!”.
Another big selling point was MYOB Advanced’s ability to integrate with several add-ons, while still working fast and in real-time.
“Admittedly, some of the customisations are above my skills and understanding, but that’s the great thing about MYOB Advanced. You don’t need to be an expert, because you have a whole team who can help you when you need it.”
Velixo app enables real-time reporting
Velixo app enables real-time reporting
With the new system implemented, Caroline says the business has seen three key areas of improvement. One of the most immediate changes was having access to fast, accurate reporting.
Beforehand, pulling reports was time-consuming. It would take hours to collect and analyse the necessary data, just to get the simplest report. Now, with the click of a few buttons and the magic of Velixo, Caroline can drill down into the detail almost instantly – and easily compare monthly cost centre data to the assigned budgets.
Not only does the company now have the information it needs to make better business decisions, but also Caroline (and the new finance manager) can focus on more high-value tasks.
“MYOB Advanced has just made things easier and more efficient. Because it’s a cloud-based system, we’ve been able to keep working through lockdowns, and focus on our customers – rather than our processes.”
Better cost control with automated approvals
Better cost control with automated approvals
The company’s AP approvals process used to involve a lot of printing and scanning – not to mention screeds of paper. It was hard to tell whether automatic payments had the right authorities, which sometimes led to invoices being paid without approval or coded to the wrong cost centre.
With MYOB Advanced and the Expense Manager app, that process has been streamlined and automated. Depending on a staff member’s authority, the system is triggered to automatically send a request for approval – before any money changes hands.
This gives Caroline better visibility of what money is being spent, and where.
“We can actually see where an invoice is coded and whether we’ve budgeted for the cost,” she explains.
Accurate five-year forecasting keeps bank happy
Accurate five-year forecasting keeps bank happy
The company also benefits from more accurate forecasting. Every time it builds a new facility, part of that process is adding a new budget and factoring it into the five-year forecast.
This was previously being done in Excel, and while it worked, it also took a lot of time. Often, there would be a few million dollars of unreconciled money that Caroline would have to manually go searching for and correct – which could sometimes take several hours.
These days, things are a lot simpler. The system automatically pulls in the data it needs to create the reports, and the team can quickly make format adjustments for board meetings.
“It’s just so easy to find what I need to know. I can drill down into anything and everything – I don’t need to constantly ask the finance team which is a big win,” she says.
National Mini Storage: 10x bigger over three decades
National Mini Storage: 10x bigger over three decades
+ 30-years strong: National Mini Storage opened its first branch in 1991 in Penrose, Auckland.
+ Today, the company employs 50 staff across 11 storage locations with three more sites in the pipeline. The annual turnover is $20 million.
+ 100% privately-owned New Zealand business.
Improvements: upgrading to MYOB Advanced
Improvements: upgrading to MYOB Advanced
+ Fast transactional data processing across multiple locations
+ Streamlined and automated AP approvals process
+ Access to high-level, sophisticated reports for critical business decisions
+ Accurate and flexible forecasting that doesn’t take hours to update
+ Better budget tracking and expense management
+ Automated business processes lead to operational efficiency
+ Flexibility: room to grow and add more modules as needed
