Education

The educational sector today faces numerous challenges: the need to exercise a tight rein on limited financial resources and balance this with the need to improve communications and collaboration as well as the need to empower staff and students by delivering information in a controlled and secure manner.

Microsoft through its experienced implementation partners, such as M4 Systems, is able to deliver integrated solutions to juggle these priorities effectively and within very reasonable cost.

For example, Dynamics GP is a comprehensive‘out-of-the-box’ ERP solution with financial management, project accounting, HR/payroll and funding modules which offer educational organisations a system for:

• Tracking and managing budgets
• Automating regulatory and financial reporting with ability to e-mail reports to board members and other staff or to publish to intranet sites, thus reducing distribution time and cost
• Grant management to better track applications, sources, collection and disbursements of funds
• Managing human resources and payroll, including Web browser-based access for employees to check details and submit online changes to personal information
• Facilities management
• Paperless requisition and purchasing
• Visibility of performance management, important for compliance with government and union requirements

Additionally, Microsoft’s relationship management application (Dynamics CRM) can help you track and manage contacts with parents (in case of schools), students/alumni and potential funding and collaboration partners.

Dynamics GP and CRM can be integrated, allowing information to flow from "front office" to "back office", thus reducing data entry, labour costs, increasing accuracy and improving access to decision-driving data.

Furthermore, integration with SharePoint technology for Dynamics GP or CRM gives you the freedom to communicate, share information and collaborate using a web-based platform, plus have all the advantages of an audit and regulations-compliant content and document management solution.

The cogency of the Microsoft integrated package is the ease of adoption (built around familiar Microsoft Office interfaces) and the reduced total cost of ownership by leveraging your existing IT infrastructure, reducing IT complexity and lowering licensing obligations.

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Education Customers

Over the past two years M4 have helped the Welsh College of Horticulture develop Dynamics GP into a seamless system from requisition to commitment reporting. Dynamics GP enables effective budget planning and with the use of Vision, an ease of reporting seldom delivered. In budget meetings with non-finance managers Vision can be used interactively to aid their understanding. The development is continual and we look forward to M4’s support in the future. Graeme Lavery A.C.C.A. Director of Corporate Services Welsh College of Horticulture

Located in Northop, overlooking the Dee Estuary, the Welsh College of Horticulture (WCOH) is the premier land-based College in Wales. WCOH offers a wide range of study options and courses for students of all different ages and abilities. The qualities which make the College stand out from others are innovative teaching methods, developing close relationships with industry so that courses are structured to meet current technology and business requirements, excellent facilities and last but not least beautiful surroundings.

WCOH became a customer of M4 Systems in 2002. They were looking to replace a product called MultiSoft which, following the acquisition by Sage, was nearing the end of its life. They were looking for a comprehensive solution which could provide the following:

• integration with their Student and Record and Payroll systems
• creation and easy amendment of budgets/forecasts/virements
• requisitioning, with purchase ordering integrated with the budgeting module so that budget holders could easily see their position (actual + committed) in relation to their budgets and be warned when entering a PO that results in their budget were being exceeded
• real-time reporting.

M4 Systems delivered on these requirements and more with Dynamics GP. This system provided the College with up to the minute accurate information covering all areas of their business with an ability to show a position at any historical point in time. It enables them to extract and analyse data very quickly and easily, using many industry-standard tools, including Excel (including Pivot Tables), Crystal Reports, OLAP Services (free with Microsoft SQL Server). Commitment reporting and powerful budgeting ability is inherent within the system.

Wiltshire College (formerly Trowbridge College) have been a customer since they were established in 2000. The College is the main provider of further and higher education in North and West Wiltshire and Kennet, and boast an excellent reputation for quality provision, innovation and student care.

We initially approached M4 Systems to replace our Dynamics GP systems consultancy, having been frustrated at our previous supplier's sky-high daily rates and short days. What we found, however, was much more than a better value and more local supplier. The real strength of M4 Systems lies in their approach towards the customer, both in their commitment to put knowledgeable, friendly and helpful staff on their helpdesk for day to day support, but also through their consultative approach to implementation through considering how to best balance new technology with our business needs. We've always had the right product in Dynamics GP and now we have the right partner. John Ward Application Software Services Somerset College of Arts & Technology

Dynamics GP was chosen as a new system to manage their financial and accounting operations. Commitment web reporting was added in 2001 to the original module specification which included core financial management and reporting capabilities. M4 Systems have recently upgraded their system to Version 9.0.

The College started in 1856 as an Art College and after several moves in Taunton and an amalgamation with Taunton Technical College in the 1970s, it became a College of Arts and Technology. The College is widely known as Somerset College and works closely with the University of Plymouth as part of the University Partner Colleges Faculty. Its reputation is founded on arts and sustainability.

Somerset College has been a customer of M4 Systems since 2000. Their Great Plains (GP) system had been under-performing and inadequately configured. They approached M4 Systems to put their system in order to help improve business processes and boost efficiencies.