Interview with Vicki Askham, Financial Controller of Lancaster University Students’ Union (LUSU).
How did Datel first enter the picture?
We originally invited Datel to look at developing a bespoke solution to handle the management of our off-campus housing stock. We shelved the idea when Datel pointed out potential problems but were impressed with the experience of their consultants and their honesty in acknowledging the risks of this project.
We decided to take the opportunity to upgrade our Sage system to provide more support to our finance team and involved Datel, who suggested Sage 200 Financials and Commercials.
What technology had you been using previously to run LUSU’s finances?
We had another mid-range Sage system in place, Sage MMS, supplied by another business partner. It had been installed a couple of years previously as the best fit for our requirements, but, to be honest, we had found it very unsatisfactory.
It appeared that a lot of the functionality we’d expected either wasn’t contained in the software or the business partner hadn’t set up the software correctly for us to use it. The problems included not being able to deliver the type of financial reporting we’d hoped to as a fundamental support for controlling our diverse business.
Given the size of our organisation, the solution represented a not insignificant investment for us; so it was very disappointing to see the limited return.
So what has been your experience with Datel?
It’s been a completely different story! Datel were a breath of fresh air right from the start. Their structured approach to project management demonstrated their experience. They’d clearly done it all before and it showed.
They took time to understand our requirements and devised a project plan for our agreement, outlining aspects such as the scope of the work, timeframe – which they adhered to, incidentally – and responsibilities. We hadn’t experienced anything like that before and quickly realised that the issues we’d had previously were not inevitable.
Datel also identified significant errors in our original set-up: it turned out that we’d been at serious risk of losing data which should have been archived.
Read more on LUSU's experience of Sage 200 and Datel >
Contact Datel to speak to one of Datel's Sage 200 Consultants.