Pinarc Disability Support – Case Study
Empowering Communities: Pinarc’s Journey to Impact with Business Central
Pinarc Disability Support is a not-for-profit disability service based in Ballarat, Western Victoria. The service recently celebrated 25 years as an organisation supporting more than 1500 people with a disability, their families and carers. Pinarc’s 270 staff provide services including therapy, group programs, support coordination, financial plan management, as well as education services across 100 kindergartens and education services in Victoria, every day.
Pinarc’s Journey to a Scalable, Efficient Future
Pinarc Disability Support has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2022, it replaced its legacy financial system with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, partnering with Evolution Business Systems (EBS) to gain a modern, scalable platform for improved operational efficiency. Shelley Wood, Chief Finance Officer and Rebekah Desira, Finance Manager inherited the finance system at Pinarc and found it to be clunky and lacking the necessary features to support their growing needs. The system was not scalable, had limited reporting capabilities, and required manual work for tasks such as generating profit and loss statements and importing invoices. Additionally, the system did not integrate with other existing systems, leading to inefficiencies and increased risk of human error.
“We felt like we’d outgrown the system that we had. We wanted something that was cloud based. It had to be easy to use and be familiar for staff and management to pick up because they hadn’t previously been accessing any of our systems. We also wanted something that was affordable as a not for profit and would meet our needs in its ability to grow with us,” explained Ms Wood.
Pinarc explored various options and ultimately chose Business Central due to its familiarity with the Microsoft suite and its ability to meet their needs.
The implementation process to Business Central was smooth, as Ms Desira explained.
“It was like night and day, we found a level of support and guidance from EBS compared to what we’d come from, it was so much more helpful. We felt so much more comfortable in the system.
While Business Central delivered the technology, what made the difference was EBS’s approach. Their consistent team, tailored training, and ongoing support ensured we didn’t just get new software, we gained a partner who understood our needs.
“With Business Central, we’ve streamlined processes and reduced manual work, giving our team more time to focus on customers. These efficiencies mean we can respond faster and more consistently, helping us extend our services to more people in the community while maintaining quality.”
Shelley Wood
Chief Finance Officer
Transformative Benefits Realised Through Business Central and EBS Partnership
Business Central has provided Pinarc with a range of significant benefits, transforming their operations and supporting their growth.
“We’ve found so many benefits in Business Central. The first thing that comes to mind is approvals. We had no approvals in the previous system that were captured electronically. The ability to set a chain of delegation in system is great,” said Ms Wood.
“The bulk import function for plan management has reduced processing time from around 10 hours each week to under 1 hour. What once required four people now happens overnight, enabling faster payments to customers and more efficient use of staff time. This improvement allows us to handle transactions daily rather than weekly, enhancing efficiency for both our customers and team. We were processing around 150 invoices per batch, there would be 5 batches to be combined into one payment, each invoice keyed in manually – so the removal of human error and time saving is huge.”
Continia Document Capture in Business Central gives us the ability for all supplier invoices to be read as they come in. Now we can have accurate data going into the system quickly, instead of having to be manually entered.
The fixed asset register handles valuations and transactions efficiently. Automating depreciation calculations, disposals, and other standard tasks into one system now allows us to review everything in one place.
And finally automated bank feeds. Previously bank statements were reconciled manually. Now everything is automated enabling the team to jump in daily and match the transactions as they come in. What used to take a couple of hours each day now it takes a few minutes.”
“With Business Central, we’ve streamlined processes and reduced manual work, giving our team more time to focus on customers. These efficiencies mean we can respond faster and more consistently, helping us extend our services to more people in the community while maintaining quality.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Pinarc CEO, Peter Newsome, “Pinarc isn’t a large organisation, but we are mighty in the way we deliver our information. Central to our growth is having data and systems that support the contemporary needs of our organisation. Delivering services under the NDIS is particularly complex but working with EBS and Microsoft gives us a vote of confidence in this space to be able to make decisions when we need to and to support our growth into the future.
We’re an organisation that has a very strong corporate responsibility in what we deliver because it’s working with government funding and we make it stretch and deliver as much impact as possible. It’s a testament to the team behind Pinarc that delivers this every day.”
Ms Wood praised the team at EBS, “Partnering with EBS has given us access to a team of experts, continuity of support, but also the ability to attend user groups with like minded, not for profit organisations who are facing the same challenges.”
This was a critical factor in choosing EBS as their Business Central partner. The transition to Business Central, guided by EBS’s expertise, allowed Pinarc to implement a platform that not only addressed their immediate operational challenges but also provided the flexibility to adapt as their needs evolved without the need for extensive customisations using ebs-plus.
“ebs-plus provides access to a suite of tools developed by listening to the needs of organisations like ours, ensuring that any challenges we face are addressed through continuous development,” said Ms Wood.
Ms Desira explained, “It’s like access to a “brains trust” of solutions, instead of the need for extensive customisation, because that’s essentially what it is, you’re tapping into all the suggestions from other people, and other organisations. It solves all the problems that we had but also solves the problems we didn’t realise we had.”
“This transition has enabled us to operate more efficiently and make informed decisions to better support our mission. Our advice to other not for profits is that upgrading isn’t just about software, it’s about unlocking your team’s time to focus on mission, not admin.”
Shelley Wood, Pinarc Disability Support
Advice to other Not-for-Profits
For not-for-profit organisations considering a transition to new a financial system, Pinarc’s experience shows that moving from very basic, manual software can be truly transformative.
Ms Desira explained, “While features like direct bank feeds and automated processes might seem standard to many organisations, not for profits in particular don’t always have the IT experts to know where to start. Generally, the finance team just accepts this is the system we’ve inherited. Those with limited resources are still relying on clunky legacy systems and patchwork solutions and may not know what other options there are.”
Ms Wood agrees “It was essential to have a user-friendly platform that can be easily understood beyond just the finance team. Once implemented, the benefits have been significant: manual data entry is reduced, freeing up valuable time to focus on budgeting, forecasting, and strategic planning. Before, our budgets and financial information were fragmented across spreadsheets, but now everything is consolidated, accurate, and readily available for analysis.
The Future
As Pinarc focus on their mission they also have their sights set on the future. Ms Wood shared, “We’re looking forward to new functionality in Business Central, such as Copilot integration across the Microsoft suite, to continue making our work easier and more efficient”.
One of the key processes we are working on is implementing subscription and recurring cost management through Purchase Contracts in Continia. This will enable us to validate our budgets for contracts each year as invoices are received. For Pinarc, the transition to Business Central, supported by EBS and the ebs-plus app, has transformed their operations. The new system has improved efficiency, reduced manual work, and provided the scalability needed to support their growth. Partnering with EBS has ensured that Pinarc has access to expert support and a suite of tools tailored to their needs, enabling them to better serve their community now and into the future.
The benefits of Evolution Business Systems and ebs-plus
Expert Support and User Groups
Partnering with EBS gave Pinarc access to a team of experts and the ability to attend user groups with other not-for-profit organisations. This collaboration allowed Pinarc to solve challenges and share solutions without the need for extensive customisations.
Improved Efficiency and Automation
The ebs-plus app provided tools that automated many of Pinarc’s processes, such as bulk importing invoices and automating bank reconciliations. This significantly reduced the time and effort required for these tasks and minimised the risk of human error.
Scalability and Growth
Business Central, with the support of EBS, allowed Pinarc to scale their operations without increasing staff overheads. The system’s efficiency enabled Pinarc to take on more work and manage a larger customer base without additional resources.
Enhanced Reporting and Budgeting
The integration with tools like Jet Reports and Magiq allowed Pinarc to generate detailed management reports and budgets, providing better insights and control over their finances.
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Discover how Business Central can streamline your operations and drive growth and enable you to make an impact. Contact us today to learn more about how Pinarc Disability Services achieved remarkable efficiency and scalability with Business Central.
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