ALPA is making a difference every day with ExFlow

29 Sep

Established in 1972, The Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation (ALPA) is the largest Independent Aboriginal Corporation in Australia, leading the way in Remote Retailing, Community Service Program Delivery, Enterprise, and Economic development and Corporate Services. With a goal to reduce welfare dependency and enhance the quality of life of their members, building efficiencies through automation.

THE NEED FOR EFFICIENCY

Almost two years after implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, ALPA’s finance department was still entering invoices manually and growing increasingly
frustrated by ongoing delays with invoice approvals. As every invoice required a Purchase Order for approval, and 10 percent of invoices were still being received by traditional postal mail, the finance team was overwhelmed with manual data entry.

Then, COVID-19 hit. Most of ALPA’s community services and enterprise division’s operations were impacted, while the retail division experienced significant growth. Their
inefficient Accounts Payable processes were having a knock-on effect with supply and staff under further pressure. Providing information to their business units and managers in a timely manner was proving difficult and the need to transform their finance team with efficiency was heightened. It was time to find ways to “get more out of D365”.

“ExFlow has helped us to reduce manual data entry tasks and get invoices posted quicker. If we didn’t have ExFlow today, we wouldn’t be able to upskill our team to perform more analytical tasks.”

Ken Chan, Finance Projects Manager at ALPA

INTRODUCING EXFLOW

Impressed that ExFlow was a Microsoft preferred and built-in solution, ALPA went live along with four (4) of their subsidiaries in September 2020. Within three months they had commenced the journey to roll out Exflow to the remainder subsidiaries and 12 consulting entities.

The successful roll-out was achieved by effective change leadership through constant communication and collaboration with management via classroom and one-to-one training, in addition to an internal helpdesk support.

Ken Chan, Finance Projects Manager at ALPA explains that “the initial response of staff was positive, and people were hyped about the introduction of ExFlow”.

With an evident need to improve their time-consuming Accounts Payable processes, the
finance team were quick to adapt to the change and looking forward to seeing results.

AN INNOVATIVE, TRANSPARENT AND PAPERLESS FUTURE

Since the introduction of ExFlow, ALPA has seen a reduction of “at least 50 percent” in the time it takes to post invoices. These time efficiencies have allowed one full time finance
officer to reduce their hours by 37 percent, with their team now able to perform more analytical tasks to grow their business. “If I had to describe ExFlow in three words, it would
be Innovative, Transparent and Paperless” says Ken.