Family Resource Home Care Cuts Month-End Close Times in Half with Spreadsheet Server

• Spreadsheet Server shaved 50% off the company’s monthly reporting time.

• Smooth implementation and a familiar, excel-based interface allowed the finance team to get up and running quickly.

• Drill-down feature increased the efficiency and accuracy of data analysis.

Family Resource Home Care is one of the largest independent providers of home care services in the Pacific Northwest and in the United States. The company is focused on empowering older adults to continue living at home by providing them with home care services that address their unique challenges.

By providing essential home services like housekeeping, cooking, and medication management, Family Resource Home Care is dedicated to protecting independence and dignity for patients. Because the company handles both electronic health records (EHR) and organizational information, it juggles data both from its point of care system and its ERP. To further complicate matters, its reporting process was entirely manual, which involved downloading reports from QuickBooks into a spreadsheet. Although the business was able to complete its closing process within two to three days each month, seven to eight additional days would be dedicated solely to reporting. Nick Schneider, CFO of Family Resource Home Care, knew his finance team needed a more efficient way to pull information together and report.

Schneider’s main priority was to find an Excel-based reporting application. Before working with Family Resource Home Care, he had used Spreadsheet Server by insightsoftware, a comprehensive, real-time reporting solution that works directly in Excel. Through his previous experience with Spreadsheet Server, Schneider realized that he could automate the company’s reporting process–mitigating the challenges they faced by reporting manually. “I’ve been a big advocate for Spreadsheet Server over the years,” said Schneider. Schneider’s top priority was finding an ERP system that could scale with the rapidly growing business. However, Schneider’s team relied heavily on Spreadsheet Server and determined that the most efficient path forward was to adopt an ERP system fully compatible with it. After careful evaluation, Sage Intacct emerged as the best fit for the company’s overall needs. “I wanted a system where I was able to use Spreadsheet Server,” Schneider added. “Because I’m not in the system day in and day out like our controllers are, the decision was a team effort. We agreed Sage Intacct would be the best fit for us.”

By moving to Sage Intacct, the team was also able to tap into the power of a fully cloud-based ERP. After implementing Sage Intacct and Spreadsheet Server, Schneider’s team trained on how to effectively use the technology. Because Spreadsheet Server is designed to be simple to use and operate entirely in Excel, Schneider’s team adapted quickly. “It’s intuitive,” Schneider said. “I’ve had previous experience, but my analyst picked up on it almost immediately. It’s not difficult once you understand what Spreadsheet Server is trying to do. For anyone that’s used Excel as long as I have, it’s easy to figure out.” “I’m the architect of our reporting,” Schneider added. “I create the templates and the analysts are able to run with them. By now, they’re probably better than using Spreadsheet Server than I am.”

Spreadsheet Server empowered Family Resource Home Care to:

• Reduce month-end reporting and close by 50%.

• Move to a cloud-based ERP system.

• Gain greater visibility into organizational data.

With the help of Spreadsheet Server, Schneider’s team was able to automate its previously manual processes, cutting reporting times in half. And automation was only the tip of the iceberg for them–reporting is now a more intuitive process, allowing for greater ease-of-use. “Our analysts didn’t realize how dynamic Spreadsheet Server was at first. For example, this tool allows the user to easily insert a column row and pull in balances.” Schneider said. “You can move things around easily without having to think about it.” And because Spreadsheet Server works entirely in Excel, Schneider’s team was able to hit the ground running upon implementation. “If you know Excel, you know Spreadsheet Server,” Schneider said.

For Schneider, the feature his team uses the most is Spreadsheet Server’s drill-down capability. By drilling down, the team has an up-close look at the data that drives decision-making at Family Resource Home Care. “I like drilling down into the account numbers,” Schneider said. “And it’s easy to set up a new spreadsheet; you just click a button. With the drill-down features, I get the detail I need.” Spreadsheet Server empowers Schneider and his team to easily access fine details without ever having to leave Excel or accessing the general ledger directly. “I don’t have to run anything in the ERP system. I just do it straight from Spreadsheet Server.”

Manual reporting processes are commonplace in finance, but they come with their fair share of challenges. Reports can easily fall victim to human error and because numbers are exported from the ERP without being real-time or refreshable, the data quickly become outdated. For lengthy close processes, this can mean the information included in reports are days to weeks old by the time the company closes. For Family Resource Home Care, using Spreadsheet server means the finance team can build reports in minutes. When they need updated information from Sage Intacct, the team can simply refresh reports for the latest numbers within the ERP, leading to a more accurate reporting cycle. Because accurate reports are a high priority for Family Resource Home Care, Schneider prioritizes a quality assurance (QA) system to double check the numbers in a “trust but verify” system. “In any type of reporting, you always need to QA,” Schneider said. “I don’t take it for granted that we have greater output, and more accurate end results. We always have checks and balances in place, but Spreadsheet Server has built greater trust in our reporting.”