Customer Stories

Maggie's Centres, UK charity for cancer sufferers

Maggie’s Centres achieved their objectives of a cost effective, platform independent solution, providing analysis, ease of use, time saving features and remote access.

"HansaWorld offered excellent analysis
for reporting, the ability to access
the system remotely and
real value for money."

Profile

Maggie's Centres is a charity providing support for cancer sufferers and carers in a relaxed environment. The aim of Maggie’s Centres is to help people with cancer to be as healthy in mind and body as possible and enable them to make their own contributions to their medical treatment and recovery. Maggie’s Centres have five operating centres in Scotland and a further six are being developed, five of which are to be located in England. The friendly environment of the centres, close in each case to a major cancer hospital treatment centre, invites people to take time out and gives them a non-institutional place they can call their own.

The Situation Before

“We were using Sage Line 50 on a single stand alone PC for finance and everyone else in the charity was using Macs,” explains Allison Wood, finance director of Maggie's Centres. “This meant that no-one else in the charity had access to the accounting software. As we were restructuring the three entities within the charity into one, we needed a solution that would provide us with the analysis required to report on the three operational areas within one company. We were also implementing a donor management system and were unable to integrate this with Sage to the level we required.”

Choosing HansaWorld

Having evaluated the marketplace, Maggie’s Centres chose HansaWorld because of its flexible analysis, remote access and platform independence. Wood says: “We were constrained by our Mac platform and there appeared to be three options. One of these was a very small company and another was very expensive. HansaWorld offered excellent analysis for reporting, the ability to access the system remotely and real value for money. We are now getting the reporting we require, the system integrates with our donor management system and the software is installed on our server at our Edinburgh office but can be accessed from any of our three operational offices.”

The Implementation Process

The charity was under time constraints due to restructuring and impending year end. "We implemented the system within four weeks from decision to purchase. We would have liked to have had more time, but the ease of use of HansaWorld ensured we met our go live date,” says Wood. “One of the strengths of the system is the flexibility to rename analysis objects without the problems that are associated with a segmented chart of accounts. We have a very small Chart of Accounts and use the objects within HansaWorld extensively for our analysis,” she added.

Future Plans

Following the successful implementation of HansaWorld, Maggie’s Centres have continued to develop the system with the help of their HansaWorld consultant. Wood says: “She really understands our sector and has assisted us in getting the information and benefits we need from the system. Our next project is to integrate HansaWorld with our banking system. This will enable us to pay our suppliers by BACS electronic payment system automatically and will save both time and money.”

About HansaWorld

HansaWorld is a business solutions provider with nearly 20 years of experience in the international software market.
It is our ambition to stay ahead of change and constantly offer customers more efficient ways of running their businesses.
With more than 67,000 installations worldwide, we have the experience to be your future-proof software partner combining global knowledge and local representation.

www.maggiescentres.co.uk

Download pdf

Find out full list of ERP Implementation Stories
Buy Online