Middlesex Students Union

Integration with University EPOS systems provides 'real-time' information, enabling better analysis of profitability across all commercial areas

Middlesex University Students' Union has placed an order with accredited reseller TSG (Technology Services Group) to implement IRIS Enterprise Software's business and accounting software, Exchequer.

Exchequer will enable the University's Students Union to automate core financial processes, reducing manual administration. In addition, the University's Students Union will be able to significantly enhance the speed and quality of reporting information as a result of the integration between Exchequer and the Students Union EPOS systems. This avoids the need to import and export information between databases and ensures that 'live' data is available at all times.

Ester Harris, Finance Supervisor at Middlesex University Students' Union, says, "We looked at a number of business and accounting software products in the market, but Exchequer impressed us in terms of its ease of use, broad functionality and low cost of ownership. With our old accounting system it was difficult to extract and sort information and we had to manually transfer data between our EPOS systems and the core accounts."

She continues, "Using Exchequer we will be able to dramatically reduce our workload since we are able to automate laborious, time-consuming tasks. Our daily reports will include 'real-time' information from our EPOS systems, (when the link is enabled) which will enable us to assess the performance of all commercial areas at any time. By eliminating manual admin processes we now have more time to concentrate on analysing our profits and costs across all the events, services and activities that we provide to students."

Middlesex University Students' Union is responsible for representing students' interests and supporting the social and recreational side of campus life. The Union also manages three bars, a number of gaming machines, five shops and several other commercial activities. It is also responsible for payment of casual workers' wages, as well as issuing students with NUS cards which entitle them to discounts. All of this means that tight financial control and 'real-time' reporting information is key in order to ensure that the Union is able to provide students with a reliable service whilst also generating profit for the University.

Commenting on the support provided by reseller TSG, Harris says, "I have found the team at TSG to be extremely pro-active, reliable and flexible at all times. Their project management has been excellent and their knowledge of both technical and accounting issues has meant that they can answer any questions we have very quickly. They were also able to assess our existing IT infrastructure to ensure that we had a resilient platform that could grow with us as we

continue to expand the range of services that we offer to students."