Mining services company strikes job-costing gold

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Published on the 22/02/2013 | Written by MYOB

AT A GLANCE

Haynes Mechanical

INDUSTRY

Mining

BUSINESS OBJECTIVE

A more reliable accounting system.
Improved reporting.
Payroll and job costing modules.
Able to grow with the business as it expands

SOLUTION

MYOB Exo Buisness with professional services from Momentum Software Solutions.

THE BENEFITS

A more reliable accounting system with integrated payroll, job costing.
Excellent reporting has improved managerial visibility and ability to monitor all aspects of the business on a day-to-day basis.
Easy to use and flexible so can shift focus quickly.
Reduced workload because Exo automatically updates system-wide to reflect changes.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

MYOB//
E: biggerbusiness@myob.com
NZ: 0800 696 239
AU: 1300 555 110
https://www.myob.com/

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After a difficult hunt to source a reliable accounting system, Queensland-based Haynes Mechanical finds that MYOB Exo offers the right balance between functionality and price – and it’s solid…

Since 1994, Queensland-based Haynes Mechanical has been providing mining companies with the highest quality fitters and servicemen, skilled in the maintenance of mining machinery, cranes and earthmoving equipment.

Started by a single, experienced fitter, the business now owns and operates large, well-equipped machining and workshop facilities and boasts more than 100 employees.

Haynes prides itself not just on having the right equipment or the right skills, but providing the right person for the right job and vice versa. That integrity, as well as cost-efficiency and accuracy, has always been at the heart of Haynes’ philosophy. But, with a less-than-reliable accounting system, the company was finding that harder and harder to guarantee.

Looking for the right balance
For about two years, Haynes had been using an accounting system called Ledgerworks.

“It was all right for general book keeping,” says Margaret Clegg, administration manager, “but we found its reporting capability was limited and it crashed on us continually. Really, we had no choice but to find a new system, and not just because we needed something more reliable. We wanted additional functionality that Ledgerworks simply couldn’t offer.”

So Haynes looked around for possible replacements, including systems like Attache and Pronto. But according to Clegg, these were let down by their apparent inability to incorporate job costing. “We just wanted a solid accounting system that was easy to use by staff and had comprehensive job costing and payroll functionality too,” she says.

Ushering in the new
After several months of searching, Haynes found what they were looking for: MYOB Exo Business and Exo Employer Services.

“Exo seemed to strike the right balance between functionality and price. And thanks to its add-on modules and bespoke reporting, it looked like it was flexible enough to grow with our business,” she explains.

The first step in the integration process was a demonstration by local Exo specialist Momentum Software Solutions (formally Myex Business Consulting).

“We were asked what it was we wanted to get out of the program,” says Clegg, “and Alistair and his team at Momentum Software Solutions came back with a presentation showing us exactly what Exo could do. They were extremely helpful and seeing the benefits up close and personal like that really did clinch it for us.”

Momentum Software Solutions then installed a trial system using Haynes’ own data, which gave staff a couple of months to familiarise themselves with the new interface before switching over to Exo for good.

Dealing with change
According to Clegg, just about everyone was happy using Exo straight off. “There were a few teething problems, as you’d expect, and it probably took our accountant a couple of extra days to get to grips with things, but that was understandable seeing as he was more used to using Ledgerworks than any of us.

“In the end, there was nothing that couldn’t be ironed out with a bit of training or on-site support from Momentum.”

Tailoring that perfect fit
On top of Exo’s standard functionality, there were a number of customisations that Haynes required.

Haynes has a large labour force (over 100 employees), which it uses to service equipment across multiple mine sites. Against each of those employees, there are different charge-out rates for different clients, and different wage rates for different sites, which means that data from employees’ timesheets is crucial to several aspects of the business, including client billing and wages.

Under Ledgerworks, it was very hard to record all of this information without a lot of duplication and manual data entry. It was harder still to provide clients with a detailed breakdown of costs. But using Exo’s flexible platform, Momentum was able to generate a custom script that allows Haynes to enter data into job costing with the appropriate customer pricing, then use that same data (without re-entering it) to update payroll, and even client invoices. Built into the process is a failsafe, which enables Haynes to double check the accuracy of timesheets before updating payroll.

Shine a light
Momentum has customised Exo even further to help Haynes improve the accuracy of its data, particularly around business performance and profitability. And it is this ability to shine light on certain business areas that Clegg says makes Exo such a useful tool.

“We’re still fine-tuning things, but Exo’s reports have improved managerial visibility immeasurably,” she says.

“They’re easy to understand and use, which means we can track expenditure, cash flow, costs, income – literally any aspect of the business – on a day-to-day basis. What’s more, we can do it even with resources spread across multiple sites.

“Exo gives us the flexibility to shift our focus to anything we feel needs attention. If we need a new report, all we need to do is put in a call to the team at Momentum.

“It gives us the flexibility to make amendments too, without having to worry about errors,” adds Clegg.

Everything in Exo is connected, which means data only has to be entered or amended once and the changes are felt across the system.

“That gives us confidence in the integrity of our data across the entire business and the reassurance that costs are accurate, up-to-the-minute and wholly reliable.

“That,” says Clegg, “is something we never had before.”