Business Case DJI
DJI performs month-end close quickly and efficiently
In this day and age the Dutch House of Representatives needs to be informed as soon as possible. This is one the reasons the Ministries are requested to produce their figures and expenses more quickly. "We also have to show increasingly fast how we are doing and what our financial situation is", says Jan de Bruyn of the Dutch National Agency of Correctional Institutions (DJI). "That's easy to say, but not as simple to do considering we work with about fifty different accounts."
Since 1996, DJI manages its financial processes in SAP. One of these processes is the month-end close. "This process, therefore, has to be completed earlier than before", says De Bruyn. He is a senior staff member Group Administration and is responsible for the financial accounting and, in part, for the functional management of SAP.
A few years ago, at the VNSG Days, De Bruyn saw a presentation on using Runbook for your financial close. "I was enthusiastic from the start. We had to close the books increasingly fast and were looking for a solution to streamline the close. Runbook seemed to offer that solution. A reference visit with another Runbook user with comparable administrative processes got rid of any remaining doubts. We began a pilot with Runbook at one of our five service centers that do all the work for the month-end closing. We discussed the findings of that pilot project with the other four service centers, which resulted in a few proposals for change. After that, we all defined a set pattern for the month-end closing immediately. In collaboration with Runbook Company we have set up the system and integrated it with the transactions that we perform in SAP."
Runbook is a software application that supports financial processes, such as the month-end close and internal control. It was developed for Philips in the late 1990s by the Dutch Runbook Company. "Over time it has grown into an independent product", says Runbook Company's Bernard Arends. "Our international client base is expanding at a steady rate, in countries such as Germany, Switzerland and the United States. With help from Runbook, all administrative activities are performed in the right order by the right people. This makes the financial process run smoothly and quickly.
By using Runbook, businesses and organizations get a clear and structured picture of their financial process. They have insight into their expenses and can see in what areas they can cut costs immediately. Runbook also makes it easy to hand over the books in digital format to accountants and auditors. As a result they will be able to complete their auditing activities faster, which in turn saves the organization money."
When it came to implementing Runbook, DJI was pretty ambitious. "We wanted all departments to perform their month-end close according to the set format by December 2008", says De Bruyn. "And we succeeded in achieving that." Arends: "I think it helped that Runbook is an application that is easy to implement. It doesn't require much training for people to be able to work with it. For an end user half a day is sufficient." "It is mostly a matter of getting used to it", adds De Bruyn. "The work is being done again by the operational department that is responsible for it. Employees work in a structured manner in the order that we have determined together. We can easily add extra activities important for the financial close. Much of the work that we used to do manually now takes place automatically. We have created dependencies within the system. Employees can receive an e-mail notification from the system to remind them that they have to perform a certain task. We immediately see the status of the process and can spot the possible causes if the process stagnates at a certain point.
Our processes haven't changed essentially, but run much more quickly and smoothly. Three times a year we draw up an extensive report for the executive department (the Ministry of Justice). This required me to check the execution of about twenty - extra - steps within the process. Thanks to Runbook software that's no longer necessary, because these steps have been automatically added to the process for these periods. Because they have insight in the overall process, employees get a better feel for their own activities."
De Bruyn involved all of the shared service centers in the implementation. "In doing so, I wanted to make clear that we were all in it together. I also think it's really important to involve the people who actually have to work with it. They become your ambassadors." In De Bruyn's view, the main advantage of Runbook is that it provides structure, uniformity and convenience. The automation of the month-end close has now been finalized, but DJI wants to get even more out of Runbook. De Bruyn: "For our internal control, each department has to draw up a balance sheet periodically. So far we have been doing this paper-based. Now we're going to create templates for this purpose within Runbook, so that each department will make the same balance sheet. As a result, our internal auditors will always get the same basic set of data. Thus, we eliminate paper processes more and more. That's a huge improvement!
All correctional facilities within the Netherlands fall under the responsibility of the National Agency of Correctional Institutions (DJI). These are houses of detention and jails, juvenile institutions, forensic psychiatric centers, and detention and deportation centers. When it comes to the execution of its tasks, DJI focuses on suitability and efficiency but also on justice and a humane treatment.
Structure, uniformity and convenience
Clear and structured
That's the solution
