ProphixData collected over the years on software implementations states that 50% fail the first time around.[1]
Investing in a new software system is not without risk. Even before you’re up and running, you spend a significant amount of time researching vendors, comparing systems, implementing processes, and training your colleagues.
So, it almost goes without saying that most companies expect to see a return on their investment (ROI) in software. But how can you be sure you’ve made the right choice?
Learning from and listening to the stories of other companies who implemented the same software can help guide your decision-making.
About Mission Health Communities
Mission Health Communities (MHC) is a premier provider of senior living and skilled rehabilitation communities in the US. Based in Tampa, Florida, they manage and operate senior living, assisted living, short-stay rehabilitation and skilled nursing communities in Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
The Challenge for Mission Health Communities
MHC primarily used Excel for its financial management processes, such as accounting and budgeting. This antiquated system lacked sophistication in its analytical capabilities and could only create basic financial statements.
Budgeting for the year was cumbersome because the company had to coordinate with over 30 locations, a process that was riddled with human error, duplicate spreadsheets, and excessive back and forth between corporate and facility management. In addition, the lack of standardization across the organization caused each facility to have its own master budget template, creating discrepancies that further propagated throughout the company.
To perform any analytics would require an extensive process of searching and requesting information from individual facilities and departments. Therefore, calculating real-time KPIs was near impossible, contributing to an organization-wide visibility issue.
Mission Health’s Strategy for CPM Software
MHC realized it needed a Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solution to streamline its period close, financial reporting, and FP&A tasks.
Mission Health needed to establish a single source of truth (SSoT) and reporting capabilities that could be easily customized to fit its unique healthcare business model. Undergoing an RFP process in early 2019, MHC considered Workday Adaptive Planning and Prophix Cloud. Ultimately, the company selected Prophix in May 2019 for the following reasons:
- Intuitive user interface – MHC’s Prophix administrator did not require a high level of technical expertise to manage the system and implement changes. The intuitive user interface empowered accountants and business analysts to create detailed reports and generate forecast models quickly. Since end-users could pull up facility and account reports, the accounting team was able to identify variances and missing or outstanding invoices; business analysts could determine primary cost and value drivers on a month-to-month basis.
- Out-of-the-box-functionality. Prophix came out of the box with ad-hoc analysis capabilities, real-time KPIs, and report templates suited for MHC. This simplified the implementation process, leading to a quick time-to-value which enabled employees to conduct granular data searches and report customizations.
“At the end of the day, what does the leadership team value? Do they just want an FP&A team to just build and maintain reports. Or do they want the FP&A team to truly be a partner in the business and utilize them as a trusted resource to do the analysis to then help them make that decision. Prophix has created the pathway to become the latter.” – Gino L’Altrella, Director of Financial Planning & Business Analytics, Mission Health Communities
Benefits of Prophix for Mission Health Communities
“Moving critical financial processes from Excel spreadsheets to automated cloud-based CPM systems is no longer a luxury, but a business necessity,” said Alok Ajmera, CEO of Prophix Software. “The tangible results Mission Health Communities has realized from using our software speaks volumes to Prophix’s track record of success in transforming our customers’ financial planning and analysis processes for improved business performance, both in the short and long term.”
Mission Health Communities underwent a two-month implementation process, going live in August 2019 with core financial management and reporting capabilities and a planning module for budgeting employee compensation. With its cloud deployment of Prophix, MHC realized benefits in increased user productivity, improved business agility, and improved organizational visibility.
- Increased user productivity – Since facility administrators and regional vice presidents can view, comment, and grant approvals directly within Prophix, internal email correspondence has been virtually eliminated; manual interventions, human error, and rework have also been reduced significantly. As a result, the accounting department performs the monthly close nearly 15 percent faster. Prophix streamlined the budget input process, cutting it down from four to three weeks because facilities could submit their budgets into Prophix, eliminating the need for corporate to compile individual files into a master spreadsheet. Now, with direct access to a shared master budget, users have reduced the review process by 66 percent.
- Improved business agility – MHC leveraged Prophix to support the launch of its PPE tracking project during the worst months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As a healthcare service provider, MHC had a large inventory of PPE gear that needed to be actively tracked to offset usage costs with federal stimulus funding and ensure that each facility was adequately stocked. MHC implemented a PPE inventory tracking model within three days, complete with the underlying logic, templates, and reporting capabilities. Under its legacy Excel processes, this project would have required at least two full-time financial analysts. By designing, implementing, and launching the project within Prophix, MHC saved over $200,000 in avoided personnel costs. With Prophix, the company has the business agility to quickly launch new business lines and facilities as back-office friction is reduced.
- Improved organizational visibility – Previously, accountants had to parse out income statements or balance sheets from the legacy report management system then send the reports via email. Since deploying Prophix, employees access information directly from Prophix as needed, without involving the accountants. With an SSoT, the accuracy of reported numbers was increased, and MHC can track real-time KPIs to assess performance. In addition, Prophix provided MHC with analytics, including variance analysis, risk assessment, and utilization optimization tools, to inform decision-making and drive operational efficiency.
Mission Health’s Return on Investment in Prophix Over a Three-Year Period
A Return on Investment for Mission Health Communities
We analyzed the costs of software, personnel, professional services, and user training over three years to quantify Mission Health Communities’ total investment in Prophix technology.
Direct benefits quantified include avoided personnel costs surrounding the PPE inventory tracking project.
Indirect benefits quantified include the time savings that MHC’s employees have driven by streamlining reporting, budgeting, and period close processes.
Based on these benefits, we determined that Mission Health Communities achieved a 110% return on their investment in Prophix in just 18 months.
[1] https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/erp/erp-statistics.shtml
