The Transformative Power of Automation
Take a look at your workforce. Do you see tasks that take countless hours as employees manually collect and enter information? In many cases, automation – using technology to perform repetitive tasks – can improve efficiency and reduce errors in the work they perform.
Automation can transform a process from a labor-intensive juggernaut of time to an efficient, seamless operation. Check out what we did to shorten and streamline a crucial reporting process for one university.
Challenge
Every year, colleges and universities who participate in a Title IV federal student financial assistance program must complete their Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) report. In addition, all members of the NCAA must also prepare and submit a financial report which includes much of the same data. At one particular Division II school, a single person handled the preparation of these reports.
The process of creating the school’s EADA and NCAA reports took several weeks, thanks to all the information that had to be gathered, collected, prepared and entered into their system. To make matters worse, the person doing this work was getting ready to retire — taking her 25-plus years of knowledge about how everything works with her.
The university knew they needed a solution quickly, as the staff member’s retirement date was approaching, and the annual reports were once again coming due. So they reached out to James Moore Data Analytics for help.
Solutions
We reviewed their existing processes, inputs, and outputs. After scrutinizing their data processes further, we saw that hundreds of hours per year were being spent on tasks that could easily be automated. The employee had been manually aggregating and reviewing transaction-level details between the reports.
So we coordinated with the university’s IT department to extract data from their Banner financial system. Through interviews and review of their prior workpapers, we could create logic that captured 98% of the work that was being done manually. We then developed process automation in Alteryx (including logic to appropriately classify transactions en masse) and provided users the ability to manually adjust transactions on an as-needed basis. We also developed a series of control and validation reports and fully documented the process so anyone could come in and follow it.
Results
The process of reviewing over 50,000 transactions – one that once took over 100 hours of manual work and had an error rate of plus/minus 5% – was reduced to just a few days and became less prone to error thanks to automation logic. It’s also more transparent, making it both easier for others to perform and more auditable.
Thanks to this increased ease and reduced time, the university can now perform the data collection process monthly or even weekly if they prefer. This allows them to better track key performance indicators and make adjustments to correct small issues before they become bigger problems.
“The process couldn’t have gone more smoothly,” said Chauncey Winbush, the school’s vice president for athletics. “Moving forward, this will be beneficial for Shepherd Athletics.
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Ken Kurdziel, CPA
Partner
Ken has nearly 30 years of experience providing accounting, auditing and consulting services. He also contributes to the firm’s strategic planning and implementation of tactical items and oversees the daily administration of the office.
As a key member of the firm’s Higher Education Services Team and a noted thought leader in the industry, Ken does a great deal of work with university-related entities such as foundations, athletic associations and booster organizations. His efforts drive strategic business development activities and new trends in higher education and university-related nonprofit organizations. His experience with auditing their investments, his understanding of their fundraising processes and his knowledge of agreed-upon procedures and internal controls makes him a valuable resource for our clients in that industry. And as co-host of our firm’s News & Brews Sports Biz podcast, he advocates for the financial voices in collegiate athletics and discusses the latest developments in the business of college sports.
Ken is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the College Athletic Business Management Association, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers. He is a past president of the FICPA Chapter of North Central Florida. He also generously gives back to the community through his involvement with United Way of North Central Florida (where he previously served as Board Finance Chair).