Watford and Three Rivers Council to share finance system

Three Rivers District Council and Watford Borough Council are implementing a shared services finance system from COA Solutions.

The deal includes electronic procurement, budgeting and forecasting functionality as well as document management and imaging solutions (using Version One’s technology).

The system should enable staff at both councils to access key information, with security restrictions preventing staff from viewing information they are unauthorised to access, while providing management with the ability to view and compare data across councils, improving financial transparency.

All 120,000 purchase invoices received by the councils every year will be processed at a centralised payments function. The invoices will be scanned and the data on the invoices will be automatically captured and verified before being uploaded to the finance system. All imaged invoices will be electronically stored and those requiring authorisation will be automatically routed to the appropriate members of staff for their approval.

"By centrally managing all purchases, we will be able to quickly and easily determine where an invoice is in the approval chain whilst eliminating lost and mislaid invoices," said Alan Power, head of finance for shared services for Three Rivers District Council and Watford Borough Council.

Further reading:

SAP set to announce price increases for support