Making the Business Case for SDS Sequel

When assessing the business case for Sequel there are several areas where SDS Sequel will help to save costs and/or to improve efficiency. It is also likely that Sequel will provide other facilities not presently available to you. These areas are considered below under 3 headings.

We have also provided a checklist to prompt the organisation to highlight where Sequel will be most beneficial and given an indication of what the time and cost saving could be.

1. Quantitative
   Using Sequel to save time on existing work practices.
2. Qualitative
   Using Sequel to improve the quality of existing practices.
3. Additional Benefits
   Using Sequel to give you more than you currently have.

2. Qualitative

Cashflow & Finance

• More accurate forecasting.
• Audit trail of budget and latest estimate.
• Cashflow forecasting aligned exactly on what is shown in Finance.
• Identify committed expenditure before it is actually spent.
• Track CPT allocations/forecasts/actual.
• Link Budgets to Tasks

Workflow

• Enforce a discipline on less experienced/qualified staff – reduce costly procedural mistakes.
• Use standard workflows to set up standard tasks.
• Traffic light indicators for all tasks.
• Use Notes system to record information about progress on tasks.
• See the effect of delays on other tasks.

Property

• Set up Property Attributes with restricted inputs, reduce mistakes.
• Parent/Child structure speeds up input and reduces mistakes.
• Use Notes to record and monitor sales & marketing information.

People

• Show contact details of all suppliers, staff and others.
• Maintain and monitor key details of suppliers – PI expiry etc.
• Create your own performance benchmarking of service providers.

Checklist - Where might Sequel help us??

• How do you currently manage budgets/latest estimates, updating cashflows, consolidating and reporting to finance?  How many people are involved and how long does it take?
• Is it easy to see what changes have occurred to budgets and estimates and the reasons?
• Is all the critical information on a project easily found in one place, even when the project officer is away?
• Can others see what the status of the scheme is and how it’s progressing?
• Do non-development people receive the information they require easily and regularly?
• What happens when someone goes on holiday or is off sick – do reports get delayed, could critical action get overlooked?
• Do you waste a lot of time preparing for HC scheme audits?
• Are the HC impressed by the way you manage your schemes?
• Is it easy for Housing Management to get property data into their management system?
• Do you believe that your current systems help staff manage their workload efficiently?
• Would you describe your current systems as user-friendly?

How much time do I have to save to make Sequel worthwhile?

Based on what other organisations have told us, we offer the following example:

A Project Manager should save 2 – 3 days per month as a minimum.

Assuming a gross staff cost of £35,000 p.a. and 2.5 days per month the saving is:-

12 months*2.5 days p.m./52 weeks*5 days p. w. = 12% saving in staff time, or £4,200 p.a.

Finance should save c. 1 – 2 days per month and other departments collectively a minimum of 1 day per month.  Total other savings per month also 2.5 days, or £4,200 p.a.

Total Saving c. £8,400.

Assume a supply cost of £11,000 + VAT.  (Enterprise version with 5 users).

This means that Sequel should pay for itself in under 18 months.

If you add to this the qualitative improvements and additional benefits which Sequel brings, it should make the business case easy to justify.

We would be happy to discuss the specific impact of Sequel on the organisation to assist it in making its own business case.