The Situation
Dairy Holdings Limited (DHL), based in the South Island, is the largest corporate dairy farming organisation in NZ. DHL operate across 74 dairy farms and 15 grazing block operations. At an operational level, the farms are operated by Farm Managers, Contract Milkers and Sharemilkers. The Farm Operators are managed by Farm Supervisors. The Farm Supervisors manage a portfolio of farms in their respective region.
The Challenge
Recently Dairy Holdings Limited implemented DX2 Capture & Approvals to digitise their payables invoices and approval flow. This process has saved hours of processing time every month.
“With in excess of 1000 invoices per month each needing to be authorised by up to 3 signing delegations, spanning the greater part of the South Island, Dairy Holdings were in desperate need of an efficient invoice approval system. The cost and time of physically delivering these invoices to individual farms has been very time consuming and unproductive.” Morgan Galbraith, Chief Financial Officer, Dairy Holdings Limited.
With the first part of the project complete, DHL then began to look at ways they could make the process even faster. One of the ways to do this is to speed up the processing of the high-volume suppliers by receiving these invoices in digital form straight into DX2 Approvals.
When Olympic Software approached PGG Wrightson (PGW) (one of DHL’s largest suppliers) to see if they would be willing to send their invoices as digital data, PGW jumped at the chance to help Dairy Holdings.
The Solution
PGW now send their invoices for Dairy Holdings as digital data via DX2. As the invoices are received, they appear in the DX2 Approvals module ready for coding, and to be sent out to Farm Managers for approval.
The Results
PGW invoices are now received daily by DHL direct into their DX2 Approvals module ready for coding and to be sent for approval (OCR capture of the PDF is no longer required). The DHL team can:
- Code the daily invoices as they come through and send out to Farm Managers for approval rather than having to wait until the monthly invoice/statement is received.
- Farm Managers can either approve or notify the DHL team of any straight away.
- There is less time pressure on the DHL team as daily invoices are processed immediately rather than waiting for receipt of the invoice/statement on the 7/8th of the following month with payment expected by the 20th.
- PGW are also saving time, with the ability to deal with any errors more quickly.
"The feedback so far from our accounts team and our Farm Managers has been really positive. There have been a few times when there have been errors on invoices so these can now be dealt with straight away rather than waiting until the 8th of the month following to get invoices reissued and credits sorted.” Alannah Lovett, Company Accountant, Dairy Holdings Limited.
DX2 is also delivering these benefits to the team at DHL:
- Transforming work by changing the way the work is done
- Spend control
- Empowering staff by delivering a digitally powered and connected workspace
- Escaping the constraints of time and place by providing a digital platform that is available 24/7
- Driving engagement and collaboration in a border-less way to build networks and partnerships.
“The feedback from the whole team from the Finance Team to the Farm Supervisors and Farm Operators, has been very positive. Our users have found DX2 to be user friendly and not too daunting to learn. Viewing the attachment (copy of invoices) is a great advantage. The security of knowing that every invoice has been signed off for payment as per the delegated authority is invaluable. The Administration Team requirement to handle an invoice more than once has been reduced dramatically, this in itself is significant!
Olympic has offered a great support network. Any questions, enhancements and problems have been answered in a timely manner. Any supporting notes/instructions are provided in an easy to understand format.” Morgan Galbraith, Chief Financial Officer, Dairy Holdings Limited
For more information on the PGW to DHL solution please see the PGW blog "Creating an EDI Solution for Dairy Holdings Ltd".
