Streamlined processes reduce admin work and free up time.
Real-time data gives snapshots into staff schedules and organisational spending.
Accurate reports help comply with funding and audit requirements.
In 1967, a group of parents set up the Victorian Autistic Children and Adults Association. Now called Amaze, the organisation is a central point for resources and support to help autistic people and their families live their best lives.
Since its inception, the organisation has grown exponentially: it’s now an incorporated non-profit, the peak body for autism in Victoria, and has now gone national.
The MYOB Advanced platform has helped finance coordinator, Rhonda Williams, streamline processes so Amaze can focus on helping more people.
Amaze outgrows previous software system
Amaze had been happily using MYOB AccountRight, but as its team, reach and reporting requirements expanded, the organisation began to outgrow the software.
To build reporting for management and account for government grant money, Rhonda would spend hours downloading files and manipulating data in spreadsheets. She’d then input that information into a presentable format.
“That was my life – the spreadsheet queen,” she recalls.
That manual intervention inevitably created errors – giving Rhonda more work and causing doubt in the numbers.
Management eventually called in a third party to collect data and build reports. It was a costly and lengthy process. As a NFP, Amaze is audited every year, so delivering accurate reports was essential.
When the organisation moved into projects and began planning for national expansion, it clearly needed a change.
MYOB Advanced platform everything they needed
Amaze operates a complex organisation with a national helpline, office staff, donations and government grants all requiring oversight and reporting. It needed a dynamic and comprehensive system that could pull information from across the organisation, delivering a single point of truth and the ability to generate reporting automatically.
“We needed a comprehensive system that encompassed everything, and MYOB’s three products – Advanced Business, Payroll and Workforce Management – had everything we needed.”
- Rhonda Williams, Finance Coordinator, Amaze
Because Amaze was also growing rapidly, it needed the system to streamline staff onboarding and easily manage project reporting. Rhonda says none of the systems she investigated fit the bill except for one - MYOB.
Robust platform “makes life easier”
Rhonda immediately saw how much manual effort the MYOB Advanced platform cut out, while capturing a full audit trail that would keep the auditors happy.
“To make our lives a whole lot easier we wanted to work smarter, not harder, and MYOB has enabled us to do that.”
- Rhonda Williams, Finance Coordinator, Amaze
Amaze also cut costs – instead of paying the data collection and reporting company, it now gets the same insight from MYOB at a push of a button.
“We’ve been able to replace a few external systems and lots and lots of spreadsheets," she explains.
"It is a massive task to undertake such a project and this was quite daunting to begin with. Being able to pick up the phone and ask questions of any one of the team made it so much easier.”
- Rhonda Williams, Finance Coordinator, Amaze
MYOB Advanced platform saves hours each month
Since Amaze shifted to MYOB, most of the manual admin work in Rhonda’s day – and the errors that came with it – has been eliminated. This has freed almost a full week each month to spend on more value-add tasks. With MYOB Advanced Payroll, tasks that Rhonda had previously spent hours doing, now take just a few minutes.
She’s seen a particular improvement in onboarding – instead of constant back-and-forth via email, Rhonda simply sends incoming staff an invite to the online onboarding process.
“MYOB Advanced makes my life a breeze. It's really increased our productivity.”
- Rhonda Williams, Finance Coordinator, Amaze
Rhonda’s filing cabinet of people’s leave and personal details is gone, too. The self-service portal allows staff to check and apply for leave and update details themselves.
“Updating details and managing leave all happens within MYOB – that’s amazing when you have to process leave for 50 people over Christmas. It’s streamlined a whole lot of tasks.”
- Rhonda Williams, Finance Coordinator, Amaze
Because timesheets are filed automatically with MYOB Advanced Workforce Management, Amaze’s managers have one less thing to worry them.
“When I gave them a sneak peek at how rostering would work, it made them exceptionally happy.”
Improvements since implementing MYOB Advanced Business, MYOB Advanced Payroll and MYOB Advanced Workforce Management:
Accurate financial reports help secure more government funding
Streamlined staff onboarding, rostering and payroll minimises paperwork
Real-time reports give insight from across the organisation
Many hours of manual work per month eliminated
Savings on time and expensive external suppliers and multiple systems
