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.

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