Overview
Foxton Primary School are a small, maintained school located in a leafy suburb of Cambridgeshire. With just four classes spanning the entire KS1 and KS2 syllabus, they pride themselves on the three R’s: Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. The school have operated Bromcom for the last three years and we sat down with their Finance Officer, Elly Thomas, to discuss how our integrated finance solution offers total transparency over payments and how the system permits seamless statutory reporting.
“I’m really happy with Bromcom as it does everything I need it to do. I haven’t encountered any issues yet but if I do, I’m safe in the knowledge that we have a local Bromcom network around us that can assist with any issues that may arise”.
Easing in
I’ve not been with the school long and my background is not in education so I’m still very much getting used to a new environment. With that said, Bromcom supports me very well in my responsibilities. It’s easy to navigate the entire finance dashboard and, even when I come unstuck, the help section provides the answers I need. The walk-throughs are simple to follow and always result in a positive resolution.
Finance across the school
All the information is right there, in front of you. There’s no need to log in to another system as Bromcom highlights where every penny is spent. The ability to drill down to different parts of the budget is a big positive. As an example, I can click into the PE budget and see all the associated invoices and journals. From there, I can delve further into the journal and see all its contents. Its total visibility – vital for any kind of reporting. It’s not just budgets too. The My Child at School (MCAS) information filters through to Bromcom’s finance product. As a result, I can generate reports on dinner money spend. It’s a case of clicking a button called ‘process payments’ and the journal is right there. There’s no manual work required whatsoever, and you can make small edits easily if required. For our school, this is of enormous benefit so I can’t even begin to imagine how good it would be for a larger school or trust! I should also make the point that, aside from all the functionality, we have no need for any third-party systems.
“I just think Bromcom all fits together so well. Whether it’s chart of accounts or enquiries, it’s really easy to toggle through to the view I need”.
Reporting with ease
I use Bromcom all day, every day. If I’m not doing invoicing, I’m doing purchase orders or something to do with budgets. In short, I’m definitely the person who uses the system most across the school! During my day-to-day, I’m required to do a lot of financial reporting to the Local Authority. Bromcom makes this task nice and straightforward. The LA operate with Orovia, which is an HR and budgeting tool which they use to collate financial information across the county. When I have to report on budgetary matters, Bromcom speaks with Orovia and means I can complete tasks in no time at all. The information is exported from Bromcom, approved and readily available to access and inspect. If there are changes required, I can edit and update on the Bromcom side. Even if there are amendments, they are always minor and easily fixed.
Support from the Bromcommunity
I’m really happy with Bromcom as it does everything I need it to do. I haven’t encountered any issues yet but if I do, I’m safe in the knowledge that we have a local Bromcom network around us that can assist with any issues that may arise. We have a WhatsApp group discussing updates, quick wins and more! Janine Prosser is part of this group and she’s always great at making suggestions from the Bromcom side. If she doesn’t have an immediate answer, she knows which direction to point us.
Finance Officer approved
Oh, I’d definitely recommend Bromcom! I know my daughter’s school use another financial services provider which I have used in the past. It’s outdated and doesn’t have a particularly attractive interface. As I mentioned, It’s fair to say that Bromcom has had a big impact on improving attendance. It certainly makes my job that much easier, compared with other options on the market.
