Customer story highlights

• Faster payments and invoicing delivered in real time
• Savings on finance system costs, reinvested into community needs
• Streamlined workflows and reporting, reducing manual admin
• True partnership approach, ensuring smooth delivery and early results

About Hart District Council

Hart District Council is the local authority for north-east Hampshire, serving more than 102,000 residents across towns including Fleet, Hook and Yateley.

Since 1974, the Council has delivered a wide range of services from planning and housing to waste, leisure and community support, while protecting the district’s green spaces and quality of life.

Recognised as one of the UK’s best places to live, Hart is committed to balancing growth with strong community focus and sustainable, efficient services.

Hart District Council’s website

The challenge: funding pressures and inefficient systems

Like many local authorities, Hart faced increasing pressure to do more with less. Its legacy IT environment was fully outsourced, inflexible, and costly. Manual processes slowed down financial operations, while staff found the existing system clunky and difficult to use.

Balancing the budget each year required significant effort, leaving little room to explore service improvements.

“Efficiency is a constant aim of ours to try to drive down our costs because our funding is reduced each year. We have to balance our budget annually, and that ripples through every service in the council,” said Graeme Clark, Executive Director – Corporate Services at Hart District Council.

Hart required a future-proof finance system that was intuitive, flexible, and capable of supporting end-to-end processes across procurement, payments, budgeting, and reporting.

The solution: TechnologyOne Financials

After a competitive tender, Hart selected TechnologyOne Financials delivered through its innovative SaaS+ offering. The Council valued the system’s flexibility, intuitive interface, and ability to simplify workflows across departments.

“We really liked the look and flexibility of TechnologyOne. It isn’t just a system for accountants - it’s a system for our business needs,” Mr Clark said.

With SaaS+, Hart had everything it needed, with TechnologyOne taking full ownership from software, implementation and support, to updates, and security, all for a single annual fee. Implementation was completed on time and on budget, with the Council going live on 1 April 2025.

The Council attributes the project’s smooth delivery to its strong collaboration with TechnologyOne, noting that shared problem-solving and joint ownership of outcomes kept the implementation on track.

“TechnologyOne has been a really good partner throughout the implementation. The collaborative working between our team and theirs has been very strong, and that’s why the project has been a success,” Mr Clark said.

The results: faster, simpler and more transparent

Since going live with TechnologyOne Financials, Hart District Council has already seen tangible results across its finance function. Suppliers are now paid faster, invoices are processed in real time, and customers are billed on time.

“The benefit to the Council is cost savings,” said Sarah Parmenter, Systems Accountant at Hart District Council.

“We are getting invoicing out on time, paying people a lot quicker, and it’s easier to find information. If we spend less on our finance system, there is more money to assist the community with their needs.”

Automation has streamlined previously manual processes, freeing staff from time-consuming tasks and enabling them to focus on more value-added work. Improved reporting tools now provide the Council with stronger budget oversight and support quicker decision-making.

“Our partnership with TechnologyOne has enabled us to deliver to our community through paying suppliers, invoicing customers, and processing in real time,” Parmenter added.

“They have delivered on their promise to make things simple so we can serve our community.”

With SaaS+, Hart District Council now operates on a modern, scalable financial management system that streamlines operations, frees up resources, and enables the Council to deliver greater value to its residents.

Looking ahead: a future-ready council with a strong foundation

Hart District Council sees its investment in TechnologyOne as the foundation for long-term digital transformation. With core financial processes now streamlined with TechnologyOne Financials, the Council is focusing on unlocking the full power of reporting, analytics, and automation to strengthen budget management and service planning.

“We’re just starting to see the strength of the reporting on the budget side, and we know there’s a lot more the system can offer. As we continue this journey, the efficiencies we gain will mean more time and more resources for the community,” Mr Clark said.

By moving away from outsourced, legacy systems to TechnologyOne Financials, Hart now has a resilient digital finance solution ready to adapt to the changing demands of UK local government. This future-ready foundation ensures the Council can continue delivering value for money, excellent services, and stronger outcomes for its residents.