Customer story highlights

• Replaced a decade-old legacy finance system in just 10 months
• Went live on time and on budget
• Moved from fragmented, manual processes to real-time, accurate financial data
• Early efficiency gains across invoicing, approvals, General Ledger, and CIS returns

About North Tyneside Council

North Tyneside Council serves 210,000 residents across one of northeast England's most diverse boroughs. Sitting on the north bank of the River Tyne, the borough spans areas of affluence alongside communities facing real economic pressure.

The council delivers a broad range of services - from waste collection and environmental maintenance to leisure, libraries, and care for vulnerable adults and children.

North Tyneside Council website.

The challenge: A decade-old system holding back modern finance operations

North Tyneside Council's previous finance system had been in place for more than 10 years. By the time the council began looking for a replacement, both the technology and the ways of working around it needed to change.

According to Jon Ritchie, Director of Resources at North Tyneside Council, the finance system sits at the heart of everything the council does.

"The services that we provide are underpinned by technology and the finance system is a key element of that," Mr Ritchie told TechnologyOne.

"The one we had previously had been in place for over a decade. It needed to be changed from a technological basis but also to allow different ways of working within the borough."

In practice, that meant finance teams juggling three or four different systems, with a significant volume of work handled outside those systems entirely. Information was not live, not real-time, and not always accurate, making it difficult to act with confidence on the data available.

The solution: Replacing legacy finance with TechnologyOne Financials using SaaS+

Having seen other organisations struggle with major technology changes, North Tyneside Council was clear from the outset that it needed to choose its vendor carefully.

"We knew selecting the right partner was going to be critical. And I think partner is a key word," Mr Ritchie said.

"It wasn't just a supplier, it was somebody we needed to work with in the implementation, but then we'll continue to work with as we use the system."

Daniel Simms, Chief Information Officer at North Tyneside Council, shared.

"It was really important to me that we look to an organisation that was invested in our success and wanted the project to work," Mr Simms told TechnologyOne.

"That came across really strongly in the procurement from TechnologyOne and thankfully certainly was the case as we implemented the project as well."

The council implemented TechnologyOne Financials, delivered via SaaS+. With SaaS+, TechnologyOne takes responsibility for implementing, running, supporting, and upgrading the product, reducing the risk of the time and cost overruns that affect many similar projects.

That model directly addressed one of the council's key concerns.

With a fixed go-live date of 1 April - the start of the new financial year - the implementation window was 10 months. Mr Ritchie was direct about what made the difference.

"One of the things I was most impressed by was the ability to respond to the implementation time frame that we wanted in terms of key deliverables," he said.

"The willingness to flex and come up with pragmatic solutions was the key thing for me."

The results: Real-time data, faster processes, and better decisions

The move to TechnologyOne Financials has had an immediate impact on how North Tyneside Council operates.

Since going live, the council has moved from fragmented, manual processes to a single source of accurate, real-time financial data, with efficiency gains already visible and better information flowing to senior decision-makers and elected members

Efficiency gains from day one

The council has seen tangible improvements across a range of finance processes, with targeted automation driving efficiency across each area, such as:

• Better user interface
• Smoother requisition and approvals workflows
• Improved invoice processing
• Enhanced General Ledger experience
• Vastly improved Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) returns process

Mr Ritchie noted the quality of the implementation team as central to reaching this point.

"I have been extremely impressed with the support given by TechnologyOne, especially the excellent team working on our implementation," he said.

"Their consultants worked in partnership with our in-house digital and finance teams, ensuring that we hit the challenging timescales that we set ourselves.”

Better information for better services

The shift to accurate, real-time financial data is also changing how the council makes decisions. Finance teams now work from a single, reliable source, and the improvement in reporting quality is feeding directly into how the council reports to elected members and informs decisions at a senior level.

Ben Malpass, Executive Vice President for Local Government at TechnologyOne, said the results at North Tyneside reflect what SaaS+ is designed for.

"North Tyneside has made it clear that driving process efficiency is a top priority and these efficiency gains are in turn helping to streamline financial services that directly impact residents," Mr Malpass said.

"We're proud to support that vision in a meaningful way.”

According to Mr Ritchie, the technology exists to serve the people of North Tyneside.

"Ultimately, it's emptying the bins, it's looking after vulnerable adults and children, it's providing a good environment, the leisure services, the libraries - all of that is underpinned by the technology, even though a lot of people won't see it," he said.

"If it just works, it allows the service delivery to happen."