Horsham District Council digital innovation puts it years ahead

While one in five councils is on the brink of bankruptcy, Horsham District Council is bucking the trend. Thanks to its partnership with global Software-as-a-Service provider TechnologyOne, Horsham District Council was one of the minority of local authorities that managed to publish their draft accounts for 2023/24 by the statutory deadline, setting a benchmark for digital transformation in the public sector.

Prior to implementing TechnologyOne’s SaaS OneCouncil solution in 2017, Horsham District Council was using a legacy financial management solution that required the finance team to spend 80 per cent of their time manually inputting data into spreadsheets to generate reports.

Horsham District Council Head of Finance and Performance, Samantha Wilson, said: “Although we have never missed a deadline, it was always a stretch for the team. OneCouncil has transformed our financial process. Rather than chasing up physical spreadsheets to prepare our working documents, the system generates them almost instantly, allowing us additional time to develop our account analysis and provide our leaders with a narrative of how the council is progressing.”

“By automating the more time-consuming aspects of the reporting process, we have been able to create efficiencies with a smaller team while still providing accurate data. Auditors said that our working papers, which we generate through OneCouncil, were excellent and encouraged our neighbouring districts to request copies so they can be better prepared for the next deadline.”

OneCouncil is a preconfigured solution that supports the day-to-day operational and strategic requirements of councils that's fast and cost-effective to implement.

“We chose an enterprise solution to empower our staff by removing tedious administrative tasks so that they can spend more time recognising trends, identifying savings and creating efficiencies. We recently had a team member go on leave unexpectedly and during that time we were able to automate invoicing tasks such as validating suppliers and purchase orders to ease our workloads while we were down a team member,” Ms Wilson said.

TechnologyOne Executive Vice President, Leo Hanna, said: "At a time where just one per cent of local English councils are able to meet budgetary deadlines, embracing innovation is not a luxury but a necessity. By making strategic investments in innovative solutions, councils can not only overcome financial constraints but enhance service delivery, ensure sustainability, and meet the ever-changing needs and expectations of the communities they serve.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Horsham District Council on their continued journey toward digital excellence and applaud them on their commitment to embracing innovation for the benefit of their workforce and community.”

TechnologyOne partners with unitary authorities and district councils across the United Kingdom, including Blackpool Council, Conwy County Borough Council and Derby City Council.