Case Study

Eliminate Fraud by streamlining supplier self-service lifecycle management

Industry: Non-Profit

Partners/Solutions: Basware P2P, Basware Analytics, Basware E-invoice Receiving

Client

Founded in 1860 in Connecticut, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization which provides after-school programs for 4.6 million young people, across its 4,738 club facilities throughout the US and on military installations abroad. BGCA’s mission is to allow young people in need reach their full potential, by providing them with tools to become productive, caring, and responsible citizens.

As a non-profit charity, BGCA five sources of income are federal funding, state funding, individual donors, corporate donors, and public charities. Funds, which accounted for $182M in 2019, are used to support the organization’s mission; the majority are passed through to 1,100 separate club organizations spread out across the country.

Four key motivations for undergoing digital transformation in the BGCA finance department, were defined by our client partner Jason Penegar, VP Controller of Boys & Girls Clubs of America:

1. Preventing fraud around vendor banking information: the goal was to be “touch free” from any vendor banking information and implementing a self-service approach to eliminate risk

2. Increasing the agility and timeliness of passing funds through to club organizations enabling fulfilled within 48h of receiving a request

3. Enhancing the visibly of payments to vendors and employees and being able to supply donors with accurate reporting

4. Streamlining BGCA’s compliance platform around spending, workflows and approvals

Challenges

Pre-project, BGCA’s finance department had two separate systems for procurement and AP, a fragmented approach which caused inefficacy in passing of information between systems, was wasteful in terms of time and human resources, and resulted in many errors in the execution of payments.

Setting-up vendors was done manually, exposing the organization to fraud, and very labor intensive.

Purchase orders were handled in a paper driven process which lacked efficiency and visibility.

ACH fraud attempts on the rise, and the recommendation of an external accounting assessment which identified Procure-to-Pay as an opportunity for BGCA, led to a robust RFP where more than seven different vendors were asset.Basware and Extropy were awarded the project due to the combination of the software-service holistic approach which answered BGCA’s variety of requirements and aspirational goals, and its affordable pricing.

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“Implementing their ecosystem approach, Extropy maximized Basware’s capabilities and found out-of-the-box solutions to address every one of BGCA’s pain points.”

Jason Penegar, VP – Controller

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Our Solution

Starting with a kick-off workshop at the beginning of 2020, we set the foundations of the project together with the BGCA and Basware teams by studying the nature of BGCA’s processes, workflows, challenges and requirements. With COVID-19 forcing adjustments to our implementation processes, we switched to a remote working and training model, which proved itself as productive and efficient. We built and configured the project within 6-months, despite office closures and other restrictions, and went live on time.

Our Goals:
1. Eliminate BGCA’s ERP dependency
2. Implement a self-service vendors API, so no one inside BGCA is required or even able to view or modify vendor banking information
3. Automate BCGA’s payment process to allow batch payment approval

Our mission was to maximize Basware’s capabilities and meet BCGA needs to the T, by searching for out-of-the-box solutions and implementing our ecosystem approach to address every pain point. We worked in full collaboration with Comdata, and Scanmarket, to deliver a comprehensive solution, with everyone complying to one cohesive timeline. A multi-departmental effort led by Jason Penegar involved all stake holders in the process, assuring every need was mapped, and enhancing change management efforts.

Solution Highlights:

Implementing a stand-alone process to eliminate ERP dependency by completely redesigning the accounts payable process to allow an okay-to-pay file to go directly through to Comdata, regardless of payment method
Redefining supplier life cycle management, rebuilding the vendor database by creating an automated self-service registration API through a vendor portal, and launching a vendor-manager campaign to collect updated vendor information
Creating transparency of payments and their related communications by sending an automatic email when payments are made and allowing vendors to view payment status at all times
Automating credit-card payments with no manual intervention to support large credit card volumes and maximize rebates
Implementing a proactive approach to cash management with an automated workflow to cut the time spent on cash management and payment executing

Results

20% of vendors registered using the new system within the first 90 days, with 2% of invoice key-in.
Using the Connect Pay solution for credit card payments, BGCA has the foundation to support a spend goal of $30 million for 2021, which will realize in $500,000 in rebates
Automated batch payment approval reduced the time spent on authorizing payments from 60 hours to 2 hours per week

Eliminate Fraud by streamlining supplier self-service lifecycle management

Client

1. Preventing fraud around vendor banking information: the goal was to be “touch free” from any vendor banking information and implementing a self-service approach to eliminate risk

2. Increasing the agility and timeliness of passing funds through to club organizations enabling fulfilled within 48h of receiving a request

3. Enhancing the visibly of payments to vendors and employees and being able to supply donors with accurate reporting

4. Streamlining BGCA’s compliance platform around spending, workflows and approvals

Challenges

”

“Implementing their ecosystem approach, Extropy maximized Basware’s capabilities and found out-of-the-box solutions to address every one of BGCA’s pain points.”

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Our Solution

Results

Associations & Awards

Associations & Awards

Eliminate Fraud by streamlining supplier self-service lifecycle management

Client

1. Preventing fraud around vendor banking information: the goal was to be “touch free” from any vendor banking information and implementing a self-service approach to eliminate risk

2. Increasing the agility and timeliness of passing funds through to club organizations enabling fulfilled within 48h of receiving a request

3. Enhancing the visibly of payments to vendors and employees and being able to supply donors with accurate reporting

4. Streamlining BGCA’s compliance platform around spending, workflows and approvals

Challenges

”

“Implementing their ecosystem approach, Extropy maximized Basware’s capabilities and found out-of-the-box solutions to address every one of BGCA’s pain points.”​

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Our Solution

Results

Associations & Awards

Associations & Awards

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“Implementing their ecosystem approach, Extropy maximized Basware’s capabilities and found out-of-the-box solutions to address every one of BGCA’s pain points.”