Case studies that demonstrate our work
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:
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.
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:
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:
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
“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.”
“After experiencing a spike in fraud attempts, we understood that we needed to protect ourselves from future risks by implementing a P2P system that could support a no-touch, self-service approach. In fact, this was the catalyst to the entire project and key to gaining management’s support. ”
“Basware is highly capable in delivering P2P solutions and Extropy has been invaluable in the implementation process – our dedicated in-house team couldn’t have asked for better partners.”