Future Academies Saves Over £200k of Excess Spend with PLANERGY
- Company Overview
Future Academies is a high-performing multi-academy trust operating across London and Hertfordshire. With ten schools under its umbrella, the trust is committed to academic excellence supported by strong financial stewardship.
- Why PLANERGY
When CFO Alberta Edland joined in 2023, she brought a clear vision: streamline financial operations, cut inefficiency, and gain full visibility across procurement and budgeting.
After years working with bolt-on spend management tools, she knew they needed a modern, integrated solution. PLANERGY, combined with Xero, offered AI-powered automation, real-time visibility, and scalability at a fraction of the cost of legacy systems.
Key Challenges
- Legacy finance systems created silos, inconsistent reporting, and fragmented processes across schools.
- Each school had its own finance officer manually keying invoices, often from paper copies.
- Approvals lacked flexibility, defaulting to department heads or central finance and slowing decisions.
- Leadership had no real-time visibility of purchase orders, commitments, or supplier activity.
- The cost of existing systems was four to five times higher than PLANERGY combined with Xero.
Key Benefits
- Procurement was centralized across all schools, with consistent reporting and visibility.
- Invoice processing was automated, halving headcount requirements and cutting data entry to seconds.
- Approval workflows became flexible and trackable, speeding up decision-making across departments.
- Leaders gained real-time dashboards and complete confidence in financial data.
- Staffing efficiencies saved £80,000–£90,000 in the first year, and over £200,000 was saved by eliminating duplicate contracts.
The Story
Customer
Future Academies
Key client
CFO
Industry
Education
Company Size
150+ employees
Before PLANERGY
Future Academies relied on legacy systems like PSF and IRIS, which meant fragmented processes, data silos, and little financial oversight.
Each of the trust’s ten schools had its own finance officer, manually keying invoices into the system. Approvals were rigid and slow, defaulting either to department heads or central finance, which delayed decisions.
Leadership had little to no visibility of purchase orders, commitments, or supplier activity. As Alberta recalled, “We had a million-pound gap no one could explain.”
Costs were also rising, with the trust paying four to five times more for its existing finance systems compared to PLANERGY with Xero.
The result was inefficiency, higher costs, and limited control. This was precisely what Alberta was determined to address when she joined as CFO.
After PLANERGY
Implementation was phased in across all ten schools within just two weeks. Teachers and business managers were quick to adopt the system thanks to intuitive workflows and seamless integrations. Alberta reflected, “Training was excellent. Teachers and business managers loved how easy it was.”
With PLANERGY in place, invoice processing became dramatically more efficient. AI-powered Optical Character Recognition (OCR) reduced data entry to seconds and reduced the burden on staff. Alberta explained, “We used to have one finance officer per school. Now it’s one per two schools—and we didn’t need to restructure. We just didn’t rehire.”
Budget tracking and procurement were also transformed. Random suppliers could no longer be added ad hoc; instead, supplier onboarding was centralized and controlled.
Overspending was prevented by real-time budget tracking and tailored approval workflows. “Before, random suppliers would get added. Now, we’ve centralized and standardized it—and our procurement lead loves it.”
Staff adoption was boosted further with the Amazon PunchOut integration, enabling teachers to raise orders in minutes. Alberta noted, “That alone won them over.”
The financial impact was substantial. Staffing efficiencies saved £80,000 to £90,000 in the first year alone, while better visibility identified and eliminated duplicate or unnecessary contracts worth more than £200,000.
Audit preparation became easier and less costly thanks to cleaner, accessible data. Alberta summed up the transformation: “Now, I can go to the board and know the numbers are right. I don’t just trust the team—I can see it myself.”
Looking ahead, Future Academies plans to expand its reporting with PLANERGY’s Power BI integration and build out more supplier PunchOut connections.
Testimonials
What we were getting from PSF was about four to five times more expensive than PLANERGY and Xero combined. With PLANERGY, I get the clarity and efficiency I need at a fraction of the cost.
Alberta Edland
CFO
Read More Education Case Studies
One platform to control and manage 100% of your company’s purchasing & payments
Trusted by the leading finance & operations teams across the world