Sandstone Care Group Transform Spend Management with PLANERGY for Greater Control & Compliance
- Company Overview
Sandstone Care Group, a UK-based care home provider, operates nine residential facilities across England. The group is committed to maintaining operational excellence and financial transparency while supporting a growing network of care homes.
- Why PLANERGY
Sandstone Care Group adopted PLANERGY to bring structure and visibility to their procurement process. They needed a scalable solution that could streamline accounts payable, improve budget control across multiple locations, and support future growth. Critically, all this had to be achieved while reducing manual workloads and ensuring full compliance with internal approval workflows.
Key Challenges
- No centralized system, making it difficult to track procurement activity or manage accruals across care homes.
- Lack of formal sign-off procedures led to unauthorized and uncontrolled spending.
- Manual invoice processing delayed month-end reporting by up to 20 days.
- Indirect spend was hard to monitor, limiting cost control across locations.
- Growth required more finance staff due to lack of automation.
Key Benefits
- Invoices are auto-matched with POs and delivery notes, giving full visibility into procurement activity and reducing errors and fraud risk.
- Structured approval workflows ensure only authorized spending, increasing accountability and control.
- Month-end reporting shortened from 20 to just 5 days, improving financial agility.
- Real-time tracking of spend across all locations enhances cost control and decision-making.
- Scalable system supports expansion without increasing finance headcount by automating procurement and AP processes.
The Story
Customer
Sandstone Care Group
Key client
Finance Director
Industry
Assisted Living & Care Homes
Company Size
50+ Employees
Before PLANERGY
Prior to implementing PLANERGY, Sandstone Care Group managed procurement through a fragmented and manual process with little visibility or control. Without a centralized system, the finance team struggled to track spending in real time, leading to delays in accrual tracking and month-end reporting.
Purchase orders were raised inconsistently, with no structured approval workflows. This resulted in unauthorized purchases and financial inefficiencies. Invoices often arrived for services that had not been pre-approved, creating unexpected costs and increasing the risk of error and fraud.
Tracking indirect spend across multiple care homes was nearly impossible, making it difficult to enforce budgetary discipline. The organization’s rapid growth further strained the finance team, requiring more headcount just to manage purchasing and accounts payable manually.
Month-end close processes took far too long to complete due to paperwork bottlenecks and the lack of automation. Finance Director Joanne Muldowney summarized the situation: “Before PLANERGY, we had no system. There was no visibility, and we were closing accounts on day 20.”
Sandstone needed a scalable, automated solution to streamline procurement, increase control, and support operational growth.
After PLANERGY
With PLANERGY, budget control and transparency have vastly improved. Care home managers can now place orders within approved limits, ensuring financial discipline is maintained.
Regional managers and directors have full oversight of spend and approvals, eliminating uncontrolled purchasing and aligning expenses with operational needs.
As Finance Director Joanne Muldowney explained, “Now, everything is tracked. We know exactly who raised an order, who approved it, and who processed the invoice. That level of accountability is invaluable.”
PLANERGY’s automation of the accounts payable process significantly reduced manual effort. Invoices are automatically matched against purchase orders and delivery notes, ensuring accuracy and cutting down on human error.
Previously, the group required an Accounts Assistant for every three care homes. Today, one Purchase Ledger Clerk handles all sites. Rebecca Taylor, the Purchase Ledger Clerk, noted, “The automation of accounts payable with PLANERGY has been a huge time saver. I can now process hundreds of invoices quickly and accurately, without the manual workload.”
Month-end closing has also seen a dramatic improvement. What once took up to 20 days is now completed in just 5. This reduction is due to real-time tracking of invoices and accruals, making the entire process more agile and less burdensome. “We used to close the accounts on day 20,” shared Joanne, “now we are doing it at the very latest on day 10.”
Joanne highlighted, “The seamless integration with Xero is brilliant, it allows us to drill down straight from Xero into PLANERGY, to see the full purchase trail effortlessly.”
Enhanced reporting and analytics features give Sandstone real-time visibility into spend, trends, and compliance, enabling smarter, data-driven decision-making. PLANERGY’s fraud prevention tools further ensure financial integrity by flagging invoice discrepancies and enforcing structured approval workflows.
PLANERGY has revolutionized Sandstone Care Group’s financial operations, transforming an unstructured and inefficient system into a streamlined, transparent, and scalable process. For care homes seeking to modernize procurement and maintain rigorous financial control, PLANERGY stands out as a proven, effective solution.
Testimonials
“PLANERGY has given us much better budget control. Our users can place their own orders within their set limits, from preferred suppliers, streamlining purchasing while maintaining budget compliance.”
Joanne Muldowney
Finance Director
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