Calxa Case Study – Lithgow Community Transport

“Calxa has allowed us to obtain information across 3 locations with up to 5 different funding streams. We could not supply the level of detailed information required for our Management Committee without Calxa.”

Kathy Dickson

Manager, Lithgow Community Transport

The Problem

Operating a service for a diverse group of people with different needs is a challenge in itself. To fund these activities require help from a number of sources.

 

Budget Reporting for all Funding Streams

This brings us to the problem at hand. Being able to report against budgets to the numerous funding bodies across 3 different locations with up to 5 different funding streams was no easy task.

Unit Costing for NDIA Pricing

Another factor that needed close attention was the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) requiring to cost each activity to ensure it was sustainable within the NDIA set pricing framework.

Working Remotely

Having their Bookkeeper isolated in a different location to the main office made end-of-month financials regularly a laborious project. This was made more difficult during her maternity leave, making the sabbatical a real pain point and a danger of losing her skills and expertise.

 

 

The Solution

To ascertain the ability to deliver services under the NDIS funding, the organisation had to first understand their business model. Questions like ‘How dependent are we across the subsidisation of funding streams’ prompted a difficult and challenging reality check.

“Calxa has allowed us to accurately understand the costing of our service and what dependence each location has on the different funding streams.”

Working in the Cloud

The online workspaces have enabled collaboration between different roles such as the bookkeeper and the management team.

“Calxa has allowed our bookkeeper to return to work from home at times that are convenient to her lifestyle.”

Being in the cloud with MYOB and Calxa has great advantages in the delegation of budgeting responsibilities. The finance staff are now in charge of monitoring budget variances and the creation of future budgets providing the Treasurer and Auditors with clear information.

“By using the online version we have also been able to allow our staff the flexibility of working remotely.”

Automating Budgets

The automation of bulk budget creation with the Budget Factory has proven a key element in the planning allowing to embed different stress tests within various scenarios.

 

 

On a side note:

Lithgow Community Transport worked with Calxa Accredited Partner and MYOB Certified Consultant Rhys Roberts to review their systems and processes. Manager, Kathy Dickson said,

“Having an external perspective from someone with good system knowledge really helped us set everything up right first time and save lots of stress.”

 

About Lithgow Community Transport

Lithgow Community Transport has provided transport services to young people with a disability, their carers and the frail aged over 65s since 1978. In regional areas their program reaches transport-disadvantaged people. The service delivery is co-ordinated by a small team with the help of a pool of volunteers and is overseen by a management committee. Funding is mostly from federal and state governments.

 

The Organisation