Case Study
St. Charles Healthcare System turns to Ascend to improve the health of their AP process
Introduction
For a century, St. Charles Health System has been committed to delivering exceptional healthcare in central Oregon. As a non-profit organization, their top priority is providing patients with the highest quality of care at an unbeatable value. To achieve this objective, they continuously look for ways to reduce operational costs. One of the areas where they identified room for improvement was their accounts payable process. St. Charles found a solution to their challenge in Workday Financial Management and Ascend Software.
Challenges
St. Charles faced several challenges with their previous AP and general ledger system. The team had to manually input all invoice details, which was time-consuming and prone to errors. Moreover, the system didn't allow for anything to be loaded directly, which made it difficult to access invoice images quickly. These issues made it challenging for executives to review and approve invoices and analyze their financial performance.
Solution
St. Charles switched to Workday Financial Management, a cloud-based system that helps companies better manage revenue, resources, and financial accounting. They also integrated with Ascend software, which provides a Workday-certified solution that seamlessly integrates with the platform in real-time to automate St. Charles' business process. Ascend's solution enabled St. Charles to scan invoice images directly into the Workday system, making them readily available for operational leaders. The executives can now easily review and approve invoices, analyze financial performance, and forecast more accurately.
Getting the most from Workday Financial Management
Ms. Bridges, Director of Finance and Accounting at St. Charles, stated that Ascend was critical in helping them utilize Workday to its highest capacity. With Ascend's solution, they can eliminate one-third of staff interactions in their AP process, making it fully automated. The interface and the ability to have a scanned copy of the invoices at the transaction, accounting, and general ledger detail level were the most beneficial aspects of the change.
Long-term relationship, built on trust
Ms. Bridges values her relationship with Ascend, which she describes as more of a relationship than a transaction. Ascend's solution feeds into Workday so well that they don't even have to think about it, making it effortless and seamless. Overall, St. Charles Health System could save up to 25% of their team's efforts by eliminating over-processing, rework, and waiting, which are all defined waste that they continuously look to eliminate in their lean culture.
Conclusion
By implementing Workday Financial Management and Ascend Software, St. Charles Health System was able to streamline their AP process, making it more efficient and less prone to errors. They were also able to access invoice images more quickly, allowing executives to review and approve invoices, analyze financial performance, and forecast more accurately. The partnership between St. Charles and Ascend was built on trust, making it effortless and seamless to use Ascend's solution with Workday Financial Management.