Inspire Learning Trust Cuts Reconciliation Time From Hours to Minutes
Inspire Learning Trust is a multi-academy trust based in Rotherham, supporting students across all key stages of education. The Trust brings together a sixth form college, two secondary schools, and a junior primary school, creating a seamless learning journey for students from their early years through to further education. With a focus on community, collaboration, and high standards, Inspire Learning Trust is committed to providing every student with the support, skills, and opportunities they need to thrive both in the classroom and beyond.
With multiple sites, managing the volume of invoices and supplier data across the Trust became increasingly time-consuming. Time-consuming invoice processing and duplicates slipping in prompted the team to look for an AP automation solution that could streamline their processes and integrate seamlessly with their existing accounting system, Sage 200.
Marked Down for Duplication
David Hodgson, the Trust's Strategic Lead, explained that before implementing Lightyear, when invoices were received via email, the team had to manually download and attach each one before entering the details into Sage.
"When invoices came into our inbox, at that stage, the team had to download and prepare the invoices manually, which could take hours, or even days."
Another major challenge for the finance team was managing duplicate invoices. This added further unnecessary administrative burden.
"One of the biggest issues we faced was the risk of duplicate invoices coming in without us spotting them. We had to monitor the folder to make sure everything was captured constantly. Also, when statements were coming in, somebody had to manually check all those statements to make sure that there wasn't anything missing."
The team adopted Lightyear as their AP automation solution to eliminate these challenges and process invoices faster.
My team used to spend 3 hours a month managing statements. Now, that's been reduced to about 10 minutes.
Top of the Class Technology
We explored three or four other providers before deciding on Lightyear. For me, the two key reasons were the pricing and the features. Lightyear gave us the flexibility and value we were looking for."
David explained why the Lightyear AP automation solution perfectly fits the Trust.
"Once you’ve taught the system, which is like teaching a five-year-old to read and do maths. It just gets it. Now I can look at it and think, ‘There’s nothing I need to do here.’ It’s taken the headache out of chasing invoice numbers and dates."
David further elaborated that implementing Lightyear helped them avoid double payments as the system automatically flags duplicate invoices.
"We had a statement from Amazon come through with invoices we’d accidentally paid twice, and it took quite a while to sort it out, especially with how frequently we use Amazon across all four sites. Now, thanks to Lightyear, invoices are flagged automatically if there’s a duplicate, so it’s really easy to spot and avoid double payments."
The statement section has become almost minimal for us compared to what it used to be.
Reconciling Statements Went From 3 Hours to 10 Minutes
"My team was spending around 3 hours a month managing supplier statements, and we were getting about 84 each month. Now, that’s been brought down to about 10 minutes each month. We are also able to see straight away what's missing and what's not. The statement section has become almost minimal for us compared to what it used to be."
Alongside time savings, David explained how the Lightyear platform has made it easier for the team to support each other during staff absences.
"The system helped us cover for Nicci while she was on leave, without overwhelming the team. It’s user-friendly, much cleaner, and now that she’s back, smiling, it’s clear how much time it’s saving her to focus on more important things."
When asked what advice David would give someone looking at Lightyear for AP automation, he said:
"I'd definitely say go for it, but be prepared to put the work in upfront. The more you invest at the start, the better the results. Clean up your suppliers, nominals, and systems first because it makes the transition to automation much smoother.”
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