Davis Ogilvie Case Study

Davis Ogilvie

 

Overview

Davis Ogilvie Holdings is a group of five companies, focussed on the range of services required to complete a development project, including information, finance, management, and professional services such as surveying, engineering and resource management.

The company also has interests in water and wastewater treatment and energy efficient building solutions.

Davis Ogilvie has been in business for 75 years, and over the past six years has experienced rapid expansion – growing from 25 to 95 staff – with further expansion planned over the next few years.

Managing growth

Davis Ogilvie began as a single office in Christchurch – expanding to include branches in Timaru, Auckland, Nelson and Greymouth.

As the company grew, it became aware of the need for increased functionality, said Managing Director, Roy Hamilton.

“We were using functionality in the MYOB program we had that was not intended for branch management and its use was limited,” he said.

The company had switched to MYOB Premier from a DOS-based system four years earlier.

“We found that as our company had grown and we were managing a number of branches, we needed more functionality. We also needed to cater for our planned expansion, the management of those companies, and the requirements for consolidation of accounts under a holding company.

A scaleable solution

The company installed MYOB EXO Business two years ago – attracted by the program’s SQL structure.

As Davis Ogilvie also uses a time recording programme that is based on an SQL database structure, it was important that its accounting system was built on the same base for custom queries and reporting.

“MYOB EXO Business just handles the scale of our business better and allows us to obtain the management information that we require on a day to day basis,” said Mr Hamilton.

“The program has helped us manage our growth by seamlessly letting us add to the business without having to change our systems – the whole basis of our growth strategy relies on the scalability of our management systems.

“In 2002, when we employed 20 staff we had one person handling the accounts. Staff numbers have now more than tripled to 95, and in effect we still only employ one person to manage the accounts – solely because of the systems we use.”

Bringing the business together

“Compared to before, MYOB EXO Business is great – the program has much more of a corporate focus. From a managerial point of view, it is much easier to gain access to the information that I need to oversee a range of branches and businesses,” said Mr Hamilton.

“I am able to get information straight away with no dramas, which is important as I have to be able to access data from anywhere in my role. The ability to get into the system easily is a major step forward.”

Mr Hamilton said the ability to see branch and company performance results from one interface and be able to drill down on the make up of the result was a particularly useful addition.

“We as owners have a focus on the individual companies. But for overall consolidation of data, we needed a tool that would let us view the combined results from the top down – MYOB EXO Business lets us do this.”

MYOB EXO Business has been essential in helping the company to better integrate its data.

The ability to customise reporting functions has also proved invaluable, with the company now using a range of customise reports to suit its business KPI monitoring.

“We have had a custom link built to bring our invoices from the time management software directly into the EXO Business debtor’s journal, and we have developed a range of custom reports,” said Mr Hamilton.

“MYOB EXO Business definitely provides better reporting, with less effort – it’s one of the key flow-on effects we have noticed.

“I find the debtors and P&L reporting are very easy to access for the management feedback that I need, and the management report interface lets our managers see simple performance measures without needing to access the main EXO software.”

The added reporting functions also allow for better, and easier decision-making processes.

“We get more direct feedback regarding debtor management and P&L position – this has let us modify our process and ensure that we are continuously improving.”

Up to the minute management

“The added reporting functionality and ease of use has really added value to our businesses.

“We can now provide up-to-the-minute management reports to all of our job management and company management teams that let decision making occur on a more informed basis,” said Mr Hamilton.

“Our management accounting team love it compared to what we were doing. In fact they consider that we couldn’t have completed the growth that we have without it.”