Oracle Cloud Implementation Led to Optimized Performance

Business Challenge

Overstaffed Accounting Department With Outdated Processes

Our client is a large nonprofit organization that supports children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With multiple lines of revenue equaling over $400 million, the organization employed a team of more than 70 accounting and finance employees — double what other companies of their size employed. Coupled with the overstaffing issue, our client’s accounting and finance systems and processes were outdated, and current practices were slowing down their month-end close, which lasted longer than 10 business days.

To help streamline and automate their accounting and financial work, our client chose to upgrade to Oracle Cloud. While they had an implementation partner, they required additional specialized support throughout the process to assist their accounting and finance team.

Aston Carter previously partnered with this client to provide high-quality candidates through our staffing solutions program. Based on the relationship and trust we developed with our client, we were asked to provide additional functional support during the transition to Oracle Cloud.

Our Solution

Flexible, Scalable and Affordable Solutions

We worked closely with the client’s technical implementation partner, providing staff augmentation support based on the project phase and the client’s needs. As the project progressed, we offered cost-efficient, quick-moving and scalable solutions — such as sourcing, onboarding and offboarding workforce during the life cycle of the transition.

We began the engagement with our client’s primary requirement, which was hiring a skilled project manager who had led an Oracle Cloud implementation at a previous organization. Our team successfully identified a project manager with extensive knowledge of Oracle who captained the implementation process in collaboration with the finance department. For over two years, the project manager played a crucial role in various aspects of the project, including planning, design, testing, go-live and post-integration facets of the project.

We also sourced a fixed assets accounting supervisor to provide additional subject matter expertise, four general ledger accountants to support operational functions related to month-end close and cash management, two AP specialists for operational assistance and one FP&A analyst to aid in revenue and cost planning. These roles were critical to help establish new processes and augment the current staff dedicated to the Oracle Cloud implementation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, this project encountered some delays and challenges, including adopting a new remote work environment. To address these issues, we sourced a remote workforce. This allowed us to recruit from a larger pool of candidates, giving us greater flexibility in acquiring the specific skill sets required by our client.