Cloud-hosted capital expenditure request software offers Rentokil Initial centralised control, standardised processes, financial transparency and compliance over their CapEx approval processes in Europe, Asia and the USA.

Rentokil Initial is one of the largest business services companies in the world, employing more than 66,000 people providing a wide range of services in 56 countries. Its Initial Textiles and Hygiene services division is specialist in textile, hygiene and medical services, operating in 16 European countries.

The challenge

Initial has historically operated a decentralised model with each country managing local processes for capital expenditure approval, mainly on paper forms. At Divisional level, there was a desire for greater visibility, smarter approval process and for forecasts to be tracked.

The solution

In addressing the business need for more visibility into its CapEx process, Rentokil Initial sought a tool that would incorporate workflow, business logic and reporting. Over the course of two months, they reviewed competitive products with their IT partner, Cognizant, and decided to implement a pilot program with a cloud-based solution to determine if it would satisfy the needs of their business users. In late February ePC was invited to implement a solution based upon BP Logix Process Director, to be presented to Initial’s finance team with a demanding go-live scheduled for April.

Upon completion of the pilot, being satisfied with its results, the company then deployed the product throughout its European Initial Textiles and Hygiene division on time, during April.

The capital expenditure request software, which is hosted in the cloud, can be accessed from any location and presents users with bespoke portlets, showing their assigned tasks and knowledge views. Users can initiate CapEx requests, which contain detailed budget, approved request and monthly cash flow data integrated in to the form. It applies logic rules to assist the users in completing the forms correctly, to ensure nothing is missing by the time the forms reach approval.

As an IT support group, we offer our business colleagues choices. The decision to select Process Director/Cloud Edition was made by the Divisional CFO, as the prototype of the CapEx process worked to his satisfaction. From an IT perspective we were also genuinely pleased with the pilot

Chris Broe, Group CIO, Rentokil Initial

Capital expenditure request form features

• Automatic multi-lingual translation of eForms
• All figures automatically shown in local currency and GB
• Business unit and asset category current position report including
  • Yearly budget amounts
  • Approved CapEx amounts with remaining totals by month
  • Monthly cashflow forecast for all approved CapEx
  • Monthly budget and cashflow budget available
• User selection for business unit, category, currency etc.
• Entry of request amount and expected cashflow, over multiple years
• Inter-dependant CapEx request linking for larger projects
• Rich-text request descriptions with spell check
• Attachments of any format (XLS, JPG, DOC etc.)
• Comment log, for any participant to add time stamped notes to a request
• Predicted authorisation path dependant on unit, asset category, amount etc.
• Integrated sanity checks and rules for entered data

Once submitted, the electronic forms are routed through the relevant workflow, based upon asset category, business unit, budgets and authorisation limits, often requiring approval from as many as six or more people. eMail notifications are sent, containing hyperlinks directly to the forms or if staff are away from their desk, they can simply send one word approve/reject replies with notes, directly from their smart phones.

Capital expenditure approval and tracking system features

• User and group configurable web portal access to data, reports and processes
• Admin portals with greater visibility and system alert screens
• User/Business Unit membership with hierarchy for permissions
• End user management of back-end database through Excel file integration
• Automated routing of completed eForms through dynamic authorisation paths
• Full audit trail with user ID’s and timestamps for all user actions
• Automatic handling of time zones with localised display
• Rejection and clarification workflow paths
• eMail notifications and timed reminders
• PDF rendition of request forms attached to eMail notifications and for archival
• Automatic processing of eMail responses based on keyword extraction
• Microsoft Excel based reporting via dynamic data merges

The entire system is designed to be multi-lingual, with web-based eforms automatically translating in to the user’s local language. Flexible access to the user, unit, budget, limit and authorisation path data was also required, so ePC implemented an Excel import feature to allow end-user management of the backend data from within tools the finance team were already familiar with.

The results

The system has generated significant cost savings from centralised control, standardised process, enhanced financial transparency and ensured compliance. Due to the clear benefits the system has delivered to the business, it has subsequently been rolled out across all European, APAC and US operations.

Millennium and Copthorne Hotels PLC (M&C), a global hospitality management and real estate group, was looking to improve the controls around CapEx projects by implementing cloud-hosted workflow software to manage their multi-million annual budget.

Challenge

From new carpets in guest rooms to a major renovation worth millions of pounds, M&C process nearly 2,000 CapEx requests every year. Historically, the lengthy process involved completing a paper form which was signed locally at the hotel before being posted to regional management for approval and often then authorised by the Group centrally.

M&C initiated a competitive tender for a solution that overcame a number of challenges including routing CapEx requests – containing dozens of pages outlining amounts, justifications, ROI projections and different quotes from suppliers – around the world.

Solution

ePC worked closely with M&C to implement a capital expenditure (CapEx) approval software system. It links 118 hotels across the world and three central business units, into a real-time system where users can login and initiate CapEx requests.

ePC understood what we wanted. On a number of occasions, we described roughly what we would like in terms of capability but not in any great detail. They captured the simplicity of what was required without compromising on functionality

Nick Taylor, Finance Director, Millennium and Copthorne Hotels Plc

To initiate a capital expendure request, the hotel-based user will open the electronic form and enter the relevant information. Once completed and all the rules are met, the user submits the eform for approval, they have complete visibility over the approval process.

We love the simplicity of the system. The actual form has not changed much. You now complete it online. It still captures all the same information. Crucially, the quality of submitted requests has improved as certain fields are auto-filled, calculated automatically or contain rules such as a mandatory field or display a warning if certain conditions are not met. We’ve made the process tighter and more consistent

During a workflow, at any stage, an approver can send the request to any other approver for comments or back to the initiator for clarification. At this point, the initiator can either simply respond, returning it to the point in the approval chain it had reached or if necessary they can modify any aspect of the request and resubmit it from the beginning of the workflow.

It’s in your inbox, anyone can see how long it has been there. We can run reports and automated eMails are generated after a week to remind users. It naturally speeds up the process. It’s very transparent

Once a CapEx request form has received final approval, each participant in the workflow is notified and a purchase order is created. By default, a CSV file containing the basic header information relating to the request will be supplied to the users, for importing into their local procurement system.

When a senior executive further up the chain authorises the request, they can see all the questions that have been asked; and the answers to those questions. It keeps everything in one place, and makes the approval much easier

To optimise efficiencies, the cpital expenduture approval and tracking software automatically archives processed CapEx requests and is underpinned by a central repository. This allows users to refer easily to time-stamped approval decisions, documents and comments and run reports identifying how much capital expenditure has been allocated, which hotels are spending their budget and highlight trends and patterns. Previously the business had to interrogate internal finance systems within each hotel to access the information.

Capital expenditure (CapEx) approval software features

• Authorisation based on hierarchy / job role
• Bespoke web desktops tailored to role (Initiators, Approvers, Managers, System Administrator) allow users to initiate forms, view tasks lists, search and/or review submitted forms and view live dashboard information relevant to their role
• User/Business Unit membership with hierarchy granting permissions to lower levels
• End user management of back-end database through Excel data import
• Powerful capital expenditure request form offering:
• All figures automatically shown in user’s local currency
• Dynamic fields, only displayed or mandatory in certain circumstances
• Hotel current position information including:
• Period budgets
• CapEx already approved in current period
• Remaining budget available
• Attachments of any format (XLS, JPG, DOC etc.)
• Current and archived attachment view to support evolving documentation
• Photographic attachments are displayed as thumbnails on the form
• Comment log, for any participant to add time stamped notes to request
• Full audit trail including usernames and dates of all events
• Integrated sanity checks and rules for entered data
• Printable PDF generation of complete form, including attachments
• Automated routing of completed forms through bespoke authorisation paths
• Rejection and Clarification workflow processes
• eMail prompts and timed reminders
• Automatic processing of eMail responses based on keyword extraction
• Dynamic portal based reporting on live and historic requests
• Excel based reporting via dynamic data merges

One of the features we really like is ‘approve by eMail’. Users might receive an eMail with an approval request when they are out of the office, visiting hotels or in a meeting. The ability to send a one-word approve/reject reply on a tablet or mobile has expedited the approval process significantly. We were not particularly looking at implementing this feature but it was suggested to us by ePC and it has worked very well

Results

The time taken to process CapEx requests from submission to approval has been significantly reduced.

M&C is able to quantify savings effectively and make decisions quickly with fact-based data as the system can highlight patterns around savings, competitive tenders and different quotes. The system offers greater visibility of CapEx requests and provides an improved audit trail.

Following this successful implementation, management has investigated the potential for additional applications for Process Director to help the Group manage other paper-based processes such as new supplier enrolment and contract approval, which has been successfully implemented.