Toby Lehmann, Deputy Bursar at Sedbergh Schools, shares his experience of how the Pi eProcurement system helped transform their budget and invoice management processes, delivering tremendous visibility and time savings for all departments.
Our challenges
“Our major issue before we had Pi was that we simply had no visibility of our spend. With 11 separate facilities, it would take us two or three weeks after the month-end to manually work out what had been spent where! The difficulty here is that by the time we had worked out where an overspend had occurred, it could be six weeks after the event. Clearly, this couldn’t continue.
The solution: Pi eProcurement system
1. Invoice and price management
Now, instead of processing around 300 separate supplier invoices every month, the school receives just one consolidated invoice from Pelican. All orders are managed through Pi, which the 11 head chefs coordinate and process with ease, and Pelican oversees ongoing price management to overcome price fluctuations and inflation.
2. Real-time detailed reporting
With Pi, everything is visible in real-time. I can look at any time to see what our daily, weekly or monthly spend is looking at across all sites or individual houses. I can see what each chef is ordering, and corrections can be made there and then. I can work out costs per pupil, and this level of precision enables us to plan better.
3. Controlling spend
Pelican has adjusted the system for us, so when we get to 50% of our monthly spend, the ordering area turns from green to amber. Then, when it gets to 85% or 90%, authority is required to make further orders. Straight away, we have greater control and the support we receive for Pi is second to none.”
4. There are more modules to use!
The online Pi portal provides Sedberg School with a wide range of modules, which includes invoice management, stock control, intelligence reports, online ordering, menu and recipe analysis, and more.
Book your Pi demo
The Pi system is complimentary to all Pelican clients, as part of the Pelican procurement service. It comes with training, system management, and ongoing system support.
The best way to see what Pi can do for you is to book your demo with our friendly team at hello@pelicanprocurement.co.uk
