In the fifth blog of the series on the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS), Paul Ridden discusses the area of Financial Management, covered in Criterion 5 of the SIA Guide. He outlines how workforce management software can support a security company’s pay and invoicing processes, help with performance management and planning for future growth.
Effective financial management is vital for business survival and growth. Planning, organising, monitoring and controlling financial assets and funds are all critical activities to achieve your business objectives. Good money management helps you to make effective use of all resources, fulfil commitments to your stakeholders, gain competitive advantage and prepare for long-term financial stability.
The SIA Guide to the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) dedicates an entire chapter to the area of financial management. It outlines that an ACS approved contractor should:
- have sufficient and suitable financial resources to manage its financial obligations
- use robust processes to manage finances and associated risks
- understand the market place and has financial plans to meet or change its strategic direction
- measure and improve performance against key financial indicators.
Workforce management software can play a key role in supporting these financial processes and performance measurement requirements for ACS status. It helps to streamline work activities and replace manual administration tasks, which reduces the likelihood of financial errors, whether in billing or payroll. It provides you with visibility of daily operations, for optimum logistics planning and service delivery with clear management of costs.
Providing the evidence
The SIA Workbook Guide refers to the requirement for transparent financial processes in Criteria 4.2.1 “Clear and effective management of the payroll can be evidenced”. Using workforce management software can help you to achieve this, with automated recording of officers’ hours that provides transparent data for accurate pay and invoicing.
Mobile apps make it easy for staff to receive their rosters, check in and out when they are on duty, including any overtime required, all of which is logged and stored electronically. No paper timesheets means nothing can get mislaid or lost. The data can automatically feed the payroll, which avoids re-keying with potential errors.
Officers can easily see how many hours they have worked and holiday they have accrued. The hours can also be assigned to a client account, providing transparency of the services delivered for each customer. Paying staff on time and the right amount makes a significant impact on employee engagement and retention. It also reduces employee pay disputes, which should they arise, can be resolved quickly.
As an example, Guardsman Group has reduced its invoicing cycle and improved staff engagement with a SmartTask workforce management solution. The premier provider of security services in Jamaica and across the Caribbean, it has 6,000+ guards protecting over 1,600 locations.
The company went from manual systems to electronic rosters and timesheets saving time, resources, and improving cashflow. Capturing hours electronically provides visibility and ensures an accurate record, while quicker reconciliation has saved 2-3 days on customer invoices, improving cashflow. Guardsman also claims that automated rostering saves time (and the planet) and has reduced the costs of printing 6,000 rosters and delivering them to guards.
Managing seasonal demands effectively
Managing payroll can be challenging for security companies that provide extra staff for seasonal events such as festivals and concerts. Having easy to use scheduling and rostering tools make it easier to create and manage the required services for an event, adding staff as required.
For example, TMS Protection, based in Kent and London, specialises in events, key-holding and alarm response security services for clients across the UK. It regularly provides security and traffic management services for large events of up to 10,000- 25,000 people and can have up to 400 officers in the field – many of whom are seasonal.
When working for the Leeds Castle Classic Concert, TMS deployed an extra 80 staff over and above its regular workforce. TMS used SmartTask’s workforce management solution to manage rosters, deployment and time-sheets for the event to provide security and traffic supervisors, CSAS officers, traffic marshals, stewards and central control room staff.
After the event the timesheets were reviewed and shared for sign-off with the client via the customer portal. Once approved electronically, TMS was able to send the invoices. The whole financial process was managed, streamlined and approved using SmartTask, saving time - and to the satisfaction of the customer.
Effective fiscal controls and tracking KPIs
While financial administration and processes are key to daily operations, the SIA Guide also refers to the importance of having effective fiscal controls in place (4.2.2). With transparent, automated processes attendance data can be clearly mapped to client contracts. All details of the services provided can be easily viewed in reports, which help you ensure that you meet your contractual obligations. Access to a client portal, as in the earlier example of TMS, provides the latest information on services delivered – and can flag where action may be required.
Most businesses set out their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as measurable and quantifiable metrics to evaluate and assess the performance of their activities. For security companies this is no different and is also highlighted as a criterion in the SIA Guide. It states that the organisation should regularly review performance against key financial indicators (4.4.1).
These indicators should focus on how the security company a) knows that its processes are delivering the desired financial outcome and b) how effective these processes are. Measures include actual financial results or outcomes achieved against targets and against industry benchmarks, with some analysis of trends over time, which is key for future planning.
Charts that tell a story
The SIA guidance further suggests using charts and graphs to illustrate performance against targets, as well as publishing and sharing information to all staff and customers. While this may sound daunting, with SmartTask software this can be easily managed. SmartTask enables you to extract data in reports and see which client accounts are meeting SLAs, how profitable they are, or where service delivery requires adjustment to meet the customer needs or maintain profitability. It is very easy to provide outstanding service, but if you don’t have tight fiscal control then this might be at a loss to the business.
Our advanced reporting module provides data insights that allow you to gain a deep understanding about your business from the information it generates. You can create flexible dashboards which help display the data to discover patterns, detect trends and identify any issues.
Such actionable insights can help you to optimise performance and build stronger client relationships. Whether it’s managing response times on a crucial contract to demonstrate compliance, reviewing checkpoint patrols or monitoring mobile patrol profitability. They can help you improve your customer experience, enhance transparency and optimise operations.
To find out more how SmartTask software can support your security business achieve SIA ACS status, contact us on: +44 (0) 1494 444 044 or