Processed monthly with accuracy and ease
“one of the best systems we’ve seen”
Cut from days to hours
Rotorua Boys' High School (RBHS), a state secondary school in New Zealand, serves approximately 1,200 boys across Years 9-13. Renowned for its academic and sporting achievements, RBHS also manages a complex financial environment due to its size, diverse operations, including a large catering division, and a high volume of monthly invoices.
To maintain high standards of operational excellence and governance, RBHS sought to modernise its financial processes and reduce the administrative burden on its finance team.
Before implementing Alii, Rotorua Boys' High School faced significant challenges stemming from its reliance on a manual, paper-based invoice and purchase order system. Processing between 500 and 800 invoices each month placed a heavy burden on the finance team, which included a dedicated creditor's clerk responsible for inputting invoices into the system.
Approval workflows were lengthy and inefficient, with multi-step processes that could stretch over several days and often led to payment delays and mounting backlogs. The manual nature of data entry increased the risk of human error, further compounding the administrative workload and making financial oversight cumbersome.
Department heads and leadership lacked real-time insights into spending, making it difficult to manage budgets effectively or forecast expenses accurately. Additionally, paper trails complicated the audit process, requiring extensive effort to locate supporting documents and leaving the school vulnerable to gaps in financial records.
Recognising that these challenges hindered operational efficiency and compliance, the RBHS finance team sought a digital solution to transform their finance operations and deliver greater transparency, speed, and control.
Since implementing Alii, Rotorua Boys' High School has experienced a remarkable transformation in its financial operations. The introduction of Alii's automated workflows has reduced purchase order approval times from days to mere hours, allowing executives to approve transactions swiftly. Higher-value items are escalated to the principal, ensuring streamlined governance without unnecessary delays.
Managing a monthly volume of 500 to 800 invoices has become significantly more efficient, with staff reporting fewer errors and less manual intervention required in day-to-day processing. The finance team has saved substantial time each week, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives rather than being tied up in routine administrative tasks.
The enhanced audit trail and comprehensive digital documentation have impressed the school's auditor, who praised Alii as one of the smoothest systems he'd ever seen. Auditor queries have noticeably decreased, thanks to clear financial records and seamless integration with Xero, contributing to a smoother audit season.
Unexpected benefits have also emerged, including the finance team successfully catching up on work during what is typically the busiest time of year-end, and the complete elimination of paper-based filing, which has helped the school reduce storage needs and advance its sustainability goals.
Alii has provided RBHS with real-time budget visibility, empowered department heads to make more informed decisions, and reinforced the school's commitment to efficiency, transparency, and operational excellence.
Streamlined Processes and Time Savings: Alii's automated workflows significantly reduced manual input and approval delays, freeing staff to focus on higher-value tasks.
Exceptional Audit Readiness: The depth of Alii's audit trail exceeded RBHS's expectations, providing auditors with instant access to supporting documents and reducing follow-up queries.
User-Friendly System: Staff at all levels, from finance clerks to department heads, found Alii intuitive and easy to adopt, leading to rapid implementation and widespread buy-in.
Sustainable Digital Transformation: Transitioning to a paperless system aligned with the school's commitment to operational efficiency and environmental responsibility.
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