How Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) Modernized Their Accounting and Financial Management with

Fast Facts

• Client: Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD)
• Industry: Municipal Waste Management
• Business Mission: The Chittenden Solid Waste District’s mission is to reduce and manage the solid waste generated within Chittenden County in an environmentally sound, efficient, effective and economical manner.
• Business Commencement: 1992
• Turnover: $10-15M
• Employees: 60

For Nola Ricci, Director of Finance for the CSWD Municipal Waste Management Facility, the decision to move to NetSuite was simple. Having recently joined the organization, and seeing the limitations that were being imposed by the incumbent accounting solution, Quickbooks, Ricci made the decision to commence the process of finding a cloud-based ERP that was more suited to the complexities of their industry.

About CSWD

The CSWD is a municipally-owned solid waste management facility that serves the Chittenden Country in Vermont and the surrounding communities. Caring for a population of around 165,000 residents, they offer a variety of services, including recycling, waste disposal, and educational programs aimed at reducing the amount of waste produced in the first place.

As a not-for-profit organization, one of the key focuses for the CSWD is to be as efficient as possible in their operations, in order to keep costs down. This efficiency starts with their accounting and financial management processes.

The Challenge

When Ricci joined the CSWD, she quickly realized that Quickbooks was no longer adequate for their needs. Quickbooks lacked many of the features that are standard in modern ERP solutions, and as a result, the CSWD was struggling to get an accurate and timely view of its financial position.

This lack of visibility resulted in a knock-on effect on other areas of the business. For example, the invoice approval process was manual and time-consuming, as it involved printing out the documents and circulating them for sign-off.  This was not only inefficient, but it also created the risk of errors and delays.

Reporting within Quickbooks was also lacking. The solution did not offer the level of reporting flexibility that Ricci required, and as a result, spent a lot of time manually manipulating data in Excel.

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The Solution

Ricci commenced the process of finding a new accounting and financial management solution that would address the organizations set of challenges. Having already worked with NetSuite in a previous role, Ricci was aware of the benefits that the cloud-based ERP could offer, so she decided to take a closer look at how well the system would suit their business.

After a demonstration of the software with CEBA Solutions, it was clear to Ricci that NetSuite would be able to meet all of their needs, and more. The solution offered greater visibility of financial data, simpler and faster invoicing, and much more flexible reporting capabilities.

CSWD decided to implement NetSuite Financials First, which is a pre-configured solution that is designed specifically for businesses who want to get a fast start with an industry-leading accounting software.

From Desktop to Cloud

Whilst the desktop version of Quickbooks had been used prior to Ricci joining the business, COVID-19's impact on teams' workforces being located remotely saw a requirement for a cloud-based solution that could be accessed by all employees, regardless of their location. The Quickbooks Enterprise desktop version was no longer feasible.

It was clear that a cloud-based ERP would be the future-proof solution that the CSWD needed. Not only would it offer greater flexibility in terms of where and how employees could access the system, but it would also provide the scalability to support the CSWD as demands for their services continue to grow.

Implementing NetSuite

Ricci worked with CEBA Solutions to implement NetSuite Financials First. The solution was quickly up and running, when compared with other vendors' software, and CSWD was able to start reaping the benefits almost immediately from go-live.

The implementation process, like any, was a significant undertaking for CEBA Solutions and the team at CSWD; however, working together towards a common goal meant that the project was completed on time and on budget.

The Benefits

NetSuite has helped the CSWD to achieve greater visibility of their financial data, which in turn has enabled them to make more informed decisions about their business.

"One of the biggest impacts we have seen is the reduction in time it takes to gain manager approvals. Before, everything was paper-driven and manual, and managers needed to be in the office for anything to progress. Now, they simply click a link on an email and approve in a couple of clicks, which has brought the approval timeline down from a week, to a couple of hours."

The Future

With the NetSuite Financials First solution firmly in place, the leadership team are exploring how other NetSuite modules may support various departments of their business such as the manufacturing module for their composting department.

As a complete Business Management Platform, NetSuite offers organizations like CSWD the opportunity to start simply, and gradually add additional functionality over time, further strengthening the solution and providing team members with significant improvements to their day-to-day work practices.

Ricci concludes; "It’s not just about getting the accounting and financials right, but also having visibility of the rest of the business. NetSuite provides us with that single source of truth."

If you are interested in learning more about NetSuite or CEBA Solutions, reach out to our team for an obligation-free discussion

About CEBA Solutions

CEBA Solutions is a NetSuite Solution Provider and Systems Integrator. We help businesses of all sizes across North America to implement, optimize and customize NetSuite to support their unique business needs.  Our team has a wealth of experience in accounting/finance, operations and IT, which means that we are perfectly placed to offer an end-to-end solution, from initial assessment and scoping, through to implementation, training and ongoing support.

If you would like to learn more about how we can help your business, please contact us today.

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