Toad Hall Nursery Group Deploys Dream Financial Management Solution From Hexagon

Toad Hall Nursery Group, a growing provider of childcare and early education for children from the age of 3 months to school age, has deployed the Dream financial management software solution.  Supplied and installed by Hexagon Software, one of the UK’s leading independent providers of financial management solutions, it will enable Toad Hall Nurseries to streamline operations at its head office and provide a flexible platform to support the company’s strategic expansion plans across London and the South East.

The new system has been deployed as part of a major investment programme which has included the opening of a new head office in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.  The Dream solution is enabling Toad Hall Nursery Group to modernise its financial management processes and position the business for further growth.

The Dream software was selected to replace the existing SageLine 50 solution after an extensive evaluation process which included detailed demonstrations of the most appropriate solutions.  It offered a simple, intuitive solution that would integrate with the company’s FirstSteps Nursery Management system and banking software, give clear boundaries between the different cost centres and deliver a comprehensive enterprise-wide reporting functionality.

According to Toad Hall Nursery Group:  “Dream has enabled us to automate workflow processes to deliver greater efficiency and greater data accuracy.  It has also significantly speeded up the production of management accounts, a process that previously took one person up to two weeks each month to complete.  With a single integrated database, reports can be now be rapidly generated for single or multiple locations at the press of a button.”

The first phase of the deployment process was the installation of the award-winning Dream software on externally hosted servers. This included the provision of high levels of support to assist Toad Hall Nursery Group through its first period end. The second phase will see a new web-based purchase ordering system installed that will provide greater visibility of the procurement process, enabling managers at fourteen different locations to record and monitor committed expenditure.

“Hexagon exceeded our expectations throughout the deployment process, which was completed more smoothly than we could ever have anticipated,” continued Toad Hall Nursery Group.  “The Hexagon team took the time to really understand what we were trying to achieve and has delivered a financial management solution that meets our immediate needs with the flexibility to scale up as our business grows.”