Sustainable growth is the main driver for one of the largest privately owned fresh produce growers in New Zealand. A.S. Wilcox & Sons Limited required new business software to assist their business growth and the management of a production base of 2500 acres and over 120 permanent staff. The Group had been using the legacy product CBA financial system from Greentree for a number of years and were satisfied with the product but there was a growing need for more advanced functions.

"We looked at Microsoft Great Plains, but there was nothing in Great Plains that we could not do in Greentree and Greentree was by far the more cost-effective choice."

Eric Gillott, Financial Accountant, says, “We needed to speed up our processes and have a more manageable General Ledger that suited our in house processes. CBA did what was required, but gradually we needed more from a system.” Gillott explains, “A key driver for change was the need for a system with Microsoft functionality, rather than DOS based. We needed an easier to use system for our new and more ‘Microsoft’ friendly users and a system that allowed integration with Microsoft products.”

A.S. Wilcox looked at a couple of competing software products, but in the end, it was a quick and easy decision as Greentree provided superior general ledger and reporting functions they needed and had similar functionality to CBA. “We looked at Microsoft Great Plains, but there was nothing in Great Plains that we could not do in Greentree and it was far more cost-effective.”

Really, really time-saving

A real time saving has been the use Greentree ‘trees’; one of Greentree’s most powerful features. A.S. Wilcox now have the ability to define an unlimited number of ‘trees’ against all master files and have used ‘trees’ to classify and summarise data within the General Ledger. They also use the ‘trees’ at report time for sorting and sub-totalling at all levels and has been able to tailor reports easily to provide end of month data within Excel. Gillott says, “Using trees attached to the General Ledger saves vast amounts of time, especially at the month end, as it provides a logical and multi-level view of our company. In fact, month end processing used to take one and a half days and now only takes 1 hour to complete. A massive saving.”

Really, really beneficial to our business

Managing a production base of 2500 acres, the ability to see quantities in the General Ledger has been a real business benefit for A.S. Wilcox, something they previously could not do. “We process large volumes and the ability to be able to see this in the General Ledger is critical to our business.” Gillott comments. The ‘allocations’ sub module to distribute revenue or expenses across business units, departments and cost-centres has been a valuable tool for the company. Once defined transactions that are posted to an allocation account are automatically reallocated over the specified accounts. Gillott says, “Being able to apply allocations within the General Ledger has been extremely useful and so easy to do in Greentree.”

“The reporting in Greentree has really helped the business provide timely and in-depth information. There is so much potential to use reports throughout the business and we are just starting to realise the benefits of having accurate information on-line.”

- Eric Gillott, A.S Wilcox

Really, really integrated

A.S. Wilcox believe Greentree, being a completely on-line, integrated system, has made a real impact in terms of time savings and more informed decisions. “Greentree is very responsive and the real time processing really aids the decision making process and reporting.” Greentree provides a single point of data entry with updates all relevant areas instantaneously, with no “inter-module” posting or updating required. Gillott describes, “With no more batch delays and no updates to wait for, we are more proactive and have the real information at our fingertips. As financial transactions are entered into any part of Greentree, they are reflected immediately in the General Ledger, this allows us to see exactly what revenue or costs we have in the system at any one time.”

By using Greentree, A.S. Wilcox has been able to relieve historically pressurised periods and all reconciliation concerns. “Reconciling in Greentree has really softened the pressure of month-end and year-end processing,” Eric says. “Moving to the next accounting period is a simple matter of changing the ‘current’ period. This process has helped to spread the load.”

Really, really flexible

All transactions that are entered into Greentree are date stamped with the relevant period and year, so there is no formal period-end aging that needs to be performed. Being able to integrate with Microsoft Excel gives A.S. Wilcox control and the flexibility to present data to suit the business demands. Eric Gillott believes the Greentree Report Writer is and will continue to be indispensable. He describes, “The reporting in Greentree has really helped the business provide timely and in-depth information. There is so much potential to use reports throughout the business and we are just starting to realise the benefits of having accurate information on-line.”

Commenting on the future usages of Greentree, Eric feels the new system can offer more functionality and keep pace with their growth. He concludes, “Its early days yet, as we get to know the software. We have been pleased with the implementation and feel that Greentree offers so much untapped potential for our business.”

About A.S. Wilcox & Sons Limited

The Wilcox Group of Companies are involved with growing, packing and distributing fresh produce throughout New Zealand with facilities at Pukekohe, Ohakune, Levin and the Waikato in the North Island and Rakaia in the South Island. Companies within the group are privately owned by the Wilcox family who have been associated with vegetable growing since the early 1930’s. They manage a production base of 2500 acres with 110 permanent staff.

Their large growing and packing capacity and specialised marketing skills mean Wilcox can deliver and maintain a guaranteed sustainable supply to retail sectors throughout New Zealand and sustain a significant export demand.

For more information visit www.aswilcox.co.nz