ALPA is making a difference every day with Truvio AP Automation

About Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation (ALPA)

ALPA is Australia's largest independent Indigenous corporation, established in 1972 as a co-operative of community stores in Arnhem Land. Today it operates across 26–27 remote locations in the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland, spanning retail, community services, enterprise, and corporate divisions. Around 80% of its staff are First Nations employees, and its mission centers on economic independence and opportunity for First Nations people.

The Need for Efficiency

Almost two years after implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, ALPA’s finance department was still entering invoices manually and growing increasingly frustrated by ongoing delays with invoice approvals. As every invoice required a Purchase Order for approval, and 10 percent of invoices were still being received by traditional postal mail, the finance team was overwhelmed with manual data entry.

Then, COVID-19 hit. Most of ALPA’s community services and enterprise division’s operations were impacted, while the retail division experienced significant growth. Their inefficient Accounts Payable processes were having a knock-on effect with supply and staff under further pressure. Providing information to their business units and managers in a timely manner was proving difficult and the need to transform their finance team with efficiency was heightened. It was time to find ways to “get more out of D365”.

Introducing Truvio AP Automation & Data Capture

Impressed that Truvio was a Microsoft preferred and built-in solution, ALPA went live along with four (4) of their subsidiaries in September 2020. Within three months they had commenced the journey to roll out Truvio AP Automation & Data Capture to the remainder subsidiaries and 12 consulting entities.

The successful roll-out was achieved by effective change leadership through constant communication and collaboration with management via classroom and one-to-one training, in addition to an internal helpdesk support.

Ken Chan, Finance Projects Manager at ALPA explains that “the initial response of staff was positive, and people were hyped about the introduction of ExFlow”.

With an evident need to improve their time-consuming Accounts Payable processes, the finance team were quick to adapt to the change and looking forward to seeing results.

An Innovative, Transparent, and Paperless Future

Since the introduction of Truvio AP Automation and Data Capture, ALPA has seen a reduction of “at least 50 percent” in the time it takes to post invoices. These time efficiencies have allowed one full time finance officer to reduce their hours by 37 percent, with their team now able to perform more analytical tasks to grow their business.

ALPA Implemented Truvio AP Automation and Truvio Data Capture 

• Increased efficiency and overall cost control

•  

  Got automatic regulatory compliace
• Reduced paper-based systems

ALPA went live along with four of their subsidiaries September 2020. Within three months they had rolled out Truvio to a further 12.