Vistry Group Achieve True Integration with COINS
Vistry Group became the 5th largest homebuilder in the UK by volume following the merger of three leading companies: Bovis Homes, Linden Homes and Galliford Try Partnerships (now Vistry Partnerships) in January 2020.
Challenge
To achieve their ambition of ‘One Vistry’ and integrate their entire business Vistry Group needed to replace a variety of systems with a single construction ERP solution. Managing change is challenging for a business at the best of times, but throw in a merger, a restructure and a pandemic, as well as a major technology implementation - this was a major challenge for Vistry Group.
Solution
As a tried and tested construction-specific system, already successfully implemented by Bovis and Linden and used by many leading UK homebuilders, COINS was considered the obvious choice for Vistry Group.
Project details
Background
Vistry Group faced the challenge of combining or replacing a variety of systems used by Bovis Homes, Linden Homes and Vistry Partnerships with one single ERP solution. This major change project aimed to fully integrate the Vistry team, rationalise processes across the business functions and achieve economies of scale.
Why choose COINS?
COINS offered two main benefits for Vistry Group:
- Reduced risk
Jill Coley, Group Head of Finance, for the Vistry Group, was a COINS advocate having implemented COINS construction solutions at Bovis Homes. As a tried and tested construction system used by many leading UK homebuilders, the choice of COINS for Vistry Group was considered the least risky option which made the most business sense.
“The fact that COINS is commonly used within the housebuilding industry gave us confidence that it was the solution which offered the least risk”
Jill Coley, Group Head of Finance, Vistry Group
- Construction-Specific Solution
Chris Pearce, Chief Information Officer for the Vistry Group, identified a major advantage of COINS: it is a construction and homebuilding ERP system, rather than a generic platform that would require a huge input of time to adapt to their business needs.
“The fact that COINS is a standard product which does not need total configuration has been a huge benefit to us.”
Chris Pearce, Chief Information Officer, Vistry Group
From multiple systems to COINS
The decision was made to transfer all users and processes to the COINS Financial and Commercial Procurement solutions used by Bovis Homes as quickly as possible.
This ambitious timescale began in early 2020 with the transfer of Linden Homes, followed by 8 out of the 10 Partnerships business units being transferred in November 2020, leaving only 2 remaining Partnerships business units yet to transfer.
“There was a real driver to transfer the first 8 Partnerships business units to COINS quickly in order for them to truly become part of Vistry Group”
Jill Coley, Group Head of Finance, Vistry Group
Economies of scale
Choosing COINS as a single solution platform will enable Vistry Group to achieve impressive economies of scale.
Cost savings
Despite their hugely expanded support role, the Vistry Group IT team has only needed to recruit one person to help support their tripled user base.
Time savings
Any upgrades or system enhancements will now benefit the whole business and only need to be made to one system. Less time will be needed to manage integrations and security.
We’ve now got one ERP solution for everything we do as Vistry Group – we can achieve economies of scale, we can support people easier and if we implement an upgrade or enhancement it benefits the whole rather than a small part of our business.
Chris Pearce, Chief Information Officer, Vistry Group
True integration
‘One Vistry’ is the initiative to integrate Vistry Group into one single business. The implementation of COINS as a single construction software system for the whole business was essential to truly achieve this aim.
For example, central service teams, such as group accounts, could only be truly centralised if one platform was used by all, consolidating information and providing a single source of the truth.
Consolidation is helped hugely by us all being on one system – we know that all information that’s input into COINS provides one version of the truth.
Jill Coley, Group Head of Finance, Vistry Group
Change during a pandemic
Top of the pandemic-specific challenges was that training needed to be delivered remotely – which is much harder to conduct than classroom-based training which the team was experienced at delivering.
To help overcome this challenge a third-party training company was recruited to deliver an intensive program of short remote sessions for small groups of people.
We needed to deliver training to over 250 people in the Partnerships business to make sure not only that everyone knows how to use COINS, but also that we are all using COINS in the same way.
Jill Coley, Group Head of Finance, Vistry Group
Advantages of a cloud-based construction solution
One of the advantages of COINS is that it is cloud-based rather than an on-premise system, and is hosted on Microsoft Azure, which is trusted by global companies, governments, and start-ups alike.
Chris Pearce is a strong advocate for cloud-hosted systems, as they relieve the IT team from the responsibility of managing IT infrastructure and back-ups, and can easily scale in line with business requirements.
COINS can also be accessed anywhere from a range of devices making it simple to work remotely as a team.
When we had to mobilise the workforce to work from home, IT did not have to do anything as COINS is cloud-based.
Chris Pearce, Chief Information Officer, Vistry Group
Enabling self-sufficiency
Another key achievement for Vistry Group is that they have been able to implement COINS across the business with minimum support due to the fact that many of the Vistry Group project team were already experienced users of COINS.
COINS is a straightforward system that enables users to be self-sufficient once they have learned it, whereas other platforms are more maintenance-heavy.
As a result of having COINS ‘subject matter experts’ at Vistry Group, and the IT service desk having a thorough knowledge of COINS, we have been able to be self-sufficient through much of the implementation
Jill Coley, Group Head of Finance, Vistry Group
Now, with the implementation well progressed, it is clear that choosing COINS as the single ERP system for the Vistry Group, has been the correct decision.
A key outcome is that the process has cemented that we have the right strategy; have a system, take it ‘off-the-shelf’ and put everybody onto that one system.
Chris Pearce, Chief Information Officer, Vistry Group
Key Benefits
- Process alignment
COINS will enable Vistry Group to implement best practice processes for commercial and finance functions - Increased control: Vistry Group now has the tools to control and align important procedures such as raising purchase orders.
- One true set of data: The use of COINS reduces division-specific data with fewer off-system spreadsheets, making reporting and consolidation easier.
- Increased security: COINS makes it easier to manage security, built on Microsoft Azure, the leading cloud for business applications.
- Reduced costs: No need for a large IT support team, processes more efficient, save time with a single solution.
With thanks to:
Jill Coley, Group Head of Finance, Vistry Group
Chris Pearce, Chief Information Officer, Vistry Group
Case Study: Jane Redfern
