Success Story | Providence Child Development Society

Sparkrock empowers employees and gives them more confidence in their role. It helps us as an organization because everyone is taking responsibility for their role, but they are also able to grow.

Masarra Smoka

Finance Manager
Providence Child Development Society

About Providence

Providence Child Development Society (Providence) has programs that support Canadian children with learning disabilities and developmental delays in Calgary, AB, Canada. They operate six preschools with kindergartens and offer community-based programs for young children. Combined, those programs serve over 1,600 children. Their mission is to work together with the child, family and community to support the well-being and development of all children.

The Challenge:
Disconnected Tools, Shared Frustrations

Providence has expanded significantly over its 75 years in operation. With that growth comes challenges. The primary issue was an accounting system that could not keep up with all of their needs, but other problems persisted:

Limitations of Manual Data Entry

The organization heavily relied on manual spreadsheets, which had significant limitations. “There’s not much history you can keep track of when working in spreadsheets, and issues can arise when someone accidentally changes a formula,” Finance Manager Masarra Smoka said.

Siloed Systems and Poor Communication

Existing payroll, finance, and HR systems were separate and did not facilitate effective communication and collaboration between departments. "Due to the lack of communication, duplicate work occurred between departments, and there did not seem to be a good flow overall,” said Smoka. “One of our KPIs is integrating all of our departments and having everyone speak the same language.”

Lack of User-friendly Reporting

The current accounting system did not provide user-friendly reports and analytics. “I found that every time I tried to generate reports, they didn’t allow me to look at the variances or what the numbers actually meant. I needed something more,” Smoka remarked.

What would it look like to have a system that can include finance, payroll, and human resources?

Masarra Smoka

Finance Manager
Providence Child Development Society

The Solution:
One Mission, One System

After conducting trials and demos of various accounting systems, the organization decided to implement Sparkrock. Sparkrock offered an all-in-one solution that seamlessly integrated payroll, HR, and finance departments.

By selecting Sparkrock, Providence knew that they could achieve:

1. Better communication
2. Improved workflows
3. Inter-departmental cohesiveness

In addition to improving integration between payroll, HR, and finance, Sparkrock also provided comprehensive and easy-to-understand data, enabling in-depth analysis and better decision-making. Their organization now has access to real-time reports generated by Power BI and powerful visualizations that facilitate deeper insights into their operations.

The Outcome:
Workflows That Work

The transition to Sparkrock has significantly impacted the day-to-day operations at Providence. "Staff are excited to use the system as they were able to increase their learning as more resources are available to them, "Smoka said. Fewer manual tasks to complete, such as email generation and data entry, has freed staff to focus on more strategic activities. They can quickly clean data, ensure proper amortization, and accurately calculate depreciation without worrying about human error.

Accounting could identify depreciating assets, evaluate the need for capital projects, and make informed decisions based on the analytical view provided by Sparkrock and Power BI.

In addition to professional growth, Sparkrock also offered the flexibility to scale up as the organization grows. They could easily add more user licences and manager review capabilities to accommodate expanding staff. The new system ensured they could remain future-focused and adapt to constantly changing needs.

At the start of implementation, Providence received personalized training sessions with consultants specializing in finance, payroll, and HR. The flexibility and availability of the consultants helped employees grasp the system's functionalities. Support teams continued to be available post-implementation.

In addition to the initial implementation training, Sparkrock also provided a diverse array of self-paced learning resources. Providence had access to training materials, including articles and videos. “This helped my overall learning experience in understanding the system because it supplemented the training they already provided,” Smoka stated.

Having that training was very valuable. Even after we went live, we had the support team that was available to answer any questions.

Masarra Smoka

Finance Manager
Providence Child Development Society

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