SQL

Transforming Finance Processes

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, North West, Acute

The problem

The PIE group needed to streamline, automate and standardise financial processes in order to move forward as a finance department and meet the increasing pace and demands of the wider organisation and NHS healthcare environment.

The challenge

The outputs

SQL automated processes for the following areas (each taking approximately 5 mins to prepare data and run):

management accounts:

bench pay processing
WLI and cross cover accruals
ACF pay review and recode
ad hoc pay adjustments
pay review work
pay split coding
sub analysis pay
sub analysis non-pay
consumables journal

income team:

contract monitoring reports
reporting drugs and devices.
technical team – NHS Supply Chain interface
standardised and centralised processes.

The outcomes

15 staff (approximately 25% of the department) within different teams across the finance department have developed a new automation skill.
60 hours of manual processing time per month has been saved so far.
We have Improved accuracy, removing human error (Excel copy paste errors, formula drag down errors etc) by using SQL scripts.
Staff have more time available for value added work and development.
Junior members of the department have been provided with a development opportunity to lead on mini projects and present their work to the Finance Improvement Forum, chaired by the deputy director of finance.

The Innovation

Read the full innovation on SQL – Transforming Finance Processes

All the documents and resources relating to this innovation can be found in the downloads section at the bottom of the page.

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Innovation Q&A

Innovation Showcase, 8th July 2022

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What the peer-reviewers said

“The idea of utilising SQL to automate manual repetitive processes has resulted in better value to the organisation through a quantifiable reduction to monthly processing time..”

“Excel is a very generic solution, but as identified here, using SQL allows a more targeted analysis of data.”

“Maximising the use of SQL to automate manual repetitive processes has saved this organisation approximately 60 hours of Excel time per month which can be reinvested in reviewing the outputs to facilitate a better financial understanding for the organisation.”

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