Rentokil Initial automate CapEx approval processes with eCapEx

In addressing the business need for more visibility into its CapEx process, Rentokil Initial sought a tool that would incorporate workflow, business logic and reporting. For two months, they reviewed competitive products with their IT partner, Cognizant, and decided to implement a pilot program with a cloud-based solution to determine if it would satisfy the needs of their business users. In late February ePC was invited to implement a solution based upon BP Logix Process Director, to be presented to Initial’s finance team with a demanding go-live scheduled for April.

Upon completion of the pilot, being satisfied with its results, the company then deployed the product throughout its European Initial Textiles and Hygiene division on time, during April.

The capital expenditure request software, which is hosted in the cloud, can be accessed from any location and presents users with bespoke portlets, showing their assigned tasks and knowledge views. Users can initiate CapEx requests (see capital expenditure request example below), which contain the detailed budget, approved request and monthly cash flow data integrated into the form. It applies logic rules to assist the users in completing the forms correctly, to ensure nothing is missing by the time the forms reach approval.

As an IT support group, we offer our business colleagues choices. The decision to select Process Director/Cloud Edition was made by the Divisional CFO, as the prototype of the CapEx process worked to his satisfaction. From an IT perspective, we were also genuinely pleased with the pilot

Chris Broe, Group CIO, Rentokil Initial

Capital expenditure request form

Some of the key features of the CapEx request form include:

• Automatic multi-lingual translation of eForms
• All figures are automatically shown in local currency and GB
• Business unit and asset category current position report including
  • Yearly budget amounts
  • Approved CapEx amounts with remaining totals by month
  • Monthly cash flow forecast for all approved CapEx
  • Monthly budget and cash flow budget available
• User selection for the business unit, category, currency etc.
• Entry of request amount and expected cashflow, over multiple years
• Inter-dependant CapEx request linking for larger projects
• Rich-text request descriptions with spell check
• Attachments of any format (XLS, JPG, DOC etc.)
• Comment log, for any participant to add time-stamped notes to a request
• Predicted authorisation path dependant on the unit, asset category, amount etc.
• Integrated sanity checks and rules for entered data

Once submitted, the electronic forms are routed through the relevant workflow, based upon asset category, business unit, budgets and authorisation limits, often requiring approval from as many as six or more people. eMail notifications are sent, containing hyperlinks directly to the forms or if staff are away from their desk, they can simply send one word approve/reject replies with notes, directly from their smartphones.

CapEx system features

Some of the key features of the CapEx system include:

• User and group configurable web portal access to data, reports and processes
• Admin portals with greater visibility and system alert screens
• User/Business Unit membership with hierarchy for permissions
• End-user management of back-end database through Excel file integration
• Automate CapEx approval processes with the routing of completed eForms through dynamic authorisation paths
• Full audit trail with user ID’s and timestamps for all user actions
• Automatic handling of time zones with localised display
• Rejection and clarification workflow paths
• eMail notifications and timed reminders
• PDF rendition of request forms attached to eMail notifications and for archival
• Automatic processing of eMail responses based on keyword extraction
• Microsoft Excel-based reporting via dynamic data merges

The entire CapEx approval system is designed to be multi-lingual, with web-based eforms automatically translating into the user’s local language. Flexible access to the user, unit, budget, limit and authorisation path data was also required, so ePC implemented an Excel import feature to allow end-user management of the backend data from within tools the finance team were already familiar with.