Rutherford Webb’s Payrite Is A Winner For Ascot Racecourse Ltd.’s Payroll Requirments
Ascot Racecourse, described by many, as ‘One of the finest Racecourses in the World’ is home to some of the most important events in the international sporting calendar.
Horse racing has taken place at Ascot since Queen Anne founded the course in 1711. In 1913, the Ascot Authority was established by an Act of Parliament. His Majesty’s Representative became Chairman of the Authority with the Clerk of the Course acting as Secretary. Today, as Ascot Authority (Holdings) Limited, Ascot has a formal board comprising the Chief Executive, the Operations Director and Commercial and Finance Director, supported by a Chairman, two trustees and two non-executive Directors.
Ascot stages 25 days of racing a year, both top quality flat and jump racing, with the main feature being Royal Ascot week in June, when the racecourse has over 300,000 visitors. The racecourse is currently undergoing an extensive £185m redevelopment, due for completion by May 2006.
Managing the field
To manage its daily operations – grounds and buildings maintenance, race bookings and administration – Ascot employs over 70 full time staff. In addition, up to 500 temporary casual staff are employed during the peak racing season.
With such diverse payroll requirements, Ascot has recently selected Payrite from Rutherford Webb to administer its two payrolls. The existing payroll software that the company had in place was inflexible and did not meet the needs of the company, with some basic operations needing to be carried out manually. Furthermore, the Inland Revenue year-end e-filing deadline meant that a new system was required.
Reviewing the Payroll
Lesley Farrall, Payroll Manager at Ascot Racecourse Ltd, commented:
“As the racecourse was due to close for eighteen months for redevelopment, and with the impending year end electronic filing deadline, we decided that it would be the best time to implement a new payroll solution.”
The company went out to tender and short-listed three companies from an original seven original accredited Inland Revenue candidates.
Each company was presented with a list of minimum requirements and invited to present a demonstration with estimated costs. After two interviews and visits to reference sites, Rutherford Webb was selected.
Payrite outshines the competition
“The selection process was quite lengthy – Rutherford Webb’s professionalism and product knowledge coupled with the delivery of their presentation outshone the competitors,” said Farrall.
“At first glance Payrite seemed to be an excellent piece of software that would radically change our payroll processes.” Which has proven thus far to be the case.
Reaping the benefits
With Payrite implemented, the payroll team quickly reaped the benefits of the new system. Its Windows-based look and feel made it easier to input employee data. The built in calculators and report writing facilities also make it easy to analyze and calculate payroll data and to extract management information.
“Having experienced seven years of systems that failed to meet our needs, implementing Payrite was an exciting venture and learning curve. From employee entry right through to payment it is seamless,” commented Farrall.
“Naturally we had reservations regarding our first year end electronic filing submission, but this, too was a major success,” she added.
Faster, simpler processing
Since using Payrite the payroll team has found its payroll processing much simpler and faster, and is particularly impressed with the ‘copy payroll function’ enabling them to run safe tests with live payroll data.
According to Farrall, the speed and ease of the back up and restore function has also been a winning factor.
“Thus far Payrite has not ceased to amaze us,” said Farrall. “The e-filing module has saved immense time and effort and is slick and easy to use.”
Farrall also praises Rutherford Webb’s support team:
“The support team’s outstanding product knowledge, regular updates and unwavering assistance makes them a true asset to the company.”