Welcome to iFinance

The fully integrated fee billing and online accounting solution.

 iSAMS officially launched, offering the first
web-based MIS on the market, & welcoming 2005
Rugby School and Warwick School

iSAMS received growing interest from some

2008 well-known schools & we welcomed our
first Prep School

iSAMS goes global as we welcome our

first International Schools 2009

Only 5 years since forming, iSAMS is rapidly

2010 becoming the system of choice

We welcomed our 100th client 2011

2012
We launched our now extremely popular
iCommunity site

We welcomed our 300th school, including

our first Grammar School and Multi
Academy Trust
2014

We celebrated our 10-year anniversary

2015 and launched our suite of apps

We are recognised as the leading MIS

supplier to Independent Schools, and we 2016
introduced the iSAMS Marketplace

Over 850 schools, academies and MATs have

2017 chosen iSAMS as their trusted MIS partner

We launched iFinance, our comprehensive

and fully integrated accounting solution. 2018

Even more intuitive than before, our improved

2019 user interface and secure single sign-on MIS
supports 950+ schools in over 75 countries
 03

Contents

About iSAMS and iFinance 04

Why iFinance 05

The Core Accounting 06

Workflow and Purchase Order Approval 08

Fixed Asset Register 09

Expenses Capture 10

Stock Management 11

Group Consolidation 12

The Process 14

Get in touch 15
iSAMS Ltd | Welcome to iFinance

About iSAMS and iFinance

iSAMS was the first school management One of our central aims, a focal point since our
information system (MIS) to be entirely software’s initial creation in 2005, continues to be
web-based. Its versatile design consists of a to support your staff members in the completion
single core database which you can then build of their daily tasks; increasing efficiency whilst
on using our suite of portals and apps, giving you enhancing their experience. Specifically with your
bespoke management of all academic, wellbeing Bursar and Finance team in mind, this was the
and administrative information. This intuitive driving force behind our development of iFinance.
system — also accessible on mobile devices
Released in early 2018, this unique software
— is designed to support everyone; from data
brings academic, wellbeing, administrative and
administrators and staff, to students and parents,
fee billing elements together with a powerful
it brings the whole school community together.
accounting and finance solution. As it’s fully
integrated, we aim to save your Finance team
time and increase efficiency, making it even
easier to keep on top of budgets and balance
your books.

www.isams.com/ifinance
 05

Why iFinance?

We understand the pressures faced by your Finance team in meeting

essential targets without sacrificing on the experiences of the school
community. The comprehensive and fully integrated design of iFinance
helps alleviate some of this stress by improving the management of
your school’s finances, reducing the risk of costly mistakes, avoiding the
duplication of data, and increasing the efficiency of your financial planning
and reporting. This unique solution is specifically designed to support you
in meeting your school’s long-term financial strategy.

“In times when every penny counts, we have found the analysis tool
and management information provided by iFinance to be second
to none. This has helped with both day to day operational decisions
through to strategic direction at Board level.”

Michael Coles – Bursar, St Edward’s Cheltenham

Fixed asset register Expenses capture

Store all your company and group Employees can record expenses and
assets via a single database, with ease outlay against internal or external
of accessibility when it comes to the projects and managers to approve.
financial reviews system package.
Stock management
Workflow and PO approval Add and integrate stock management
Automatically send paperless with our distribution module.
purchase orders (POs) and purchase
Group consolidation
invoices for approval before they are
Consolidate groups and entities,
posted to the accounting system,
accessing consolidation reports in
including customisable layers
just one click.
of approval.
Real-time integration
OCR capture
The integration with the iSAMS MIS
Easily locate and extract data from
occurs instantaneously, which means
invoices, importing it into the system
data is sent seamlessly between these
where it’s stored for onward use.
two systems at the click of a button.
iSAMS Ltd | Welcome to iFinance

The Core Accounting

The iFinance solution has been developed

to help schools’ financial teams and senior
management avoid costly mistakes and the
duplication of data, whilst also addressing
many key areas of concern.

Bespoke school report packs

A secure cloud-hosted solution

Business intelligence dashboards

Greater accessibility of data for analysis

Sophisticated reporting for management

www.isams.com/ifinance
 07

Comprehensive Flexible Billing

Meet all your fee billing requirements

through a simple, adaptable module.
Generate bills and add charges in
several different ways.
Allocate charges by individuals or
batch, assigning single, multiple and/or
recurring charges.
Amend invoices quickly and easily.
Synchronise student, parent and
invoicing data at the click of a button.

Powerful Accounting

Save time and increase efficiency

with our powerful cloud accounting
software.
Unify accounting, consolidation and
business intelligence.
Access key information via interactive
dashboards, and easily export reports.
Use 250 pre-built reports or customise
your own.
Quickly allocate funds and payments
against outstanding balances with
Auto-bank reconciliation.
iSAMS Ltd | Welcome to iFinance

Workflow and Purchase Order (PO) Approval

With our workflow approval, you’re able to automatically send paperless POs
and purchase invoices for approval before they are posted to the accounting
system, including options to add customisable layers of approval.

Some key benefits include: • Keep track of each request with real-time
views of the status of an approval.
• Save time by creating an auto approval
• Make sure your data is secure and won’t be
process for reviewing or approving invoices
accidentally altered, as authorised approvers
by authorised personnel.
don’t need to be system users.
• Avoid laborious manual processing through our
fully integrated invoice capture with accounting.

www.isams.com/ifinance
 09

Fixed Asset Register

All your company and group assets can now

be managed and stored via this single database.

Some key benefits include: • Schedule dates for maintenance or renewal, so

you don’t have to manually keep track of them.
• Avoid switching between multiple systems, as
• Link assets to leases or loans to ensure you have
you will now have one database to store and
a clear paper trail of accountability.
manage all your company and group assets.
• Automated depreciation journals will highlight
• Quickly and easily approve fixed asset POs
how much your assets have lost value without
or invoices through our approval workflow
any manual calculations.
and app.
• Use our fixed asset schedule and note for your
• Say goodbye to hours spent battling with
auditors for added ease when it comes to
complex Excel spreadsheets.
financial reporting and auditing.
• Upload accompanying documents and key
• CapEx forecasting will offer you greater
information with our document management
assistance in your financial planning, and
functionality for purchase invoices, warranties
when analysing your school’s operations
and contracts.
and potential future expenditures.
iSAMS Ltd | Welcome to iFinance

Expenses Capture

Employees can record expenses and outlay against

internal or external projects and managers to approve.

Some key benefits include: • Route expenses for client re-charge as and
when needed.
• Enjoy our easy-to-use Expenses Capture App,
• Tag as company paid or to be re-reimbursed
where you can access key information and
to ensure you keep track of the status of
input data on the move.
each claim.
• Capture photos of expense items or receipts
• Integrated with Google Maps, you can use
with ease on your smartphone and upload
data directly from here when creating
them without having to spend time
start-stop mileage claims.
scanning documents.
• Lock fixed expense items to reduce the risk
• Add in coding so you can more easily trace
of error and avoid multiple submissions for
each claim.
the same expense claim.
• At the click of a button, submit your expense
• Integration with the finance ledger ensure
to your line manager for approval.
expense claims are automatically paid
once approved.

Expenses capture illustration/screenshot

www.isams.com/ifinance
 11

Stock Management

This handy distribution module will

add and integrate stock management.

Some key benefits include: • Create multiple price lists by customer or by

product, and in multiple currencies, giving you
• Integrate purchasing to automatically track stock
a more comprehensive overview of expenditure
levels, so you know how much stock you have
per product or company.
available at any one time and when you might
• Integrate with ePOS, shopping cart and CRM
need to order more.
systems to avoid the duplication of data across
• Drive pricing centrally using bulk price updates,
multiple platforms and retain a more holistic
quickly implementing changes and ensuring the
view of your finances.
need of minimal manual updates.
iSAMS Ltd | Welcome to iFinance

Group Consolidation

This feature simplifies monthly consolidations across each of your

designated groups with different subsidiaries, currencies and accounts
structures via a separate SQL database. Plus, you can access these
consolidated results in real-time via this single system.

Some key benefits include: • Group Sales and Purchase Analysis together,
allowing simpler reporting for frequently
• Manage the consolidations of numerous
bought products and services.
datasets easily.
• Extend access to budget holders outside of your
• Automatically translate the results of each group
Finance team without the risk of errors being
consolidation into your preferred currency, using
made or security breaches.
stored exchange rates from the reporting period.
• Highlight and report on transactions made
• Immediately view overall performance and
across the entire school community in a matter
gain insights into financial trends with a BI
of minutes, shareable through an accessible
analysis structure.
Excel spreadsheet.

Group consolidation illustration/screenshot

www.isams.com/ifinance
 13

The Process

The process for moving platforms is actually much easier than you would think...

The biggest part of transitioning to a new This Project Manager will work with you to decide
accounting system is looking at your nominal how best to move forwards and will ensure that
accounts and analysis codes and deciding how you make the most of the full capacity of our
you want to report moving forwards. iFinance system; iFinance is a very powerful piece
of software, and we want all our partner schools
If you did decide to go ahead with iFinance, you
to experience the full potential of this unique
will be assigned a dedicated Project Manager for
accounting system.
the entirety of the implementation process.

Planning Company Chart of BI Code

Set Up Accounts

Approvers Suppliers Bank Fee Billing

if Required Accounts CoA Setup

Fee Billing Customers Open Balances Fixed Assets

Integration (for Testing) if Required

Sign Off & Training Testing Items

Go Live
iSAMS Ltd | Welcome to iFinance

Get in touch

We’re excited to show you

how easy running every
area of your fee billing and
accounting is with iFinance,
but we also understand it’s
important to make the right
decision when investing in
a financial management
system.

So, to find out more please

visit: isams.com/ifinance.

If you have any questions

or would like to see a demo
of our platform, please
email [email protected]
and we’ll put you in touch
with our dedicated iFinance
Customer Account Manager.

www.isams.com/ifinance
9 Talavera Court, Darnell Way
Moulton Park, Northampton
NN3 6RW, United Kingdom

T +44 (0)1604 659100

E [email protected]
W www.isams.com

V1.11.19