The Challenge:

CHR used to store all of their facilities and accounting data on an unsynchronized array of Excel spreadsheets and Access databases, in addition to their general ledger. This made it impossible for the organization to streamline and automate their operations. Further, without a central platform for all of their data and a lack of proper reporting & analytical tools, they could not project facilities and replacements costs for the future.

Lastly, cost allocation and accounting proved to be a major challenge for CHR as a non-profit behavioral health center that receives funding from many different sources, resulting in over 100 cost centers. As a leading behavioral health service provider in Connecticut, CHR was ready to revamp its operations and expenses by consolidating their separate data systems into one streamlined platform.

The Solution: 

As the most comprehensive, non-profit behavioral healthcare provider in Connecticut, CHR needed a software solution that was comprehensive enough to manage all of their systems in one place, but also highly adaptable to their unique operational and financial needs in the nonprofit behavioral health industry.

Michele Gaudet, CHR’s Chief Financial Officer, said that Axxerion had just the right solution for them. “We are pretty unique in that we lease buildings, we own buildings, and we rent to other individuals. It’s never just one type of service for us, but multiple types of services related to other services. Axxerion lets us incorporate all of our processes, no matter how complicated, within one product.”

Gaudet was also impressed by Axxerion’s powerful and forward-looking accounting system. “The Axxerion team was looking forward to new lease pronouncements and how we were planning to account for them. This told me that the company was not only thinking about our existing clients, but our future clients as well.” CHR partnered with Axxerion officially in 2018 and has been using the system for its CMMS, lease management, financials & accounting, contract management, purchasing and inventory management, fleet management, and reporting & analytics.

The Implementation:

Partnering with Axxerion, CHR was able to implement many different operational projects. They developed a maintenance request system so that they could manage all service requests from operations and deploy service technicians on the spot. They were also able to import all of their contracts into Axxerion’s database, for more effective contract and lease management.

On the fleet management side, CHR was able to create a complete preventative maintenance and tracking system for their fleet of 90 vehicles. With regards to finances, the nonprofit was able to set up an allocation system to their general ledger for their 150+ cost centers. Currently, CHR is working with Axxerion on purchasing and inventory management for COVID-19 supplies.

The Results:

As a result of working with Axxerion, CHR has experienced major increases in efficiency, considerable cost savings, and better operational management. They now have all of their data consolidated and streamlined in Axxerion’s platform. Their facilities operations are completely automated. Moreover, CHR can finally carry out advanced financial reporting and forecasting.

Further, as a nonprofit behavioral health organization, CHR now feels much better prepared for audits and accreditation. “We get audited by the Joint Commission and other agencies for our policies and procedures,” says Gaudet, who is in charge of ensuring compliance with all regulations. “Facilities is a big piece of that, and having all of our records in the Axxerion system and being able to create reports help us with our audit documentation.”

The Experience:

CHR has been very happy with their experience with the Axxerion software and implementation team. “Our Axxerion team is great – they were always willing to help us and it is much appreciated,” Gaudet says. She looks forward to CHR’s continued partnership with Axxerion for new projects in the future, including assets and depreciation reports as well as the integration of their payroll system Ultipro into the Axxerion platform.