Epicor selected for Masonic Homes in SA & NT

Stan Beer
Friday, 20 January 2006 11:15

IT Industry - Deals

Midmarket enterprise software speciliast, Epicor Software, won a contract with Masonic Homes Incorporated, to deploy its  Senior Living Solution to integrate financial management, resident and client management and procurement systems across South Australia and Northern Territority.

Epicor Enterprise SLS will support Masonic Homes residential administration, admissions, procurement, capital works and billing systems.  It will replace a combination of disparate automated and manual systems which have lacked integration and increasingly involved the duplication of data entry resulting in delays in reporting required by management to make business decisions.

The solution will allow Masonic Homes to have simultaneous control and management of its financial requirements as well as client billing, accommodation, lifestyle preference data and marketing functions.

Epicor Enterprise and SLS will be customised to quickly integrate with the backbone of Masonic Homes’ centralised management and administration strategy and will be implemented in three stages over the next year throughout Masonic Homes’ flagship sites at Mile End, Heathfield, Ridgehaven and Somerton Park in Adelaide, as well as at Tiwi Gardens in Darwin.

While the aged care provider’s financial and resident information system will be rolled out by March, the Community Services and Day Therapy business management components will be installed by June, while the third and final stage, online purchasing, is expected to be installed in July 2006.

"The rollout positions our company at least 6-12 months ahead of the IT capability within the South Australian and Northern Territory aged care and retirement village sector," said Masonic Homes’ CEO, Mr Doug Strain.

Epicor SLS was selected after a rigorous process which included an independent assessment by Deloitte working with the specific standards and requirements set by Masonic Homes. 

"We reviewed three different solutions and were impressed with the deep functionality inherent in the Epicor solution.  In addition, as the system has been installed on 40 sites around Australia this gave us a measure of comfort in ensuring that Epicor will position Masonic Homes’ IT management as leading edge in both the Northern Territory and South Australia,

"This is critical as individual lifestyle and health dynamics of each of our residents, in parallel with the needs of families suddenly faced with an aged care crisis, has necessitated more finite, instantaneous and relevant IT management capability than previously existed within the sector."

Charles Hamilton, director Australia/New Zealand, Epicor Software, said, "This particular implementation is a testimony to the many specialist applications which can be developed on the Epicor Enterprise platform to suit local market opportunity.  With specialist aged care set to boom as a sector in coming years, early adopters like Masonic Homes are setting the pace within their own vertical market in deploying IT solutions to help ensure success and a framework for growth."