Character-based system
The existing platform relied on a command-line structure that restricted how the finance team could work.
Customer story
From a complex Chart of Accounts to clearer reporting.
A finance relationship spanning almost three decades began with a major simplification of the Chamber’s Chart of Accounts. In 2023, the organisation moved from DataFlow 32 to Clarity, retaining familiar core processes while adding more practical digital tools.
“The differentiator is being able to get someone you know and trust on the phone.”
Industry
Trade association
With DataFlow since
1998
Primary use
Core finance & MTD
Current platform
Clarity since 2023
About the Chamber
The collective voice of UK shipping.
The UK Chamber of Shipping is the trade association for the UK shipping industry. It brings together shipping companies across different sizes, sectors and flags, provides expert advice, supports the sharing of good practice and represents the industry in UK and international policy discussions.
Alongside advocacy and industry representation, the Chamber provides forums for decision-making, networking and professional development across the maritime sector.
The pain
A complex ledger was making reporting harder.
When the Chamber reviewed its finance system in the late 1990s, its existing accounting platform was character-based and ran on UNIX. It was inflexible, constrained day-to-day accounting and could not provide the reporting flexibility the organisation needed.
The Chart of Accounts had also expanded to more than 2,000 nominal headings. That level of complexity made the ledger harder to manage and slowed the production of management information.
Overgrown Chart of Accounts
More than 2,000 nominal headings had accumulated, making the financial structure cumbersome.
Slow management reporting
The finance team needed stronger reporting and analysis without adding more ledger complexity.
Need for flexibility
The Chamber wanted a Windows-based system that could better support its accounting requirements.
The original change
Cost centres simplified the structure.
The Chamber used the DataFlow implementation as an opportunity to redesign its Chart of Accounts around cost centres rather than reproduce the old structure in a new system.
The result was a much smaller set of nominal headings while preserving the departmental analysis the organisation needed. Today, the same cost-centre principle allows individual budget managers to see the transactions relevant to their own budgets.
2,000+ → 150
nominal headings
Why DataFlow remains the right fit
Support became the real differentiator.
For the Chamber, the basic accounting capability is only part of the story. Richard Tamayo joined the organisation in 2012, after DataFlow had already been in place for more than a decade. From his perspective, the most distinctive part of the relationship has been the customer service around the product.
The finance team can speak directly with people who know the software and the Chamber’s setup. When an issue arises, the emphasis is on getting it resolved rather than routing the customer through multiple layers of support.
Consistent support
The Chamber deals with a familiar team rather than repeatedly starting from scratch.
Product knowledge
Support comes from people who understand the software and can work through practical issues.
Continuity
The system continued to meet the Chamber’s core finance needs without forcing unnecessary change.
Responsive resolution
Richard says issues are sorted swiftly and effectively when they arise.
“When you’ve got an issue, you pick up the phone and solve it with them. You get consistency in who you’re talking to, and issues always get sorted swiftly and effectively.”
The move to Clarity
Moving on without relearning everything.
In 2023, after around 25 years on DataFlow 32, the Chamber moved to Clarity as the older platform approached the end of support.
The finance team adapted quickly because the core functionality it relied on had not changed dramatically. That allowed the Chamber to move to the current platform without rebuilding familiar finance processes from the ground up.
“Very quickly, because the majority of the functionality, certainly that we use, was not terribly changed.”
Clarity today
Core finance with more useful digital records.
The Chamber now runs a five-user Clarity system using the core Sales Ledger, Purchase Ledger and Nominal Ledger modules together with Making Tax Digital.
One improvement has been especially valuable to the finance team: PDF copies of invoices can be attached directly to the relevant entries. That simplifies filing and keeps the supporting document alongside the accounting record.
Sales Ledger
Core customer-account processing
Purchase Ledger
Supplier-account processing
Nominal Ledger
Core financial ledger and analysis
Making Tax Digital
VAT submission within the accounting process
“The ability to attach PDF copies of invoices is extremely valuable.”
Making Tax Digital
Keeping VAT adjustments inside the system.
Making Tax Digital is a statutory requirement, but Richard points to a practical discipline that comes with handling the process through Clarity.
Previously, finance data could be taken out of DataFlow and adjusted in a spreadsheet before the VAT return was completed. With MTD, there is greater pressure to get the underlying accounting record right inside the system itself rather than relying on adjustments outside it.
For the Chamber, that keeps the VAT process more closely connected to the source financial data.
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