How the Chamber of Shipping went from 2,000 nominal headings to 150
A member-funded institution operating under Royal Charter left a character-based UNIX accounting system for DataFlow, and rebuilt its chart of accounts around cost centres in the process.
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- 2,000 → 150 nominal headings after the rebuild
- < 1 day to transfer data from the old system
- 3 currencies reportable at the same time
- 3–4× the price of rival systems that matched less
Inside the Chamber of Shipping.
Since the issue of a Royal Charter in the 19th century, the Chamber of Shipping has provided firms with advice on the developments that affect the shipping industry, and promoted the industry’s interests to Government and commercial bodies in Britain and abroad. As a member-funded institution, it needs an accounting system that provides flexibility, accuracy and transparency at all times — and it is responsible for the statutory year-end and management accounts of a number of maritime organisations, not only its own.
- Sector
- Trade association
- Founded
- Royal Charter, 19th century
- Funding
- Member-funded
- Scope
- Accounts for several maritime bodies
A command line where the accounts should be.
Tetra on UNIX was character-based, inflexible, and putting restrictions on the Chamber’s accounting processes.
As membership grew and new technologies entered the market, the Chamber concluded that its existing accounting system was no longer fit for purpose. Tetra, the incumbent, ran on a UNIX platform: a character-based system with a command line structure that was inflexible and constrained how the Chamber could work.
Replacing it formed part of a wider three-year programme to upgrade the Chamber’s business IT, hardware and software alike. The restrictions the old system placed on the business moved it up that list until it became the priority.
- A character-based, command-line system restricting day-to-day accounting.
- Multiple currencies to handle for an organisation operating internationally.
- A need for powerful reporting and analytics the incumbent could not provide.
- A chart of accounts that had grown to more than 2,000 nominal headings.
Cost centres, consolidation and multiple base currencies.
The criteria were simple: Windows-based, multi-currency, and strong on reporting.
Chief Accountant Jeffrey Smith was surprised by how few genuine alternatives there were. “I was surprised by the lack of genuine alternatives from the big players when it came to 32-bit Windows-based accounting packages. When I discovered DataFlow it had the ideal mix of value-add features and robustness that we were looking for.”
Using DataFlow cost centres, the Chamber reduced the number of nominal headings from over 2,000 to just 150. As a true multi-company system, DataFlow lets the Chamber move between group companies at the click of a mouse and consolidate several — or all — of them without a separate exercise. Multiple base currencies allow the Chamber to view its financial position in GBP, EUR and USD at the same time.
- Cost-centre structure replacing a sprawling chart of accounts.
- Multi-company consolidation across group entities from one system.
- Multiple base currencies reported simultaneously, not converted per report.
- Sort and search on any field, with quick navigation throughout.
- OLE and drag-and-drop integration with Microsoft desktop applications.
Better reports, in a fraction of the time.
A simpler ledger structure, faster reporting and a changeover measured in hours.
Reducing the chart of accounts from over 2,000 headings to 150 did more than tidy the ledger: it made the process manageable and produced better management reports in a fraction of the time they used to take.
The move itself was quick. Transferring data from the old system was completed in less than a day — once the manual process of checking the old data was complete, the upload took place at the click of a button.
| Outcome | Before DataFlow | With DataFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Character-based UNIX, command line | Windows, navigable throughout |
| Nominal headings | Over 2,000 | 150, with cost centres |
| Management reporting | Slow to produce | A fraction of the time |
| Group companies | Handled separately | Consolidated at a click |
| Currency reporting | One view at a time | GBP, EUR and USD together |
DataFlow is an extremely cost-effective system. Other systems, up to three or four times more expensive, do not come close to matching the specification.
What the Chamber run.
A cost-centre ledger, group consolidation and reporting over both.
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