Advantaged Care
Advantaged Care were seeking a proven software solution to their complex aged care wage rules.
- Seeking a proven aged care software solution
- Found a system that catered for complex aged care wage rules
- More focus on the residents, due to reduced documentation burden
Building a benchmark business
With degrees in IT, commerce and finance, 33-year-old Advantaged Care MD Michael Kresner was no babe in the woods when it came to choosing critical information systems for the family-owned company. For Michael the choice of Attaché and RosterLive (now WFS Australia) was a no-brainer.
One of the newest and fastest growing entities in Sydney’s aged care industry, Advantaged Care germinated when Michael’s father, builder and developer Laurie Kresner, was forced to find accommodation for his own father and was disturbed by the quality of facilities available.
A joint venture at Minchinbury in 2004 was the family’s first tentative foray into the market. Next followed wholly owned centres at Georges Hall, and then Bondi Waters (which opened last year). This year they will be joined by Barden Lodge at Sutherland.
From the outset the company made a mark, with Minchinbury Manor regarded as a benchmark in the industry and winning countless accolades. Already Advantaged Care has 200 residents and expects this will reach 250 within 12 months. Staff now number 250 and Michael believes that figure will reach 350 in 12 months.
According to Michael, the family has not been coy about its aspirations to transform the aged care industry by using the most efficient systems to guarantee service delivery. “When we formed Advantaged Care we looked at overall systems’ implementation – a whole bunch of different information systems across different ranges of IT services that we needed,” Michael said.
Having set himself the task of building a benchmark business, he sought industry benchmark software, coming to WFS for rostering and Attaché Payroll.
“There were one or two payroll systems that spoke to rostering systems but we were specifically looking for systems that had experience in the aged care sector, which is fairly complicated given that you are running 24/7, 365 days a year and there are numerous industry-specific wage rules,” he explained. “We were looking for experience in that, and we also liked that it was a web-based system with the capacity for staff to clock on and off electronically.”
Attaché’s level of support and the software’s history were also important in the selection process.
“Given that we have aggressive growth plans, there was a lot of time and effort up front in trying to find the right system. We were also looking for something that would give us efficiencies right across the organisation as the more efficient the systems are, the cheaper and better it is for the organisation.”
When it came to implementation, Attaché required very little in the way of tweaking, whereas WFS required some initial work to incorporate the company’s Greenfield Collective Agreement that was later rationalised as an Enterprise Agreement. “Basically we had to get all of the rules – such as wage rules – into the system so that WFS knew how to interpret the work hours.”
Attaché efficiencies improve resident care
Because Michael is very much a hands-on MD, he is a fan of Attaché’s Dashboard interface and its ability to give him an instant status on everything, and also being able to drill down easily in a search for specific information. “Not only are the reports very effective, but things like sick leave and annual leave can be summarised into a day allowance as opposed to hours. The fact that I can get onto the system, find what I’m looking for, and most of the time find it pretty quickly, indicates a good system.”
Attaché Document Management, the confidential document delivery service for everything from pay advice to invoices, is rapidly becoming one of the most popular features. Michael strongly believes that such things as being able to send a pay advice electronically is a key fundamental of an organisation which takes on technology.
Aside from the labour saved by push-button remittances, there’s an aspect of building staff culture and making Advantaged Care a desirable place to work. “Also, reducing the documentation burden with everything we do means staff and managers spend more time doing what they’re meant to – putting their best efforts into looking after people.”
As part of this reduction, and as a significant step in empowering staff, the Georges Hall facility introduced WFS’ self-service component for employees.
WFS’ SMS capability is also increasingly being used. “If we need to fill shifts at short notice, we can broadcast SMS to employees and they can accept via SMS. Recently when our internal email went down we used this technology to communicate with staff,” Michael said.
About Advantaged Care
- Three aged care facilities in NSW, located at Georges Hall, Bondi and Barden Ridge, with plans for 500 new beds across four new facilities
- 200 residents cared for by 250 staff, strong growth plans
- Aims to provide environmentally sustainable design, sophisticated IT and technology systems, efficient management of nursing and financial needs, and highest quality materials and construction
