View my financial insights to make savings
The view my financial insights (VMFI) tool is password protected and is therefore able to provide tailored, school specific insights, to support schools in their financial decision making.
VMFI provides a prioritised list of areas to investigate based on the comparisons with the 30 most similar schools nationally. The tool pulls this together in one place for trusts and local authorities so users can instantly identify areas to investigate further. It then matches the data with relevant advice, guidance and commercial frameworks offered by DfE to help schools spend their resources efficiently.
You can access VMFI via the 'Understanding your data' section of the School Resource Management collection page, or directly at view my financial insights.
VMFI saves time and money for academy trusts
Bradford Diocesan Academy Trust
Ashley Reed, Chief Finance Officer of the Bradford Diocesan Academy Trust uses view my financial insights (VMFI) to access comparative data for schools and see trends across their Trust. Before using VMFI the finance team had to search, collate and copy information from a range of sources to compile reports:
Historically it has been difficult to source benchmarking data. VMFI brings this all together in one place - if you need to do benchmarking you can go there and it's available to you. We are already saving on average one day a month.
The finance team examine the red categories flagged up by VMFI to help identify the cost savings that could be made. The biggest saving, as a result of using VMFI, has been on catering costs for a number of schools in the Trust. The finance team organised a central procurement to which 7 schools opted in, this produced substantial savings and an improved service for the Trust by changing provider. The quality and variation of meals has also improved greatly which has increased take up. More schools will be opting in going forwards and more savings made.
Ashley describes the Trust as 'governor led' and that VMFI is integral in supporting governors in understanding the financial position of the schools they are working with. Whilst VMFI provides user-friendly graphs and charts which are popular with governors, he is also keen to highlight that VMFI also provides the high level of detail required by the leadership team. VMFI is already saving the finance team on average one day a month:
VMFI is all about the visual. It allows people to look at costs in quite a detailed way visually which is easy for non-finance people to understand. It also provides senior leaders with the right information at the right time.
Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust
Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust has been benchmarking its financial performance both internally and externally since 2007. VMFI has supported the Trust in bringing this information together in one place. Jane Kellas, Finance and Operations Director for the Trust said:
VMFI is one of the best tools to come out of the DfE. We now have easy access to comparative data - a single point that we can direct our trustees, governors and senior leaders to, highlighting the key areas for investigation.
Before using VMFI the finance team needed to access a minimum of four separate sources to compile the data:
We don't have to do the amount of work that we had to do previously to get the comparisons. VMFI does the heavy lifting in interpreting the data and providing this information visually.
The team use the charts and graphs from VMFI in reports and presentations to school finance officers, trustees and governors.
Jane is keen to highlight the trustworthiness of VMFI having corroborated it with their management system. They are confident in using VMFI as a validation tool informing both the budget and the strategy. The areas highlighted for investigation by VMFI helped the finance team to start the conversations about budgeting:
It's also helped focus the decision making particularly when taking on schools in special measures. VMFI provides additional back up to support the areas we have identified for improvement.
Jane's team also promote VMFI with principals who are considering a change in spending so that they can see the impact equivalent changes have had on other schools. Since using VMFI, the Trust has found that their schools have forecast more accurately.
VMFI enables the academy's key stakeholders to view the headline financial data for themselves and to understand where it comes from. VMFI is also now a significant part of the training for school governors to support them in developing an independent perspective and the ability to challenge.
VMFI saves time and money for maintained schools
VMFI benchmarks schools against others that are similar, either based on pupil characteristics or building characteristics. Nicky, a primary school business manager used VMFI to drill down and examine those schools which appear to be more efficient:
This information enables me to identify 'what good looks like' in comparator schools. I then simply pick up the phone and have a conversation to identify where I can make cost savings by changing suppliers. VMFI is a great tool for networking.
VMFI identified that this primary school was spending higher than comparators on teaching staff, particularly on agency staff. The school business manager looked at the schools identified by VMFI as providing more cost-effective provision, and rang a couple of local schools to see who they used for agency supply and how they managed their structure. This led to decisions which saved this school £15,000 in a restructure and a further £5,000 on agency staff. Nicky said "being a very small school with a very small budget, that's a huge saving for us." It amounted to 0.7% of their annual income.
This school business manager also highlighted the value of VMFI in working with governors:
The Chairs of Governors are all accountable for the financial management of schools. VMFI is a fantastic resource to develop their understanding so they can ask meaningful questions and ensure their schools are delivering best value provision.
