The Hotchkiss School
Industry: Education | Independent School
Location: Lakeville, Connecticut, USA
Students: 599Challenges
Hotchkiss struggled with:
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Manual, email, and paper-based processes
Processes were slow, error-prone, and inefficient.
Multiple purchasing methods
Varied payment methods, such as corporate cards and check requests complicated tracking and reduced spending control.
Lack of spend and budget control
Spend control was limited for staff purchasing and any budget overspend was only discovered after the fact.
Multiple purchasing accounts and vendors
Individual department vendor selection and online accounts lacked visibility and control and the ability to negotiate volume discounts or better terms.
Cumbersome manual approval process
Requests frequently missed the necessary approvers, leading to delays and bottlenecks from constant follow-ups. Personnel unavailability further stalled approvals, and enforcing complex process rules proved challenging.
Manual invoice inefficiencies and duplicate entries
Manual invoice entry into the accounting system and email-based approvals were time- consuming, error-prone, and reliant on staff following complex manual approval rules.
Manual invoice matching and missing data
Increased administrative workload, error prone, and missing data caused delays.
Lack of policy management
Unmonitored purchases were difficult to manage in terms of pricing and required standards and specifications (e.g. IT purchases).
Lack of transparency and audit readiness
Disorganized records made auditing time-consuming and inefficient.
Solutions
With Fraxion, Hotchkiss has gained:
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School-wide procurement management and system adoption
The broad implementation was the catalyst for procurement efficiency and success.
Enhanced transparency and accountability
Monthly and annual system-generated reports provide detailed spending breakdowns by department.
Simplicity and spend control, driven by familiarity
Fraxion’s PunchOut catalogs allow users to shop directly from preferred vendors (Amazon Business, Staples etc.) in familiar interfaces - simplifying requisitions and approvals, adoption, and improving spend control.
Vendor management and consolidation
With centralized visibility and management across departments, Hotchkiss reduced the number of vendors to a core strategic group. This improved vendor relationships and enabled better terms and savings through higher business volumes.
Robust approval process
The approval matrix, tailored to Hotchkiss’ complex needs, enables real-time notifications and multi-level oversight, reducing delays, financial risk, and ensuring policy compliance.
Invoice efficiency
Automation and centralized records have streamlined processing and approvals for high volumes of transactions.
Improved endowment visibility and management
Oversight and approval workflows for endowed and special accounts.
Seamless ERP integration
Microsoft Dynamics GP
Cost savings
Fraxion has cut unnecessary spending by enhancing visibility into departmental purchases particularly in high-spend areas such as IT.
