Enabling Department-Level TRAC Insight for Financial Planning at a Peer Group C University

Summary

A TRAC Peer Group C university approached Account-Ability with a clear strategic ambition: to move beyond TRAC as an annual compliance exercise and begin using TRAC outputs to support financial planning across Schools and Departments.

The Associate Finance Director explained that the TRAC Steering Group wanted the process and results to be far more transparent, better understood by Heads of School, and capable of informing decision-making within the institution.

However, the existing Excel-based TRAC model was too high-level, slow to run, heavily dependent on one individual, and offered limited insight into how cost rates depended on drivers, weightings, or source data assumptions.

Account-Ability implemented its Sector Standard TRAC Solution in just 12 days over four weeks. The system was configured at Department level, providing a deeper layer of analysis than the previous model and delivering a wide range of self-generating management reports. The project also included data balancing, sensitivity testing, and full training for the university’s TRAC Accountant.

Client 

Products & Services Supplied

How We Helped

The Challenge

The university required TRAC information at a much greater level of detail than the existing Excel model could provide. Specifically, they needed:

• Granular reporting at Department and School level
• Inter-school and inter-department variance comparisons
• Multi-year trend analysis
• The ability to run multiple versions of the data to test sensitivity to drivers and weightings

None of this was achievable with the legacy approach. Results were difficult to explain, not widely trusted, and could not be communicated effectively to Heads of School.

Project Goals

The Steering Group’s goals were to:

• Produce reliable TRAC data at a level detailed enough to support planning decisions
• Improve clarity, confidence, and traceability of TRAC figures
• Make the TRAC process significantly faster and less resource intensive
• Reduce dependency on a single individual and improve knowledge transfer

Our Approach

Account-Ability implemented its proven Sector Standard TRAC Solution, configured at a level of detail not achievable within the university’s previous Excel model.

The implementation included:

• Balancing a full year of TRAC data
• Training the TRAC Accountant in system operation and maintenance
• Running sensitivity studies to understand the impact of key drivers
• Balancing a second year of data in an additional three days to deliver year-on-year comparisons

A major benefit of the solution is its extensive suite of self-generating management reports, designed not only for TRAC compliance but also to add value to internal financial management and decision-making.

These included:

• Detailed cost, income, non-financial data and KPI analysis
• Department, School, and University-level reporting
• Inter-school and inter-department comparisons
• Driver sensitivity and scenario modelling
• Multi-year variance and trend reporting
• Full access through a web browser

Outcome & Benefits

The university achieved its objective of making TRAC data understandable, sufficiently granular, and reliable enough to support future decisions on activities and resources.

Key benefits included:

• A significantly faster, more resource-efficient TRAC process
• Reduced reliance on one individual’s expertise
• Reliable TRAC information shared across a much wider internal audience
• Heads of School gaining ownership of TRAC outputs for internal management purposes
• A future-proof “living TRAC” solution that staff can update for organisational changes
• Annual updates provided by Account-Ability to ensure ongoing alignment with TRAC Guidance

Client Testimonial