At a glance

Sky Ranch, a leading nonprofit youth camp organization, was bogged down by inaccurate data, slow reporting cycles, and poor support from its former FP&A platform. The finance team was spending weeks creating financial and budget reports, only to discover critical errors after the fact. This mounting frustration led Sky Ranch to explore better solutions.

After switching to Cube, Sky Ranch saw drastic improvements: total trust in their numbers, faster reporting, and over six figures in annual efficiency savings. With Cube’s intuitive interface and rapid support response times, the team regained control and visibility, and eliminated the risk of costly reporting mistakes.

Challenge

FP&A software with hidden flaws

When VP of Finance and Administration John Johanson joined Sky Ranch, he quickly realized their FP&A software was holding the organization back.

“The biggest problem was accuracy,” he said. “The numbers just didn’t tie out.”

Unbeknownst to the Sky Ranch team, a hidden error in their FP&A software implementation led to tie-out issues to their general ledger, Sage Intacct. The software’s overly complex interface made it impossible for the team to self-serve and troubleshoot the issue. Worse, the FP&A vendor’s support was slow and unresponsive, often taking a week or more to reply, and sometimes requiring paid “coaching sessions” for even basic fixes.

John also quickly learned that the software wasn’t intuitive.

“We had to take an 8-hour course just to learn how to use it, and even then, it wasn’t clear,” he said.

These issues caused real consequences.

“We report to seven different boards. And early on, we had to go back after a meeting and correct inaccurate numbers. It was embarrassing. It undermines trust when that happens.”

Reporting out of their FP&A solution was also painfully slow. Financial reporting and board prep could take nearly three weeks, requiring data dumps from Sage Intacct into Excel and manual manipulation just to get basic insights.

Solution

Cube's speed, simplicity, and support

Sky Ranch evaluated alternatives and ultimately selected Cube for its combination of data accuracy, intuitive design, and responsive support. The implementation addressed all their core challenges:

Seamless integration with existing systems Cube integrated directly with Sky Ranch's Sage Intacct ERP, avoiding the implementation and tie-out errors that plagued their previous solution. The Sky Ranch team is now expanding their Cube model to include statistical data from CIRCUITREE, their camp management software, creating a unified reporting environment.

Intuitive interface eliminated learning curves Cube’s user-friendly interface and streamlined onboarding process meant leaders at Sky Ranch could now create their own reports without waiting for the finance team.

“With our previous solution, I had to get in line for my analyst to help. Now it’s fast, simple, and I know it’s right,”John said.

Reliable drill-down capabilities Unlike their former FP&A solution where drill-downs into data wouldn't tie to totals, Cube delivers consistent, accurate, and detailed reporting all in one robust platform. "We haven't had any issues with data accuracy in Cube," John confirmed.

Results and impact

Dramatic time savings and cost reduction across finance operations

Sky Ranch transformed their finance operations with measurable improvements across all key areas:

95% reduction in board meeting prep time

With their previous solution, Sky Ranch took up to 20 days to compile board reports, but have now transformed that into a single-day sprint with Cube. Delivering a 95% reduction in preparation time has freed up nearly three weeks per reporting cycle to focus on strategic analysis instead of data compilation.

100% improvement in data accuracy

Historically, the finance team at Sky Ranch faced frequent inaccuracies in their reports, requiring embarrassing corrections in the middle of board presentations. After adopting Cube, the team has “complete confidence in data accuracy with no reconciliation issues.” This has provided a huge boost in trust across the seven different boards the team reports to, and is saving finance endless hours of post-presentation corrections.

Over six figures in annual cost savings

John estimates that due to all of the time savings that Cube has provided, they will “save the equivalent of 1-2 full-time positions, estimated at 4,000 hours annually.” The time saved translates to a six-figure-plus annual value, which provides both value and relief to their growing nonprofit organization.

Looking ahead

Expanded system integration and consolidated reporting in one robust FP&A platform

Sky Ranch is now expanding beyond their general ledger, and implementing an integration with their camp management software, CIRCUITREE. This will eliminate multiple Power BI reports and centralize all of their dashboards in Cube. This expansion represents their vision of a single source of truth for both financial and operational data in a reliable and accurate FP&A platform.

"Once we have the full picture of what we want to see, we'll probably save between $150,000-$250,000 per year with Cube," said John. "When I first was evaluating Cube, I didn't think about the possibility of efficiencies and improvements. I knew there would be efficiencies, but I didn't know the scope or the extent. It's been a great benefit."