Summary
In advance of announcing plans for an 18-story, 400-room luxury hotel and 20,000 square-foot event center, Muckleshoot Casino Resort chose to implement improved tools and solutions for its accounting and finance team. After assessing requirements, Muckleshoot selected the robust mid-market ERP software Sage Intacct over a traditional top-down ERP like Infor, Oracle or SAP.
Wipfli’s casino-specific edition of Sage Intacct was the team’s favorite because of its industry-leading customer satisfaction rating, enterprise-level reporting capability, rapid implementation time and 75% lower total cost of ownership annually.
Situation and strategy
As the world of tribal gaming becomes more digitally enabled, maintenance-free cloud technology is increasingly a critical factor in each gaming enterprise’s growth planning and future success.
Muckleshoot’s leadership recognized a need to assess their current technology environment and underlying use of financial data. Transitioning to an easy-to-use, cloud-based financial management and accounting system became a key priority — but that system needed to be a tested, industry-proven solution built around usability, productivity and flexibility.
As a tribal-owned gaming enterprise, Muckleshoot knew it also needed an implementation and on-going support provider that was deeply experienced in not just gaming but also the many nuances of licensing with tribal gaming commissions, tribal law and sovereignty.
Riddle was impressed by what he had heard about CasinoEdge Intacct — innovative cloud-based accounting software powered by Sage Intacct and tailored by Wipfli to casinos and their industry-specific needs. After several strategic discussions and a comprehensive review of the solution’s functional capabilities, he knew Wipfli could guide the software requirements gathering, implementation, customization and on-going support.
Plus, Wipfli’s comprehensive understanding of tribal gaming industry standards and licensing would alleviate several significant hurdles from the get-go.
After performing a comprehensive assessment to document the challenges of Muckleshoot’s current state, the two worked hand in hand to re-engineer processes and roadmap the ideal future state. From there, Wipfli configured CasinoEdge Intacct and helped Muckleshoot navigate a challenging data-conversion process.
Results
Six months from the start of the project, the Muckleshoot team completed comprehensive system training across all system users and hit their initial go-live goal.
Muckleshoot is now enjoying the benefits of being on a cloud-based accounting system with industry-leading reporting capabilities for both accounting and statistical data users.
The software has helped Muckleshoot become a more efficient organization, too. Before CasinoEdge Intacct, it was using 500 cases of paper per month. Muckleshoot has cut that number down by 90%, largely by using CasinoEdge Intacct to reduce much of the administrative need for paper.
Whereas the old system required heavy IT administration and maintenance, CasinoEdge Intacct is maintenance-free and delivers deeper levels of control and process automation to the finance department.
Each finance staff member and department head enjoys their own login to the web-based portal, where they can access real-time, department-specific dashboards and P&L statements, with the ability to drill down to the invoice level, create and modify budgets on the fly, and more. Real-time information flows through the system, enabling robust ad-hoc reporting and analytics.
“Our financial reviews have gone from being conversations about reclasses and expenses to being about our strategic growth plan — where we’re at and how we’re moving forward,” says Riddle. “Intacct has evolved the conversation away from bookkeeping and toward analysis of where we’re going, which has helped us be proactive.”
Client profile
Muckleshoot Casino Resort opened in 1995 and is owned and operated by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Located in Auburn, Washington, it is the biggest casino in the northwest, offering more than 3,100 games.
