Waste Management Services Securing Delaware County Solid Waste Authority's 70-year Legacy with Sage Intacct
The Delaware County Solid Waste Authority (the Authority), established in 1954, is an essential but often unseen backbone of the community. Originally charted as the Delaware County Incinerator Authority, they manage the entire disposal lifecycle for approximately 400,000 tons of commercial and domestic waste annually. The Authority operates two transfer stations in the County and one landfill in an adjacent county in order to support solid waste disposal generated in Delaware County, PA.
Their legacy spans over 70 years, evolving from managing mid-century incinerators to overseeing transfer stations and the essential Rolling Hills Landfill.
[RKL] was experienced, professional, able to think outside the box and was truly a collaborative and supportive business partner that helped ensure our success.
Lisa DeLeon, Chief Financial Officer
The unseen crisis
The Delaware County Solid Waste Authority is a critical regional utility provider. Being a non-profit enterprise means that their financial operations are unique, requiring absolute transparency to ensure fiduciary responsibility and maintain public trust with their Board and the residents they serve. Yet as the accounting team recorded every penny spent on public infrastructure, their internal technological infrastructure was holding them back. While dedicated to maintaining the community's foundation, it was failing to keep its own operations current.
Managing Public Infrastructure with a Cart and Wheel
When Chief Financial Officer Lisa DeLeon stepped in, she quickly realized that this public institution, responsible for managing critical infrastructure and a multi-million-dollar expansion, was still relying on a financial system implemented in the 1990s. How could they achieve their 21st-century mission using 20th-century technology?
The core problem lay with a Chart of Accounts (COA) that was fundamentally ill-equipped to deal with the complexity of the growing organization. Its old financial tracking system posed a major problem since it simply did not have the necessary visibility, dimensions, or structural sophistication to manage the finances of a large, asset-heavy company. Implemented in 1998, the outdated COA forced the Authority team to rely on broad account codes, with transactional details often relegated to a vague "Notes" field. For an organization managing complex public assets and planning future expansions, the lack of visibility was extremely hard and time-consuming.
"The chart of accounts in MIP (Fund Accounting Software) did not provide the level of visibility we needed to be able to analyze and control the expenses of the organization or to provide support to our Board," the CFO explained.
This major limitation led to a culture of manual work and delayed insight. All detailed reporting and analysis were carried out manually in Excel, which meant pulling data from PDF reports—a process that was time-consuming, prone to error, and always retrospective.
Invoices arrived as paper via mail, which meant that the AP (accounts payable) process required staff to manually key invoices into the system. There was no visibility, as there was no ability to view invoice images electronically. Documents were buried in file cabinets in a physical location, which meant they were not always accessible to everyone or at any time.
The AR (accounts receivable) process was a frustrating dual-entry, requiring revenues to be logged in a sub-ledger and then manually re-entered into MIP, making it impossible to get an accurate, timely picture of cash flow and AR aging.
The IT crisis: essential services just days away from a technical collapse
A parallel issue was unfolding on the technology front. While a modern financial solution was the priority, the underlying IT infrastructure was fragile and outdated, and the support model was broken. Prior to RKL, the Authority was using an independent part-time consultant.
The biggest challenge wasn't just old equipment, but the absence of high-availability customer service and proactive care: "Any time an end-user needed support, their issue would have to wait until our consultant was available, which was often days and sometimes weeks," the CFO recalled. "That was extremely difficult in a business situation."
For DeLeon, who was overseeing IT, the situation was untenable: simple issues such as password lockouts and internet latency stole crucial time from her core responsibilities. Without any proactive monitoring in place, problems were only discovered "when things went dark." The Authority needed a full-time, professional team—not just a part-time fixer—to secure its network and keep its essential operations moving forward.
breaking the bottleneck: from dual crisis to unified operational resilience
The challenges facing the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority required a partner who was capable of tackling both a deep financial overhaul, as well as a critical IT infrastructure failure. DeLeon realized that the solution had to be comprehensive, choosing RKL not just for technical expertise but as a single, accountable strategic advisor.
The Ideal Infrastructure for Modern Financial Management
For DeLeon, the choice of the financial management system was clear and swift. Having used Sage Intacct at a previous organization, she knew that its capabilities directly addressed the Authority’s biggest barrier: the rigid, 20th-century chart of accounts.
The multi-dimensional functionality of Sage Intacct was the essential feature required to enable data-driven decision-making, replacing the vague "Notes" field, thus allowing expenses to be tracked by project, location, and department. DeLeon presented her vision for the new COA using Sage Intacct with the Authority’s Board and CEO.
All of our computers are updated weekly and are monitored for threats and malware. We have saved money on licensing and have saved valuable time on related daily activities, which we now use more efficiently. We couldn’t have been happier with the Managed IT Support we have received (from RKL eSolutions) since day one.
Lisa DeLeon, Chief Financial Officer
The partner for complex public institutions
Being familiar with various Sage Intacct partners in the region and conducting extensive research into customer service ratings, Lisa chose RKL eSolutions for their proven ability to handle this dual mandate. RKL deployed a comprehensive, two-pronged strategy to modernize the Authority:
- Financial Modernization: Implementing Sage Intacct—a powerful, cloud-based solution.
- Operational Stability: Introducing a robust Managed IT Support partner model.
The partnership quickly flourished, focusing on collaboration. “Dane Hoover was experienced, professional, able to think outside the box and was truly a collaborative and supportive business partner that helped ensure our success.”
DeLeon summarized the unique and professional partnership as being members of the same team: “I consider RKL to be a valuable member of the DCSWA team and look forward to our continued partnership in the future.”
The Transformation: New Capabilities and Proactive Care
The transformation was dramatic. With the new foundations set, the culture of manual work and delayed insight was a thing of the past. The organization gained a rapid and accurate overview of their operations, which allowed them to make near real-time decisions and remain on top of their financial activities. DeLeon stated that, for the first time, they were able to be proactive, thus opening a new horizon for the DCSWA.
Automating the Process: From Paper Invoices to Real-Time Data
Sage Intacct’s dimensional structure and automation meant that the organization gained hours of valuable work by eliminating the time-consuming, manual Excel reporting and exporting of data from PDFs. The transition to Sage Intacct allowed for near real-time financial visibility and insight which transformed the decision-making process. DCSWA’s most significant transformations include:
- AP Automation: Manual AP process eliminated with invoices emailed directly into Sage Intacct with invoice images attached to each AP record.
- Period-End Close: Amount of time taken to close each month and year has been significantly reduced.
- Real-Time Insights: Monthly P&Ls (profit & loss), balance sheets, and cash flow statements became easily and instantly available.
- Strategic Assets: DCSWA gained full utilization of Sage Intacct’s fixed assets and prepaid expense modules, which ensured accurate tracking and reporting for critical infrastructure.
“Sage Intacct supports our internal controls; it provides us with robust features, and it is intuitive to use. The pricing of Sage Intacct in comparison to competitors was an excellent fit for our organization and budget,” added DeLeon.
regaining time: strategic focus over firefighting the crisis
One of the most significant and immediate benefits was the reallocation of executive time. By eliminating manual processes and stabilizing the IT environment, DeLeon was able to shift her focus from reactive management to strategic leadership.
“I am now able to spend my time focusing on my role as CFO instead of managing password lockouts and broken equipment,” DeLeon explained.
Operational Security: The End of IT Downtime
RKL's Managed IT Support resolved the paralyzing "one man band" IT bottleneck by delivering a professional, team-based approach, which included advanced monitoring and cybersecurity platforms. The RKL team physically came to the various sites to list inventory and examine the situation, and within a matter of weeks, had established a comprehensive plan to help move the Authority forward and began deploying the plan quickly.
- Rapid Response: Support requests, which once took days and sometimes weeks to resolve, now receive a response within an hour or so, addressing end-users’ issues in a timely fashion.
- Proactive Resilience: Advanced monitoring proactively addresses issues such as memory overloads, avoiding downtime that was previously discovered only when things went wrong.
- Cost Efficiency & Partnership: The professional RKL team is available on a monthly, fixed-fee basis.
In addition, DeLeon said that the automation of the updates as well as the costs of having RKL manage the IT has saved the Authority time and money: “All of our computers are updated weekly and are monitored for threats and malware. We have saved money on licensing and have saved valuable time on related daily activities, which we now use more efficiently.”
"We couldn’t have been happier with the Managed IT Support we have received (from RKL eSolutions) since day one,” added DeLeon.
The Impact: Financial Clarity and Proactive Resilience
The wide-ranging overhaul has provided the DCSWA with the tools and infrastructure they needed to confidently support its long-term mandate. The results were immediate, both in the back office and the boardroom. “We have seen a significant reduction in the amount of time it takes us to close each month and year as well as in the amount of time it takes to input AP transactions and record revenue. As well, reporting for both the Board and internal stakeholders takes less time, is more consistent and provides transparency and insight quickly.”
Looking Forward to the Future
“The Authority will undoubtedly face many challenges in the future as the landscape of disposing of solid waste continuously changes over time. We will need to plan for future expansions at the landfill and rebuilding of the transfer stations to support sustainability and growth for our county residents. All of that will require financial insight and analysis to ensure we achieve our strategic objectives while controlling our costs and ensuring transparency,” explained DeLeon. “This comprehensive restructure has enabled that transparency and insight and laid the groundwork to support the Authority's long-term mandate of supporting the residents of Delaware County into the future," said DeLeon.
With the modern infrastructure set by Sage Intacct, the Authority is well-positioned to plan for its future challenges.
RKL eSolutions has proven a valuable partner for the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority, allowing them to make plans based on accurate and reliable data and supporting their day-to-day IT needs.
