How Phed Pharma Gained Financial Control and Real-Time Visibility with ProjectBase + Sage Integration

About Phed Pharma

Company: Phed Pharma Solutions
Industry: End-to-end engineering solutions for Pharma, Food, Medical Devices and Biotech industries

Phed Pharma is a specialized pharmaceutical engineering and project services firm operating with a growing team of 10 professionals. Phed Pharma delivers niche projects that demand efficiency, precision, and strict resource management.

Until 2024, the company relied exclusively on Excel for managing financials, projects, and procurement. This manual approach left critical gaps in visibility, cost tracking, and billing reconciliation. Recognizing the need for an integrated solution, Phed Pharma adopted ProjectBase after a demo presentation. Impressed by its comprehensive fit to their needs, the company went live on 30 August 2024, completing a fast and smooth transition that exceeded their expectations

Key Challenges Before ProjectBase

Operating with limited resources, Phed Pharma faced several challenges before implementing ProjectBase:

• Manual financial tracking: Expenses and customer invoices were tracked on Excel sheets, often leading to mismatches between incurred costs and billed amounts.
  
  
• Missed or delayed billing reconciliation: Bills were sometimes overlooked or assumed complete, creating inconsistencies in revenue collection.
  
  
• Inefficient supplier communication: Purchase orders and material requests were sent manually, which slowed down processes and introduced errors.
  
  
• Limited project visibility: Monitoring ongoing site work and contractor payments lacked a centralized system, making it difficult to validate if payments aligned with actual progress.
  
  
• Lack of control for management: The director and leadership team did not have real-time visibility of operations, forcing them to depend on fragmented updates and reports.
  

Solutions Implemented

ProjectBase was deployed across Phed Pharma’s core functions in August 2024, immediately transforming how the company managed projects and finances. The following solutions were implemented:

• Financial control and contract tracking: ProjectBase allowed the team to track expenses incurred against invoices raised, ensuring precise monitoring of profitability and project margins.
  
  
• Automated billing reconciliation: The software highlighted pending or missed bills, eliminating revenue leakages and ensuring timely invoicing.
  
  
• Integrated supplier communication: Purchase orders and material requests could now be issued directly to suppliers within ProjectBase, improving speed, accuracy, and accountability.
  
  
• Work progress tracking: The project team gained tools to monitor site progress and subcontractor performance, ensuring payments reflected actual work completed.
  
  
• Centralized visibility for management: Reports and dashboards gave the director complete oversight of operations, enabling proactive decision-making and better control.

Sage Integration: Seamless Financial Workflows

Phed Pharma had already been using Sage Cloud for their accounting operations when they implemented ProjectBase to strengthen project execution and management. One of their key requirements was to connect the two systems so that financial and operational data could flow smoothly without duplicating work.

To achieve this, the ProjectBase team developed a custom integration that allows purchase and sales invoices created in ProjectBase to be transferred directly into Sage Accounting with a single click. This eliminated the need for manual re-entry, reducing the risk of errors and saving significant time for their finance team.

With this integration in place, Phed Pharma now enjoys the best of both worlds: continuing to rely on Sage Cloud for robust accounting, while fully leveraging ProjectBase to streamline and control project execution. The result is a more efficient, accurate, and connected workflow across their business.

Results & Outcomes

The impact of ProjectBase at Phed Pharma has been significant and immediate:

• Financial efficiency: Monitoring of costs versus customer invoices has become systematic, reducing errors and improving profitability analysis.
  
  
• Billing accuracy: Automated reconciliation eliminated missed bills, ensuring revenue flows are captured in full.
  
  
• Supplier integration: The procurement process has become streamlined, with purchase orders moving seamlessly through a closed system. This has added more control and reduced reliance on manual communication.
  
  
• Improved productivity: By automating core processes, ProjectBase has saved significant time across teams, boosting overall efficiency and output.
  
  
• Project and contractor oversight: The platform provides reliable tracking of site work, enabling accurate and fair subcontractor payments.
  
  
• Executive visibility: For the management team, especially the director, ProjectBase has provided end-to-end visibility. Real-time reports and ongoing updates make it easier to stay in control while focusing on broader business goals.
  
  
• Seamless accounting connectivity: With the Sage integration, Phed Pharma’s finance team now benefits from synchronized project and accounting data, minimizing duplication, improving accuracy, and ensuring financial clarity across systems.
  
  

Importantly, Phed Pharma experienced no negative impact or process difficulties after implementation. Adoption was smooth, and support from the ProjectBase team was highly responsive and consistent.

Conclusion: Financial Clarity and Scalability with ProjectBase

For Phed Pharma, ProjectBase has been transformative. In less than a year of use, it has replaced Excel-based inefficiencies with an integrated system that delivers financial control, billing accuracy, supplier integration, and full operational visibility. The purchase and project teams benefit from streamlined workflows, while management enjoys the assurance of reliable data and real-time reporting.

Looking ahead, Phed Pharma has expressed interest in additional features such as a CRM module, real-time Sage integration, and linking work progress with project schedules. These enhancements would further extend the platform’s value.

Mr. Mbonisi Ncube, Director of Phed Pharma, describes ProjectBase as “one of the best tools a contractor can have.” 

Its effectiveness has led him to actively refer the platform to peers in the industry, underscoring the system’s role in driving operational excellence for small but ambitious companies like Phed Pharma.