Case Study: University of the Western Cape achieves full transparency and streamlined budgeting with Smartsheet

University of Western Cape advances its academic mission with Smartsheet

The University of Western Cape, a large South African higher-education institution serving about 25,000 students, faced fractured IT teams, frequent leadership changes, and low transparency that undermined accountability and made processes like annual budgeting cumbersome and error-prone. Staff reluctance to share information and siloed workflows contributed to late payments, audit findings, and low morale.

ICT Director Raymond Crown implemented Smartsheet as a single, user-friendly platform to centralise processes, automate budgeting and procurement forms, and visualise work via dashboards and alerts. The change improved reporting and collaboration, cut overtime, boosted productivity by roughly 20% in automated areas, eliminated late-payment penalties, and helped close about 170 audit findings, leaving the university with no open audit issues.

University of the Western Cape

Raymond Crown

ICT Director