From Scattered Systems to One Source of Truth: How FRS Co-Op Modernised HR Across 50+ Offices
How Ireland's largest farming cooperative worked with Factorial and TEKenable to connect 1,000 employees, 50+ offices, and seven business units on a single source of truth, cutting reporting time from days to minutes and freeing HR to focus on people instead of paperwork.
The Challenge: One Cooperative, Seven Businesses, Zero Shared Data
Founded in the 1970s to give farmers a break from working 365 days a year, FRS Co-Op has grown far beyond its roots. Today its brands span farm relief services, recruitment, training, fencing, and Turas Nua, the employment support service that has helped nearly 250,000 people and placed over 70,000 into jobs across Ireland since 2015. But that growth had outpaced the systems holding it together.
Every business unit tracked its people differently, and nothing talked to anything else. By the time a report landed on a manager's desk, it was already out of date, leaving leadership making decisions on numbers that no longer reflected reality.
Data Scattered Across Spreadsheets and Inboxes
Expenses, performance reviews, and time tracking were each managed on separate Excel sheets and Word documents saved to OneDrive. Producing something as simple as a headcount for the farm services team, meant HR contacting every regional office individually to gather and reconcile spreadsheets by hand.
Slow, Stale Reporting
Pulling together a report on attrition, absenteeism, or new starters could take three to four days. By the time it reached senior leadership, the numbers were often already out of date, frustrating managers who needed current data to make business decisions.
A Paper-Driven Employee Experience
Onboarding ran through the post: contracts and forms mailed out and mailed back. In a competitive labour market where candidates weigh every signal about a prospective employer, a paper-based first impression wasn't the modern experience FRS wanted to offer.
The Solution: HR That Finally Fits the Wider Business
FRS didn't want another disconnected tool. Working with Microsoft partner TEKenable, they wanted an HR platform built to fit their existing Microsoft ecosystem. Factorial gave them exactly that: one centralised home for expenses, time, performance, and farm operator data.
Expenses, Tracked in Real Time
Employees log expenses on the spot and photograph receipts instantly, with approvals now run through the system.
Farm Operators, Organised by Skill
500 farm operators, once tracked on scattered spreadsheets, are now organised by specialisation in one place.
A Digital Front Door for New Hires
Onboarding is sent and signed digitally from day one, replacing the old post-and-return process.
Performance Reviews, Backed by AI Analytics
Performance reviews are centralised company-wide, with AI analytics summarising team strengths and training needs.
The Impact
1-2 days
Saved Every Month
Freed from manually compiling HR reports by hand.
Instant
On-Demand Reporting
A full staff list that once took days to compile is now ready immediately.
500
Farm Operators Organised
Coordinated on one system, not scattered across various spreadsheets.
1 day
Expense Processing
What used to take 4 days now wraps up in a single day.
“Factorial has given us one source of truth for all our data, across the whole co-op. We can now produce HR reports at the click of a button, reports that used to take days to prepare.”
In Partnership with TEKenable
FRS Co-Op implemented Factorial with support from TEKenable, a Microsoft Gold Partner. Watch the interview to find out why TEKenable recommends Factorial as the go-to HR solution for mid-sized businesses in the Microsoft ecosystem.