Nonprofit Organization Migrates Accounting Software ...



Overview

Country or Region: United States

Industry: Nonprofit

Customer Profile

The American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter in Ohio provides its 1.5 million community members with disaster knowledge and assistance. The organization has a yearly budget of U.S.$8 million.

Business Situation

The Greater Cleveland Chapter had been running Real World Accounting Software but found it increasingly difficult to find people with expertise in the software. In addition the software was cumbersome, difficult to work with, and was frequently down.

Solution

With the help of CBIZ Technologies, the organization was able to take control of its accounting processes by implementing Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains®.

Benefits

■ Streamlines processes

■ Improves reporting

■ Increases accuracy and visibility of financial data

■ Customizes easily

| | |“With Microsoft Great Plains, I do not have to search our databases to get the information I want. All of the data I need is right in front of me in one place, where I can easily analyze and process it.”

Rick Hankins, Director of Administrative Services and IT, ARC, Greater Cleveland Chapter

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| | | |The Greater Cleveland Chapter of the American Red Cross has been helping families prevent, prepare |

| | | |for, and respond to emergencies since it was founded in 1905. To serve its community, the chapter |

| | | |relies on donations and volunteers in addition to its nearly 60 full-time employees. Keeping accurate|

| | | |track of financials is essential for a nonprofit organization. However, the accounting software the |

| | | |chapter used did not allow it to analyze financial results. To resolve this issue, the Greater |

| | | |Cleveland Chapter, with the help of CBIZ Technologies, implemented Microsoft® Business |

| | | |Solutions–Great Plains®. Since then, the organization has been able to reduce time spent on budgeting|

| | | |processes, improve reporting, and dramatically increase visibility and accuracy in its finances. |

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Situation

Serving 1.5 million people, the American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter is in its 100th year of existence. The organization has 1,600 volunteers and 57 full-time employees. It helps its community by providing various services, including relief to disaster victims and helping people prepare for, prevent, and respond to emergencies.

The Greater Cleveland Chapter had been running Real World Accounting Software but found it time-consuming and cumbersome. The database frequently went down, which hampered productivity and efficiency.

Because the chapter is a nonprofit organization, it relies on donations and fundraising for support. The organization uses Raiser’s Edge software, a third-party solution from Blackbaud, to keep track of its fundraising accounts. However, the software did not integrate with the Real World accounting software, and employees had to enter the information into each system separately. The process was time-consuming and could not be trusted to produce accurate information.

To avoid possible inaccuracies, employees used manual processes, which took even longer, to access financial information for forecasting. They exported the numbers from each system into Microsoft® Office Excel® spreadsheet software and manually made all forecast adjustments.

Additionally, the chapter had a very difficult time knowing which of its 17 departments was responsible for what components of budget variances. As a result, the organization found it difficult to determine if departments were over budget, under budget, or on target.

Due to these systems issues, the organization found it very difficult to get an accurate picture of its financial situation. “There were certainly some significant challenges surrounding getting reports from the system and getting data to our board,” says Bob Dills, Director of Finance for the American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter. “It was a very manual process that included exporting and importing data to and from systems. The challenge became being able to drill down behind the numbers to find out what the data actually was.”

Overall, the functionality of the Real World accounting software became a significant problem for the chapter. The organization knew that it needed to find a new system that was stable, easy to work with, and provided visibility into the systems.

Solution

The Greater Cleveland Chapter decided that its new financial management software would need to fulfill several requirements. The organization had spent months defining processes and wanted the solution it chose to work within those processes. Also, the organization had decided to use Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000, which is part of the Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software. As a result, the financial software it chose had to be compatible with the SQL Server database.

The organization looked at several options, including an Oracle financial management solution. But it ultimately decided on Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains®, because it fulfilled the chapter’s requirements, including sales order processing, inventory management, integrated point of sale, and reporting.

After the chapter chose a solution, it began to look for a partner. The organization wanted its partner to understand its business processes and the software, so it hired Microsoft Certified Partner CBIZ Technologies.

The Greater Cleveland Chapter began its implementation of Microsoft Great Plains in May of 2001. CBIZ Technologies offered the Greater Cleveland Chapter initial training on each module it deployed for all the employees who would be using the system. From there, the Greater Cleveland Chapter put together training documentation to refer to when there was a problem, and to provide to new employees.

The implementation was in progress on September 11, 2001. The organization immediately used all of its resources to collect donations and provide support to the National Red Cross in its disaster relief efforts. At that point, CBIZ Technologies took on more implementation responsibilities to make sure the chapter still ran smoothly throughout this tragic time.

“When September 11th happened, all staff resources were devoted solely to processing donations and keeping ourselves afloat,” says Dills. “CBIZ Technologies really came in during the time of need and helped out.” As a result, the chapter was able to focus its efforts on disaster relief. In the end, the organization was only a couple of months behind schedule.

Because of the attacks, the Greater Cleveland Chapter began to implement the modules in November instead of the planned months of September and October. The organization continued to implement new modules every few months, and it completed the implementation in April 2004. The deployed modules included FRx® Forecaster and Reporter, Sales Order Processing, Requisition Management, Inventory, and Purchasing. The organization also made use of the Modifier with Microsoft Visual Basic® for Applications (VBA) development system. With VBA, the chapter has customized Microsoft Great Plains to tailor data entry windows to match how its employees work or to apply its own business rules.

During the project, the chapter held regular meetings attended by IT administrators, CBIZ Technologies representatives, and a member of each chapter department. Each representative would bring problems to work through and resolve. “I think that the meetings helped tremendously, especially having CBIZ Technologies there,” says Rick Hankins, Director of Administrative Services and IT at the American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter. “CBIZ Technologies provided us with information on the solution that otherwise, we would not have known.”

Benefits

By implementing Microsoft Great Plains, the Greater Cleveland Chapter now has a customizable solution that easily integrates with its fundraising software. As a result, the organization has eliminated duplicate data entry and has numbers that are reliable and easy to analyze. “With Microsoft Great Plains, I do not have to search our databases to get the information I want,” says Hankins. “All of the data I need is right in front of me in one place, where I can easily analyze and process it.”

Streamlines Processes

Microsoft Great Plains has helped the chapter streamline processes, including the previously cumbersome budgeting process. Departments used to spend between 40 and 80 additional hours each year on budgeting. Instead of having to manually enter archived data into spreadsheets, they can easily access all information in the Microsoft Great Plains database. “Microsoft Great Plains allows us to get our work done, get it done faster, and maintain accurate data,” says Hankins. Now, employees do not need to enter the same data twice.

The Greater Cleveland Chapter also used a time-consuming and manual process for purchase requisitions. Employees created purchase orders by hand and then forwarded the purchase orders manually for approval. Now, because the chapter deployed the eRequisition module, employees fill out requisitions on their computers, and Microsoft Great Plains routes the requisitions to the appropriate individuals for approval. “It has saved us a tremendous amount of time,” says Hankins. “We have created about 2,500 purchase orders in four years, and I would say on each we have saved 30 minutes.”

Improves Reporting

Microsoft Great Plains has helped the chapter provide its employees with standards for creating reports. Because Microsoft Great Plains integrates well with the chapter’s third-party fundraising solution, the chapter can run cross-system reports. Now, the company has reliable data that can be analyzed for budgeting purposes. “When we migrated to Microsoft Great Plains, we were able to provide system-generated financial reports for all of our employees,” says Dills. “We do not have any of the headaches that we used to with the old system. We no longer have to go through any of those processes that we used to. Now, we have comfort in our numbers because they come straight out of the system.”

Increases Accuracy and Visibility of Financial Data

With all of the information in one place, chapter employees can analyze the numbers to present to the organization’s Board of Directors. “Before Microsoft Great Plains, our meetings with the board were very difficult,” says Dills. “We spent more time discussing the accuracy of the numbers rather than the overall performance of the organization. Now, with Microsoft Great Plains, we not only know the data is accurate, but we can provide information about what the numbers actually mean.”

Customizes Easily

Because Microsoft Great Plains has customization tools included in the software, the organization is able to customize the solution to fit its specific needs. The Greater Cleveland Chapter found the ability to do customization with VBA to be one of the most important aspects of the solution. “In our last system we did not have a way to customize the system to make it do what we wanted,” says Robert Gwathney, IT Supervisor at the American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter. “With Microsoft Great Plains, we can customize the solution to really fit our needs because it has the Visual Basic component added in.”

Microsoft Business Solutions

Microsoft Business Solutions offer integrated business applications and services that allow small and midsize organizations and divisions of large enterprises to connect employees, customers, and suppliers for improved efficiency. The financial management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and analytics applications work with other Microsoft software, including the Microsoft Office System and the Windows® operating system, to streamline processes across an entire organization. This gives businesses insight to respond rapidly, plan strategically, and execute quickly. Microsoft Business Solutions are delivered through a worldwide network of channel partners that provide specialized services and local support tailored to a company’s needs.

For more information about Microsoft Business Solutions, go to:

businesssolutions

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| |Software and Services

■ Microsoft Windows Server System

− Microsoft SQL Server

■ Solutions

− Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains |Hardware

■ Dell PowerEdge 2300 server com

Partners

■ CBIZ Technologies | |

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Excel, FRx, Great Plains, Visual Basic, Windows and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation or FRx Software Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. FRx Software Corporation is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published June 2005 | | |

For More Information

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For more information about CBIZ Technologies products and services, call

(800) 715-4274 or visit the Web site at:

For more information about American Red Cross of Greater Cleveland products and services, call (216) 431-3048 or visit the Web site at:

redcross-

"With Microsoft Great Plains, we can customize the solution to really fit our needs because it has the Visual Basic component added in."

Robert Gwathney, IT Supervisor, American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter

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“When we migrated to Microsoft Great Plains, we were able to provide system-generated financial reports for all of our employees. We do not have any of the headaches that we used to with the old system.”

Bob Dills, Director of Finance, American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter

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