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NPT SPECIAL REPORT: VARs’ View: 5 Reasons Accounting Software Installations Fail

BY TED NEEDLEMAN Mateo, Calif., was just one of the vendors to point out about a month, had things running smoothly. e’ll deal with it when we have to” a primary reason an installation can fail: “The non- The lesson, according to Geilhufe, is to ensure you are eight words that no consult- profit can’t fully articulate what it needs from and have the right people, process, and expectations in ant or value added reseller (VAR) what is important in an accounting system. Executives place. “Include non-finance stakeholders in the ac- of accounting software ever struggle to ask the right questions about what the counting software decision and implementation “W nonprofit requires.” process to ensure that finance isn’t isolated from the wants to hear. But that was exactly the reaction that Lyndy Januszewski, a managing consultant at Sikitch Sometimes, the wrong questions, or no questions rest of your organization. Have one or more senior ex- LLP, a Microsoft Dynamics VAR in Napierville, Ill., kept at all, are a result of the wrong people being involved ecutives act as evangelists for the new accounting sys- hearing from a client. in the specification of implementation process. tem to demonstrate management commitment to the Januszewski’s client, a nonprofit healthcare organi- Joanne “Jo” Schneberger, a professional services con- implementation,” he said. zation with several separate legal entities, was in the sultant for Abila Software in Austin, Texas, noted that “Do establish an executive steering committee, process of implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP so having the right people in the process, and making which meets regularly, and which is in charge of the that the parent organization and its independently- sure that those people are qualified to make the deci- implementation. Do set a correct level of expectations run parts were all on the same page as far as account- sions, is crucial. “In some situations a CFO might go about what the new accounting system will deliver. ing software. out and purchase a new software and run the imple- Do encourage staff to ‘own’ the system and start train- Early on in the specification process, the client mentation themselves, but it fails when they didn’t ing on the system early and continue it long after im- speculated that it would be nice if all of the entities understand all the things that the team members plementation so users are familiar with all aspects of could reside on a single database. Januszewski and needed from the software,” she said. “It is crucial to the functionality,” said Geilhufe. her team quickly realized that there were problems in- have buy-in from employees using the system so they Abila’s Schneberger also warned that a good educa- herent in that approach, especially in preparing the can participate in the customizations to the structure Continued on page 3 end-of-year Form 1099s for the vendors. But the client and trainings.” latched onto the single-database concept, and with bulldog-like perseverance would not let go -- hence PROBLEM NUMBER TWO the eight deadly words. Unrealistic expectations are a second reason soft- There is software designed for just this purpose -- ware installations fail. Also a problem is thinking that to identify the transactions made by separate entities your organization needs more or less than it actually while using a single unifying database. It is, however, does. provided as an add-on available at additional cost “I got a call from the client of another VAR that han- from an independent software provider (ISP). The dles one of the fund accounting products I also sell client just couldn’t see the need to spend the addi- and support,” said Matt Yezukevich, CPA, a consulting tional money. manager at BlumShapiro in Quincy, Mass. “They had As far as installation failures go, this one wasn’t as moved from QuickBooks to this new software because bad as it could be. But addressing the issue “when they QuickBooks proved too limiting. But they also went had to” ended up being at the end of the year -- the from about 1,000 accounts in their QuickBooks Chart busiest possible time period to have to solve the prob- of Accounts to a system that can easily handle 20,000 lem. Sorting thousands of vendor payments by hand to accounts.” summarize all of the different 1099s that had to be pre- This client, with five or fewer users most of the pared cost several hundred man-hours and thousands time and between $7 million and $19 million in in- of dollars. And that was before Januszewski’s team had come, implemented a system configuration more ap- to tweak the software to prevent a future occurrence of propriate for a $150 million entity. The reason for the the problem. overkill was clear -- a director of finance who joined While a large proportion of accounting software in- from a much larger organization. Three directors stallations suffer little or no bumps in the road, some- later, Yezukevich and his team were called in, drasti- times they do go way off the rails. Januszewski’s cally pared down the number of accounts and in experience illustrates one of the major reasons an in- stall project goes awry, and unfortunately, is more common than one might expect. In the above scenario, the failure resulted from the ‘We’ll deal with it when client not fully understanding the overall business and we have to’ are eight words workflow process and the VAR being put in the position of telling the client they are going that no consultant or about things the wrong way. Almost every ven- value added reseller dor and VAR consulted for this story emphasized the importance of making sure that you under- of accounting stand organizational needs in terms of features and software ever implementation, why it needs these, and who will be ‘‘ responsible for what parts of the install and ongoing wants to hear. operation of the software. David Geilhufe, senior director, corporate citizen- ship and nonprofit vertical software at NetSuite in San

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NPT SPECIAL REPORT: ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE

PROBLEM NUMBER FOUR process, a documented implementation is turnover in leadership, it can result in Good planning is critical to a success- plan, and an agreement by all parties in- a canceled or delayed implementation,” ful accounting system installation, and is volved (internal and external) that this she said. And when responsible and/or a fourth reason that these installations plan is the right one.” well-trained people leave the organiza- sometimes fail. Having a realistic implementation tion, it can throw a monkey wrench into Donald Cassady, president and CEO of plan with definable milestones and tar- the installation, or the ongoing success Grants Management Systems (GMS) in get dates is also a must for a successful of what would otherwise be a successful Kensington, Md., cautioned against rely- installation. It’s not enough to under- implementation. ing on staff who might not understand the stand what you need. You also have to Consultant and VAR Kent Arnold, CPA, nuances of nonprofit software, or for that have a detailed understanding of what it CEO of RBP Methods in Beaverton, Ore., matter, might not have the IT background will take to get there, how long each shared a case that underscores this prob- required for a successful implementation. step in the process will take, and estab- lem. It involved a client in the mental “Unfortunately in the nonprofit world, es- lish target dates along the way. At least health field that was growing rapidly pecially in smaller organizations there one or more people on the planning through acquisitions. The client was stuck might not be IT personnel on staff. That team, from your organization and/or the with a large number of simultaneous mov- job is left to the person ‘with the most vendor or VAR you select, should have ing parts including third-party billing, computer experience.’ If this is the case, it project management experience. While Medicare and Medicaid, and bringing on Lyndy could be worth the expense to an organi- a vendor or their VAR might assure you staff from the newly acquired organiza- Januszewski zation to have an IT person on hand to that the process is “plug in and go,” tions. The organization also had to train deal immediately with problems arising most experienced implementation spe- new staff members on how to use their Continued from page 1 within the network environment.” cialists will have the scars to prove that’s parts of the software in the midst of the tional in how nonprofit ac- Yezukevich shared one such failure his often not true. chaos of performing the installation of the counting differs from standard for-profit firm got called in to handle. His cautionary new accounting system. accounting is essential for a successful tale revolved around a public arts organi- David “The person who did the initial setup Geilhufe implementation. zation with a 25-year-old IT manager who was an employee of the client,” Arnold “There can be unrealistic expecta- was good with computers. The client pur- said. “And, he left after four months tions that by implementation a fund ac- chased a new accounting system based on without training anyone in how the sys- counting software that all your issues name and reputation and installed it with- tem was configured. The client called will be solved. If the people leading the out help. “Unfortunately,” Yezukevich re- the software vendor, and they recom- accounting department don’t under- called, ”the internal project director was mended that the client engage our firm. stand the basics of fund accounting then good with computers but didn’t really un- We went in and simplified the chart of they can create a structure that makes it derstand the way the organization was accounts, reporting, and Human Re- hard to pull the reports necessary. Ac- structured. The situation was complicated source subsystems.” RBP Methods also counting managers aren’t always ac- by the tremendous growth the organiza- arranged ongoing training so that the countants in nonprofits,” she said. tion was undergoing.” client would not be caught in the same situation in the future. PROBLEM NUMBER THREE Schneberger is blunt about this area A third reason for software installa- AccuFund’s Stam also weighed in on “Don’t cheap out on training. It is im- tion failures results from buying on name the importance of being able to stick to a portant to make the investment in train- or on a list of features rather than match- schedule. “One of the reasons an instal- ing at the beginning otherwise it will ing a product’s capabilities and features lation can fail is not assigning an internal cost you in the long-run. Your team will to the needs and requirements of your project manager who has enough au- spend all the time calling support if the organization. thority to get meetings scheduled and staff isn’t successfully trained during im- “Failure to do sufficient due diligence light fires under staff for data and partic- plementation.” during the selection process is a place ipation,” he said. “Having the internal Training the support team isn’t the where some installations fail,” said Peter ‘go to’ person can make a huge differ- only education that might have to take Stam, president of Accufund in Need- ence in whether or not an installation place. If you don’t have people on the se- ham, Mass. “Even if there’s an experi- succeeds.” lection and implementation teams who enced finance director, they might not The experts said that you need to be understand how the pieces fit together, it look carefully enough at the details of on the lookout for the “I did it this way might make sense to either train your how their organization’s needs will be in my last job” syndrome. This can be ex- people in areas that they are not profi- met. They get wowed by price or some tremely disrupting to a successful install cient, or engage a consultant that’s not sizzle factors pushed by the sales person process if the person responsible for affiliated with any particular software and don't look at the details of how they Peter critical areas has a strong accounting vendor or VAR to assist in the process. will be accomplishing their critical re- Stam background, but that background is not Continued on page 4 porting requirements.” in the nonprofit area. NetSuite’s Geilhufe echoed Stam’s The software was not set up correctly, According to Kent Hollrah, senior warning. Nonprofit managers who “base and after two years of struggling with the channel executive – Nonprofit Solutions their accounting software purchase new software, Yezukevich’s firm was at Intacct in San Jose, Calif., the key to a purely on a shopping list of software fea- called in to consult. Hampered by an un- successful implementation starts with tures are at a high risk of a failed imple- cooperative member of the organiza- the chart of accounts design. “It’s very mentation.” Instead, he said, come up tion’s board, Yezukevich was unable to important to have someone leading the with a list of solutions to important busi- do much but slap a bandage on the effort who understands both the organi- ness problems your nonprofit faces. That problem, and the client continues to zation’s needs and the special nuances list will translate to a set of critical/must- fight with a software solution that’s not of nonprofit accounting,” he said. “Ac- have features for the accounting system. the right one for their needs. counting for nonprofit entities is quite It’s something of a balancing act to find NetSuite’s Geilhufe added, “Pay at- different than for commercial enter- accounting software that is specific for tention every step of the way in the prise. There is simply no substitute for the needs of nonprofits, but not overly process. Be involved and hands-on in deep, nonprofit domain expertise.” specific in terms of boxing your non- both the accounting selection process profit into functionality that isn’t a fea- and throughout the implementation. FINALLY, NUMBER FIVE ture of your own operations so, for Ensure that you start off with a list of real According to Abila’s Schneberger, a example, the difference between being business requirements rather than just a fifth reason software installs fail is turn- Joanne Schneberger -driven versus grant-driven. list of features. Do create a discovery over and a lack of training. “When there

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NPT SPECIAL REPORT: ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE Accounting Automation There are many accounting software packages employed in the nonprofit world. Below are some of the more prominent applications.

Abila Cougar Mountain Software users, $5,000; five or more users, MIP Fund Accounting DENALI FUND $7,500; License and warranty, Up to three users, $249/user/month; Basecamp Package $35/month/user $149/month each user after three Single user $1,999; $357 each Revolving Loan Servicing System 800-811-0961 additional user One to two users, $3,300; three to four www.abila.com Ascent Package users $3,800; five or more users Single user, $2,999; $357 each $4,300. Donald AccuFund Inc. additional user License and warranty, $35/month/user Cassady AccuFund Accounting Suite Standard Summit Package 800-933-3501 Single-user: $2,995; three users: Single user, $4,999; $357 each www.gmsactg.com Continued from page 3 $6,495; additional user While there are numerous VARs who can add $895 for each additional user. 800-388-3038 Intacct Corporation do a good job analyzing your organiza- Cloud-based pricing starts at www.cougarmtn.com Intacct tion’s needs, it’s best to leave that $150/month Typical entry-level pricing for nonprofits process and decision in the hands of AccuFund Accounting Suite Professional CYMA Systems Inc. is $3,600/year people who don’t have a financial inter- Single-user: $6,595; three users: $8,995; CYMA Not-For-Profit Edition 877-437-7765 est in the sale of software and/or services. add $1,195 for each additional user Basic package starts at $795 http://us.intacct.com Thomas Walker, product manager for Cloud-based pricing starts at Typical 5 User System with Grant the financial solutions line at Blackbaud $225/month racking: $5,800 Intuit Inc. in Charleston, S.C., also weighed in on 781-433-0233 800-292-2962 Quickbooks Premier for Nonprofits the importance of having educated spec- www.accufund.com www.cyma.com Starts at $499.95/year for one user ification, implementation, and opera- 877-683-3280 tional teams. “When you think about Agilon eTEK International http://quickbooks.intuit.com/premier/ training during the software selection Agilon Business Financials eTEK Fundamentals Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions for and implementation process, you can Starts at $27,000 for 1 to 4 users Starting at $5,000 for one user Nonprofits 13.0 break it down into two segments. The Starts at $42,000 for 5 to 10 users 800-888-6894 Starts at $1,000/year for one user first one is training as part of the archi- 800-480-9015 www.etek.net 866-379-6635 tecture and understanding how the sys- www.myagilon.com http://enterprisesuite.intuit.com/indus- tem is going to work from that FUND E-Z Development Corp. try-solutions/nonprofit/ architectural perspective,” he said. “That Aplos Software FUND E-Z Nonprofit Accounting way, as design begins and goes through Aplos Accounting Single user $1,995; each additional NetSuite any embellishment like testing, the users $15/month for one user user approximately $500 NetSuite Mid-Market Edition that are involved in that design phase $25/month for unlimited users FUND E-Z Nonprofit Accounting (Pro Free through TechSoup for up fully understand the underlying archi- Aplos Oversight Suite add-on) $1,495 to 5 users at qualifying nonprofits tecture of the software.” Basic enterprise platform free to 877-696-0900 NetSuite Fund Accounting The second phase of that, Walker nonprofit users of Accounting Suite www.fundez.com Starting at $9,995/year for 5 users continued, “is to begin to bring in the 888-274-1316 877-NETSUITE end users so that they are properly www.aplos.com Grants Management Systems, Inc. www..com trained on the software and begin to get GMS Accounting and Financial comfortable with it.” Araize Management/Reporting System OneNFP FastFund Nonprofit Software One to two users, $3,500; three to four OneNFP Financials THE BOTTOM LINE Single user, starts at $35/month; two to Starts at $99 per user per month Obviously, there are a lot more than five users, $60/month; $25/month for 877-261-7045 five reasons that a project as complex as every five more users www.onenfp.com implementing a software installation can FastFund Premium fail. The best defense against an installa- $75/month single, $100/month multi- Open Systems Inc. tion failure is planning. Know what your user up to five users TRAVERSE for Not-for-Profit organization needs, who it needs both 919-460-3990 Starts at $195 per user per month internally and externally to make the in- www.araize.com 800-328-2276 stall work, have a realistic timeline and www.osas.com expectations, and have a plan in place Blackbaud for future operation and change. Doing Financial Edge NXT Serenic Software your homework, and having resources at Single user starting at $249/month Serenic Navigator hand to handle any surprises gives you 800-443-9441 Three users, starts the best chance of having not only a www.blackbaud.com at $16,000 smooth software installation, but wind- 877-737-3642 ing up with a system and personnel to www.serenic.com keep it operating smoothly once it’s up and running. Finally, here’s one last suggestion. If you don’t know something, or you’re not sure -- ask. That’s true before and during the selection of software, while the implementation is proceeding, and after the new system is up and running. Get help if you aren’t completely confi- dent you can solve a problem. NPT

JANUARY 1, 2015 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com 4 1-1-15_SR_AccountingSoftware_Layout 1 12/18/14 2:04 PM Page 5

VALUE ADDED RESELLERS GUIDE

1st Choice Advisors ...... (888) 441-5830 NPO Resources...... (301) 622-1256 P.O. Box 279, Ozona, FL 34660 11707 Caplinger Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904 Software: Abila MIP Accounting Software: AccuFund and Fundraising 50 Plus Computer Solutions...... (866) 714-7587 Accounting Cloud...... (866) 345-0845 507-233 Nelson’s Crescent, New Westminster, P.O. Box 279, Ozona, FL 34660 BC, Canada, V3L 0E4 Software: Intacct Accounting Software: ERP,

Armanino LLP ...... (844) 582-8883 Intacct 12657 Alcosta Blvd., Suite 500, San Ramon, CA 94583 Raffa , P.C...... (202) 822-5000 Software: Intacct Adaptive Insights, 1899 L St. NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20036 Microsoft Dynamics GP Software: Microsoft Dynamics G (Great Plains),

Brisbane Consulting Group, LLC.(800) 795-6027 Microsoft Dynamics SL (Solomon), 369 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202 Intacct Software: AccuFund Nonprofit, RBP Methods...... (503) 648-9051 Abilia MIP Fund Accounting P.O. Box 6555, Beaverton, OR 97007-0555

Charity Dynamics ...... (512) 241-0561 Software: Abila MIP Fund Accounting, 3721 Executive Center Dr., Ste 100, Austin, TX 78731 Abila Grant Management, Software: Blackbaud, AccuFund Artez, DonorDrive Rogers & Co. Tech Consultants...(516) 338-9500

ERP Guru ...... (877) 664-1023 125 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 200, Jericho, NY 11753 9880 Clark Street, Suite 101, Montreal, Quebec, Software: Abila MIP Accounting, Canada, H3L 2R3 Sage 50 (Peachtree), Software: NetSuite, Salesforce.com Sage 300 ERP, Sage FAS Fund EZ, Quickbooks Finley & Cook, PLLC ...... (405) 275-1650 601 North Broadway, Shawnee, OK 74801 Technology Mngmt Concepts...... (310) 559-3982 Software: Microsoft Dynamics NAV, 4063 B Glencoe Ave., Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 Serenic Navigator Software: Microsoft Dynamics GP, NAV, CRM and NetSuite JMT Consulting Group...... (888) 368-2463 220 Route 22, Patterson, NY 12563 VolunteerHub...... (877) 482-3340 Software: Intacct cloud financials, 5433 Haverhill Drive, Dublin, OH 43017-8215 Abila MIP Fund Accounting Software: The Raiser’s Edge

Net@Work, Inc...... (800) 719-3307 Ziegner Technologies...... (800) 649-4280 575 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10018 7514 N. Mo Pac Expressway, Suite 200, Austin, Software: Abila MIP Fund Accounting, TX 78731 Abila Fundraising Online Software: Abila MIP Fund Accounting

To place an ad in an upcoming Supplier Guide, contact Mary Ford at 973-401-0202 x206 or [email protected]

5 JANUARY 1, 2015 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com