ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE Vars’ View: 5 Reasons Accounting Software Installations Fail
1-1-15_SR_AccountingSoftware_Layout 1 12/18/14 2:04 PM Page 1 NPT SPECIAL REPORT: ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE 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.
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