Video: Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse with Fund Accounting Software (CPE Eligible): Smart Strategies for Confidence During Selection and Implementation | Duration: 3504s | Summary: Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse with Fund Accounting Software (CPE Eligible): Smart Strategies for Confidence During Selection and Implementation

Transcript for "Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse with Fund Accounting Software (CPE Eligible): Smart Strategies for Confidence During Selection and Implementation": Hello, everybody. Welcome to today as well webinar. We're gonna be discussing things strategies for selecting and implementing funding and accounting software. I'm gonna give everybody a few minutes. It's still a log on before we begin. And, through it. If you have keeping items in the platform. Ironically given today's topic. So Yes, Sarah. It looks like your, audio is breaking up if you wanna turn off video maybe. I apologize. Can you hear me? Yep. That's much better. There we go. Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. We'll just you know, tech test tech difficulties happen sometimes, so thank you for your patience. I've turned my camera off. We'll see if that helps. So, yes. So just bear with us if there are any technical difficulties today, whether it's my Internet, or this new platform. I appreciate everybody's patience, as we work through that because there may be a few lags as we go from polls to slides and back. So, with all of that said, let's get started. I'm going to go ahead and kick it over to you, Andrew, to welcome everybody, introduce the topic, and if you'll introduce yourself too. Alright. Thanks so much, Sarah. Glad to be with you today. So the topic, as Sarah said, it's kind of avoiding buyer's remorse with fund accounting software, smart strategies for competence during selection and implementation. So we're gonna talk about just how to select software. Obviously, some of this is gonna be geared towards our friends at Blackbaud and fund accounting, but these are strategies that can apply to pretty much anything in life that you have to purchase purchase. I know today is prime day, and I've made some purchases already that I have buyer's remorse from, but it's for my 2 year old daughter, so I'm gonna go ahead and buy those things. But just to give you a little background on me, my name is Andrew Harrow. I'm a director here at Forbus Mazars. I sit in our nonprofit advisory services group. I also lead our nonprofit digital technology strategy and innovation, team. Really, we we try to help our clients. Nonprofits are very, unique animals, so we just try to help them any way we can to make them more efficient. My background, I've been in audit. I've been in tax. I actually ran the accounting department at a nonprofit microfinance institution, and then I decided I just kinda wanted to help more nonprofits and I was, helping with my one. And we had come become so efficient that I was a little bored, so I've come back into consulting, helping nonprofits where we can. So just to give you an idea of what the the goals of today are and the agenda, we're gonna kinda go through some objectives, what I want you all to be able to take away from this this CPE, and then kind of define why we're here today. What is buyer's remorse? It's kind of there's a lot of terms that exist in kind of the business lexicon that could mean 15 different things. So just to kinda set the scene of what we're kinda talking about here today. And then I'm gonna go through what, to me, when we're talking about fund accounting software or any software in general general, kind of those 4 phases that you hit and kinda how they interact with those buyers' remorse. And I'm gonna use some lexicon just so our nonprofit digital technologies team would go by DTSI. That's what kind of our our motto. So we we have 4 stages of it. It's really diagnose, which is really, let's figure out the problem, target, which is let's find a solution. Systematize, which is really make sure that we've planned out that solution and whatever else it comes into and especially when we talk about technology. There's so many things that go into that and then initiate, which is really that implementation phase. A lot of what we're gonna talk about is that target and systematized phase. That's where we see a lot of this buyer's remorse, but we'll get into that. So this is kind of where we wanna go today. And let me go down to the next slide, which is our objectives. So kind of what I hope everybody on the on this webinar can take away from it. One would be to develop a list of key questions to use when selecting your new finance system to ensure success. We're sitting there. We're we're we know we need to make a change. What am I asked? What am I looking for? To come away with those kinda key things to think about really helps. And while this is gonna be a lot of the examples I'm gonna use is the finance system because for a lot of you on this webinar and a lot of organizations, that is the biggest expenditure you're gonna have when it comes to systems. That's the investment and especially that's where if you're an accountant like me, you spend most of your day either in your accounting system or your Excel. And we'll talk about where you should be spending that time later. But this can apply and it applies to my clients to all types of system including HR, student information systems, CRMs. If you're gonna buy a blender, just these are these are good tips for life. But like I said, most of my examples are gonna be geared towards that accounting system, that accounting ERP. And then the next bullet is how to plan for an implementation to to allow for that efficient setup and go live. And really, when you're thinking about a financial system, what do we need at the end of the day? How are we gonna get to go live and feel like we have not wasted time and money? Investment into something like an accounting system, like an ERP, it's really taking away money that could be used for the program. But the end goal is to be able to develop the organization, give you those KPIs, give you that information to run more efficiently. So how do we make sure that if we're taking money out of the program, that we are using it most effectively? And 3rd, really, how do we prepare for that day 1 in the new system? And, really, when we're thinking about buyer's remorse, it's planning for that planning for that success, figuring out what success looks like. And that and before we dive into it, I think that brings us to the first poll question, which I think, Sarah is going to launch. Like I said, it's the first time we've used Goldcast. There might be some bumps, but we will get there. Alright. So let's push that out to you all. It's the first poll question while she's pulling it up. It's tell us why we're tell us why you're here today. Why have you joined us on this lovely it is a Tuesday afternoon. I am in New York, so it is 95 degrees outside. So I am happy to be in air conditioning in a short sleeve shirt. I'm not outside in the sun. Are you choosing new software? Are you thinking about maybe finding new software and just were like, hey, I want some tip tips and tricks to get me through that process. We've just made a new software selection, and you're planning that implementation. And a lot of what we're gonna talk about today is, okay, you bought the software. That's not where it ends. There's a lot more that goes into it. Are you recently implemented or struggling or other? And if there's other, I'd love for you to put it in the q and a, and we we can look at that. Did you just need CPE and you're a Blackbaud customer and got the email? Did you just see my face and wanted to wonder what I would talk about for an hour? Any of those could be a reason that you joined us here today. But, I mean, it looks like a lot of people are considering new software, and we see that a lot in the nonprofit space right now, especially coming out of COVID. A lot of organizations, what we we call, have these kind of Frankenstein processes. We we went digital a little bit out of necessity, and we're kind of coming out of it. And we're we're at a point now where we can actually invest the money and invest the time. So let's figure out what works for us and that's why you, Google blackbaudpau.com to get new solutions that are gonna make you more efficient and be able to drive that nonprofit growth. So that really leads us into kind of the first section, which is really what is buyer's remorse and what are we here to do? What are we here to talk about today? So buyer's remorse, it can mean any number of things. I am a person who has bought in the past year bought a new car and a house that was built in 1902. I am very familiar with what buyer's remorse, especially when you buy an old house like that and your, you know, your basement floods a day after you sign your mortgage. It's all fun and games, but how do we prepare? And I think any it's being realistic. I think any software purchase, at some point in the journey we're gonna talk about, you're gonna have that doubt. You're gonna have some form of remorse. Whether it's real remorse or just, hey. I am overwhelmed because this is a big project. That's kind of what we're gonna talk about today. And one of the key things I wanted to call out is in a survey that was done, up to 60% of buyers regret a purchase within 12 to 18 months. Now what level of regret is that? I think based off the survey and I kinda read through it, it's people who, if they could go back in time, would undo that purchase or return it. And especially when you're thinking about a software like a fund accounting system, not only is it a monetary investment, there's a real time investment. You're looking at a 3 to 4 month implementation where, essentially you would then have 2 full time jobs if done right. And thinking about how do we prevent that remorse because not only have you thrown away money, you've thrown away time. And either you're stuck with something for the next 3 to 5 years that you don't like, or we're already creating these kind of outside the system processes that doesn't allow for, quite frankly, job succession. So how do we set our organizations up for success? That's that's we're all in the nonprofit space. There's a reason we are. We wanna do well. So how do we keep the train moving and set ourselves up for success? So there's kind of 3 places just to at a high level think about. So what is buyer's remorse in the in when I'm purchasing? When I'm doing that vendor selection, when I'm figuring out what system? How do I know the population of what's out there? Every time I Google even fund accounting systems, the list just keeps growing. Something pops up new overnight, and it really comes down to a question when you look at that list. Do I want something that's new? And maybe I can be that big fish in the small pond, help them develop their modules, help them grow and change. Or do I wanna go to somebody like a black pod that is tried and true that Financial Edge has been there for years. Everybody's used it. Is that what I wanna use knowing I'm gonna get what I want, but I might have to tweak some of my processes to fit within what the system does? It's a question to ask and how you wanna do that. And especially if you go with that big fish in the small pond, to make sure we get in writing what they're committing to building, what they're committing to doing to us. And thinking about what the organization can tolerate. And it goes back to making sure you know what your project goals are. What is the outcome of this new system supposed to be in making sure we can get there? When you're in the purchase, the other place we see a lot of buyers' remorse is getting swayed by sales speak. I sit through a lot of sales pitches. We do a lot of vendor selections for clients. And sitting through those sales demos, and usually it's me and my team that has to speak up and go, you said the system can do it. Now show us the system can do it and how the system does it. And that's a big thing is we have a lot, we see a lot of these, especially in the tech industry. A lot of these new startups, they bring all the flash, all the fireworks to a demo, but there's no substance behind it. I I sit on a lot, especially in the fund accounting space. You'll sit on a lot. Here's our amazing reporting powered by Microsoft BI. They don't tell you what it is. Here's how you automate this, that. I sat through a demo. I've sat through 2 demos in the past month of fund accounting software that didn't show me how you would make a journal entry. So simple things, and they're just they just want to show you the flash and the splash and what's gonna what's gonna get people excited, but not actually the functionality of the system. So going through that, and we see a lot of people that get swayed by the the fireworks, but don't actually see the the kind of meat and potatoes of the system. And then another question to ask, and we see a lot of people get through the sales cycle, and this is where they get disappointed. You're in the demo. They show you something really cool. It's gonna help your organization. The the question to always ask, and we can go into it later, is is this included, or is this an add on? Are you showing me which hey. You you quote me a price of x dollars a year, but the thing that really swayed me on the system, oh, that's another $10 a year because that's another module that doesn't come. So understanding what comes in that core package or what you're actually paying for is key during that system selection. No one wants to make a selection, get into implementation, and go, well, where's the thing that got me excited? So you've made your selection. Where when do I see people have buyers from Morse during implementation? The easy answer is all the time. Implementation is very is not easy. It's it we we help clients of all shapes and sizes through implementation, and it's just it can be very stressful. There's a lot of decisions that need to be made, that have they have consequences. You are setting up a new system, and the goal is to set it up for success. And we'll go into some strategies to plan that later on. But that's where we see we see a lot of the outcome. We selected the system. I know it can do it can do we needed to do a, b, and c. And it can get to c, but we have to either add some steps or tweak some steps, and that's where that doubt creeps in. So to know how you're gonna do things in a new system, I think, is key. Also, to know a lot of these newer systems and these these SaaS companies software as a service, we're seeing a lot of especially in the accounting space, that implementation is being done by a partner. It's not necessarily being done by the company anymore. What is that partner offering? What are the services they're bringing to you? How is that implementation gonna be done? And I'm gonna say this a few times. As you're talking to the people who are gonna be doing your implementation, there are usually almost every software will have multiple partners you can work with. Trust your gut. If something doesn't feel right in that interview phase, feel free to say, you know what? This isn't a fit. Because that implementation partner is gonna be there at least with you through about 3 months, and it can be a lot longer. You have to feel comfortable to be able to have conversations, to be able to question what's being done in the system, to make sure you understand and own your own system at the end of the day. And just making sure during implementation, do I understand the system? Does my setup support my organization going forward? Because that's any of these investments. It's not just for today. We wanna know, hey. We add a program. Hey. We add a service offering. Hey. We add a building to our affordable housing portfolio. Is my system set up in such a way that that's gonna be easy? Or do I am I now just putting things back into Excel? Have I think about your fund structure? Have you set up your fund structure for success? I was just we're just helping a client, and they had this really nice fund structure and program codes that they set up about 3 years ago, and then they decided to add a new fund. So for every fund they had, restricted and unrestricted funds. And it was really nice for all their endowments. And then for some reason, a year ago, they just stopped doing it, and now they just have one fund for each endowment. So now they have to put everything to an Excel to break out the restricted, unrestricted. So it's thoughts like that. Like, they were really good, but then for some reason, they made a decision, and now they're using Excel. So thinking about how we set it up, does that support growth? Does that support us moving forward? And then once we do implementation, it's really that post go live. And this is, I think, where people think of buyer's remorse, they think of it afterwards. Okay. The system is in place. It doesn't work. I'm angry. Some things to think about to try to avoid that. Is there an open API? I know Blackbaud has their Sky API. If you go into the marketplace, new partners are being added Every week, new systems that can integrate, that just add that automation where it really helps those finance and accounting people. We always say with nonprofits, if we can get away from data entry into that data analysis, it's just gonna supercharge what we have. What does post go live support? I know a lot of implementation partners now go live is the day you start transacting the system. But implementation technically doesn't end until you do that 1st month end close. And that way, they can make sure you know the system that it's set up correctly if we need to pivot anything once we because there's a difference between theoretically talking through your processes, even testing them. But once you're making those journal entries for real, seeing it, sometimes some things need to be tweaked. Because it just now that we're using it, hey, I realized what the system can do, and it's changed a little bit. So it's thinking through that. And then also a big thing we see, and it's it's becoming less prevalent, which is I prefer, is how does the system update? Are there multiple versions of the system? Are you going to have the 3 years from now and realize I'm gonna have to migrate to the new version? Or every other weekend, I have to take my system offline to update it. Or is it something like Financial Edge NXT where there's just one version? If they make an update, it hits everybody, which which I think is great because then I don't have to ask my clients, which version are you on? Do you have the the features? There's one version. Everybody who has NXT uses the same version. Now there are different modules you can have, but it's not like we have the nonprofit version 1 point o and the nonprofit version 2 point o. There are softwares out there that do it. So to know how it gets updated and if there are versions that you're eventually gonna have to migrate to, or, hey. I have NXT. I'm always gonna have the best and brightest thing unless it's an add on module, but it's always gonna be available to me. So taking these things in consideration, really, are there ways we see people get agitated and get that buyer's remorse? Unfortunately, in consulting, I usually get called when people have buyer's remorse, and they're like, the system doesn't work. I can't get what I need. So we try to when clients let us in the door early, tell them here's the things you should be thinking about. This is what we see in the field. This is what we we we look for. So that really brings us and if the as I go through, if you have any questions, feel free to put them in the q and a. I know Sarah's monitoring that, I'm monitoring that. I am hereby myself talking, so I'm more than happy to answer any questions that come up as we go. So now we've kinda talked about what buyer's remorse is. We can kinda go into looking at that system selection. Like I said, we call this the target phase. Let's we we we for our clients can do a diagnostic, figure out your wants, your needs, what's gonna get you to do that back flip in the parking lot or called a show stopper. I can get you a trampoline if you can't do a back flip. Well, let's think about the system selection and where we can kinda mitigate that buyer's remorse. How can we set ourselves up for success? And this chart on the screen, I could spend about 3 hours talking about, but we only have an hour, and I still have about 11 other slides. So we can't spend too long. But there are so many factors that can go into that system selection. We've already talked about some. And I think what is key, which I didn't realize until I better did about 30 or 40 of these vendor selections, is really having and I know a lot of nonprofits live by this, that project charter or that project plan. And for me, there are 3 key elements to that project charter to make sure we're getting what we need out of a system selection. 1, what is your budget? Knowing and that includes your implementation. If you're gonna hire outside consultants to either help you with the implementation or backfill the duties that are gonna be kind of left to the side because your controller is working on data migration or testing or training. And then, also, what is the ongoing cost of the system? Do you have money? Because the last thing I wanna do is to is to really as I bring I bring my client systems that might work for them, I don't wanna bring them a system they can't afford. Because 9 times out of 10, it's gonna have some feature that they really love, And then they're mad at me that I brought in a Cadillac, but they can only, afford a Honda Civic. Nothing wrong with a Honda Civic, but in the nonprofit world, there are budgets and we have to be aware of them. So knowing what your budget is just sets everybody up for success. The second thing is really who is that project sponsor? At the end of the day, who is leading this project? I think we've all heard the the phrase a horse by committee is a camel. I've done a lot of system implementations. I've sat on the implementer side. I've sat on the client side trying to project manage and help. When you don't have a clear cut project lead, that's where things end up going awry because there's no one at the end of the day to make the final decision. And either it becomes too many meetings or it just becomes finger pointing at the end of the day. So having somebody own that project charter is key. And then the other thing we like to see, is having that steering committee. So you have your person who's gonna make your final decision. Who's in the weekly meetings? Who's the one that's assigning the work and making sure everything gets done? We have somebody at the end of the day, but even during a vendor selection, who's gonna sit in those demos? Who gets a vote at the table to take to that project sponsor to make the final decision. Having that hierarchy in place will help you down the line. So those are the 3 things. And then obviously, the last thing that goes into the project charter is what are your goals? Why are we sit why are we here today? Why have we sat down and gone? We need fund accounting software. What do we hope to accomplish? Is it that we wanna produce better budget to actuals at the end of the year? Is it because our auditors gave us a management comment that we do we're in Excel too much? Is it because we just we have too many self made processes or workarounds, and we see that we're gonna have some staff rotating out, and we are just afraid of that job succession. Knowing what your goals are brings it all back and make sure we do it all. And I think one of the great things about Blackbaud is it's by a lot of resources. And I know if you take a look at that documents tab in Goldcast, and I know it's on their website, they actually have an example project charter that's a really good one to start with. So if your organization has never done one, there are resources available. So if you take a look at that document tab, there's a great one that'll kinda give you some starting points, but to really just hammer home why are we here? And you're gonna hear me say the word project charter, project plan way too many times during this presentation because it all comes back to that. We need to make sure that we are hitting our outcomes at the end of the day. Alright. So we have our plan in place. So now we are looking for let's let's find fund accounting software. And I know most nonprofits, and that's why we get brought in, need that vendor selection because it's over a certain dollar amount. I need to bring in 3 vendors. I need to get prices. I need to go through those demos. So what should I look for? And, obviously, like I said, I'd look for all of these. Few I wanna highlight is, 1, when you're thinking about software, and we need to be realistic about the talent of people we have and the support we have. There are softwares out there, and I think Financial Edge is one of them. You don't Financial Edge and XC is one of them. You don't need an IT person to be involved in your accounting software. I know when I was at a nonprofit, I'm very protective of my numbers. I guess that's why I'm an accountant. I didn't want IT in my accounting system. And we had an accounting system where IT wasn't necessarily there. There are systems out there that the old version of financial edge that you had on a database on your server, they had to upkeep, and you had to have IT involved. So knowing if you either don't want IT involved or do you have an IT that would be capable of supporting you is something good to think about as you go out. Now more and more of these softwares are cloud based. They're self hosted, so you don't really need IT involved. But sometimes, some of them, you it's a difference between a customizable system and a tailorable system. Financial iGen XT, I'd say, is very tailorable. You can make a lot of changes. But really at no point do you have to get in there and know Python or MS DOS coding to set up a trial balance. And I think that's that's a key to go into your system selection knowing, hey. Do I have a programmer who can write me fancy scripts and fancy things? Or do I just wanna kinda tailor the system that's there? And making sure you have that support. What is the required training? What is what are my people going to have to do to get into that system? There are many systems that build themselves as user friendly. What does that mean? And we see a lot of systems there are a lot of systems out there that they look very intuitive, but kind of the substance behind them isn't great. But then there are other systems that if you do a little bit of training and understand its language, it does everything you want. But it just requires a little bit of that Rosetta Stone to make sure you what you're doing. So understanding what training and then as you look at implementation, I know for certain systems, some implementers I work with, they they require a sort of test of basic skills to allow you to go live because they wanna ensure success. So what is the commitment from my team to do this system? And then the other thing I'd keep in mind, and it's on there, is culture fit. Gone are the days, and I'm really gonna date myself here and people make fun of me on my team, gone are the days of you order software, you get 10 Zip disks in the mail, and you stick them in, you install it. And maybe you get an update for a year, but you really don't deal with that software company ever again. You are really buying a partner with an investment in a fund accounting software. So what does that culture fit? When you talk to people at that company, what how do you feel? Like, does does your organization align with them? Do they offer great CPEs on stuff like buyer's remorse? How are they fitting with your culture? You are buying a partner, especially when it comes to some of these softwares, to to think about it. It's not just buy it and never talk to them again. It's making sure they're gonna grow with you. So like I said, these are some of the things to think about. I do entire projects that are vendor selections. We have a checklist for accounting softwares. I believe it's up to 410 lines of things we can look for. So many things. But especially as you sit through demos, make sure if you hear something you like, ask to see it. Ask Ask to see how they do it in the system to make sure it's not smoke and mirrors. That if somebody says they integrate, make sure it integrates and it's not an Excel export. That's my that would be my takeaway. And I think that brings us to our second polling question. Wanna launch that? So what factors are important to you when selecting your fund accounting system? And I know the one of the bigger ones when we deal with nonprofit is obviously price. And I'm getting to a little later, but I have clients who have made their decisions just based off price. And I would say 10 times out of 10, they regret that. Now, like, I I I know. I've worked at a nonprofit. I, unfortunately, went through a lot of system selection, and then my boss would say, yeah. We're not spending the money there this year. And it's very disappointing, and I knew we needed it. But, to not less price is a factor. What I would say to everybody on this call, never let price be the number one factor Because you 9 times out of 10, you get what you pay for. And I have I'm thinking of 2 clients right now with AP Systems went with the cheapest option and are now angry at the at the function of the system. And all I can say is you went with the cheapest option. Some other things that we're getting a lot of votes, we have, obviously, implementation timeline depending on your system. And we can talk about implementation timeline and how to plan that correctly to avoid that buyer's remorse. And I think another big one, especially in the nonprofit space, is that out of the box capability. What can the system do without me customizing? Customizing? And it really comes back to when we hammer at home during our vendor selections. The difference between customization and tailoring. And when I see out of the box capabilities, I want something I can tailor. I wanna be able to choose 4 or 5 digits for my natural account code. Not I have to code how to pull my accounts together to create a report. When I think about f e n x t, I wanna be able to use that that nifty chart organizer to kinda group my account for my budget to actual or my program reporting. Not I have to sit there and know Python or Windows coding to make a report. There are enough systems out there where, literally, if you want a new report, you have to code it yourself. And knowing what you want out of the system, I think, is big. You just scroll down if there anything else. They've got a lot. Obviously, how you get support, There are enough companies that you call and you don't get it. I can tell you Blackbaud is one of them. I put in 2 requests yesterday and got a response within an hour, so plug to them. And then obviously, if you're coming for that fund accounting software, it's nonprofit expertise. I would say a lot of what we see is people are like, oh, nonprofits want technology. We're gonna take this manufacturing software and change it a little bit. My recommendation is to really find softwares that work with nonprofits. They really then know, a, what you're looking for, but can also come back to that understanding. Maybe those things you don't know the system can do, they have experience with, and they can kinda guide you down the right path. So I would really think about those things as you're selecting a new software. I'm gonna jump back over to the slides. So we've selected our system. We went through all the vendor selection. We negotiated a contract. We hammered home. We got everything they promised to give us in writing. We know what our costs are. So now it's planning. And there are 3 keys to planning. Plan, plan some more, and then revisit your plan. I know that sounds somewhat foolish, but it's I have never been in a system implementation go live where somebody came back to me after they went live and went, we didn't think about it. We thought about this too much. And to really think about what you needed, it goes back to that project plan. Okay. We selected a new system. And thinking about usually, then you would you sign a contract and you kick off with an implementation partner. Thinking about what you wanna bring to the table to that meeting. What are your goals and objectives? So that when they lay out their plan, you make sure your objectives are met. What is that? And we'll get into what does day 1 look like in the system? Being able to identify your problems, and I've seen it called the accounting triangle. I call it the digital technology trial. Really, we have problems, and we do it during our diagnosed phase when we're when we're out of clients. Every problem can usually be scaled down into people, process, or system. Usually, it's gonna fall in 1 bucket. Sometimes it falls in multiple. But even thinking about it, even the best system is not gonna solve a bad process or bad people. So thinking about where your problems come from when you go into a new system to make sure you're setting your system up for success. Thinking through your chart of accounts and your fund structure and your project dimensions. There's so many options when setting it up. Am I gonna use departments? How am I gonna use projects? Do I want every expense to have a project? So even if it's hitting admin general, or do I want my project code to really be a project code so that we can measure projects? Thinking about those things even before you get to implementation makes the conversation easier. Usually, whenever you do a new system, the first question you get asked when you kick off implementation is, can I have your chart of accounts? And I would say 90% of the implementations we are involved with either on the client side or the implementing side, that's where things slow down because they haven't thought. So what we usually like to do with our clients is kinda think about that even before we kick off implementation because we know the systems. I'm certified in about 4 ERP accounting ERPs right now. So my client chooses 1. Either I know it or we get up to speed quickly. So that way we can have these conversations. Thinking about what your reporting needs are. And I say, when you think about those dimensions, those departments, those project codes, thinking about we have our reporting on one end. What do we need for our board, for our audit, for our funders, for our program people? And then thinking about what the inputs your AP team and your staff accounts can do, and kinda melding that in the middle so to make sure that the input you're putting in will get the results you need. Because the last thing you wanna do at the end of the year or when a grant comes due is putting that geo into Excel and literally pulling out line by line that that was the HARO fund. We wanna make sure we set it up so when the HARO fund asks for the reports, they get them. And also thinking about, okay, we got this new system. I went through the demo. I know all the bells and whistles. Are there places automation can help me? Are there places that we're gonna be able to go, hey. This is better. And thinking about what our processes are, are there places where, you know what, we use paper? Let's not use paper. And I think there's also the the, there are times that paper is good. When I I I was in tax for 5 years, every tax return I reviewed was by hand, by paper, and I was never getting out of that. See, you remember the greatest automation tools. I was still using paper there because it was just easier on the eyes. But are there places that automation will help? Is there some way we can get away from some data entry and really get into that review phase and being able to analyze the data? And I would also say with automation, to think about even the best automation should never be set and forget. There should always be some level of human reuse. The the example I usually give is when you think of f e n x t, it has great dashboards. It can really help. You can send, hey, for I'm gonna use it again. The HARO fund. Here's the dashboard for the person who runs that fund. Here's all the expenses. Here's the revenue. It's great. I think thinking about that is to make sure you still have some level of human review to make sure those numbers are right. The last thing you want somebody doing for your program is, like, here's the system. Here's where you log in, and then the numbers aren't correct. So just thinking about how to weave that in and weave automation in to make sure it's right. So that kinda brings us to so we've we've planned, we've planned, we've planned some more. Wins us right back to where we started the project plan. We're about to kick off implementation. Let's make sure we know what day 1 looks like. What does that look like? And I see a question in the chat, and I'm gonna hit it on the first one is, what are we all in on the new system on day 1? Are we running parallel systems? Are we doing a phased approach that we're gonna bring in the core modules, and then we're gonna bring in budgeting, and then we're gonna bring in advanced reporting. What are we doing? How are we doing it? And I would say, in the past, I would always say, run parallel systems. You wanna make sure you get it right. That is just not the way I see a lot of the world going, especially in the nonprofit space. Running parallel system requires a lot of commitment. A, it just takes more time to do 2 entries and 2 systems. And b, usually when you're moving systems, especially where a lot of the movement we're seeing now, there's a lot of changing to your chart of accounts. There's a lot of changing future mentions. We see a lot of nonprofits even moving from financial edge 7 to NXT. It's a great time to clean things up. A lot of the nonprofits we're seeing making that jump have been in Financial Edge for more years since I've than I've been out of high school, and that's been a long time. So thinking about how we're gonna change things and do things differently. And usually, that jump is a little too extreme to kinda think in both worlds. And by running in parallel systems, if you're gonna change your processes, it just runs down. So usually, I would say, in today's day and age, to not run-in parallel processes. Then on day 1, we have planned in. We are in the new system. So usually that means if we're going live May 1st in the system, there is gonna be times we're in both system because we wanna close April. We want final numbers to bring over because you have to remember, at the end of the day, as much as I hate as much as I dislike them sometimes and they're sitting on the other side of this door because I work for an accounting firm, we have to make sure that our auditors have the documentation for that crossover. They're gonna ask for, hey. Show me you tied out your trial balance. Show me you tied out this and that. And thinking about on a day 1, what features are you using? Is there anything you're paying for you didn't use? And then thinking about what reporting you need, and how does that reporting is it ready for day 1? We see a lot of people. They're just they bring in the data. They have processes, and then they they start entering data. And then they're like, oh, I need to set up reporting. Well, then you're behind the 8 ball. And then also, how do you know the data you brought in is correct? So making sure that reporting is ready and making sure you know what reporting you're gonna need on day 0, I think is really key to that day 1 strategy. And then I know there's a few other questions, so I will answer them before we go to kinda post go live. So what do we see in terms of prior year activity? I see that as an organization by organization choice. Usually, what we say is at least 1 year of audited activity and then usually the beginning balance. What I'll say is and then what we do is we help our clients create kind of a data room of all their old trial balances general ledger and like, this is it. This is where our old data is. And we say that because, like I said, we see a lot of clients, and we help our clients when they make the jump even like, I keep going back to you from financial at 7 to NXT. Let's change the way we do things. Let's make sure that the dimensions, the project codes, the department fit what we're doing today. And usually, if you bring in too much old data, a, you have to convert that data kinda to kinda your new nomenclature. And, b, if a funder or a state or the federal government comes kinda knocking on your door for data that you submitted 3 years ago, you kinda have to then undo the data to figure out kind of that what the detail was. So while sometimes it's nice to have that, comparison data, sometimes it's not helpful because when you try to compare it to what you submitted, you usually have to undo what you did to get it back in its old format. So I would usually say 1 or 2 years of detailed data along with your your change. And then usually what we tell our clients is to bring in that detail of at least 1 year back because that gives you the vendor detail. It gives you kinda what journal entries you were making. We see it 1 of 2 ways. 1, it can bring in all the detail, or the other way we've seen it, with some other systems. The nice thing about Financial Edge is you can have one journal entry with multiple dates, is to bring it all. And I'm gonna book all of January stuff on January 31st, all of February stuff on February 28th or 29th. It's a leap year and do it that way. But we usually say at least 1 year. So that detailed data just to give you those vendor information, that employee information, that donor information if you wanted in the system. Alright. Gonna take a little sip of where. So we've planned out our we've we've selected our system. We planned more than anybody ever could have thought possible. We have thought about what we need out of day 1. So now we are in implementation. And like I said in the beginning, there is always gonna be buyer's remorse during implementation, whether it's from stress, whether it's from something not working, whether it's from, hey. We've done this this way for 20 years, and we have to alter it a little bit to get it in the new system. It's always gonna happen. So how do we think about what what can we do to kind of minimize that kind of self doubt and buyer's remorse? The first one on both sides of pre implementation and post implementation is revisit that those goals, that project plan, that project charter. Make sure you are reviewing that. Make sure as you go through implementation, you are asking to your implementer, whoever's doing it, hey. We wanna make sure we're still gonna be able to do x, y, and z. And make sure the decisions you're making all lead to that project plan. Sometimes we can get caught up in little details, little things. If we sometimes take a step back and realize, is this getting where we wanna go? Really helps. Pre implementation, make sure that you've set a timeline that works for your organization. Like, if we know, hey. We have budgeting, and it takes 2 weeks out of the year. The last 2 weeks of October, we are unavailable. Make sure your implementers know that. So either not scheduling training, testing, template due dates. Just make sure it's realistic to your organization. If you know, hey. The processes we have and when our stuff's due, the 1st week of the month, do not talk to me. Make sure your implementers know that, and we've designed a timeline. So whether then that's something that can take that timeline from 2 months to 4 months, but at least then it's a realistic 4 months. If you're not realistic with your implementer, what'll happen is, a, they'll usually get frustrated because they wanna get you in the system. They want if you've chosen f e n x t, they wanna get you up and running so that you are a happy customer and and make Blackbaud happy. A delayed implementation just makes everybody grumpy, and no one wants to be grumpy in life. So thinking about what those blackout dates are, and the other thing that we've seen some from some implementers that if you extend it out, they're still doing project management. They're still still spending time, and it can end up costing you more money. And that's the last thing I wanna do for a nonprofit is is just charge them things they don't need. So thinking about that realistic timeline to make sure that the budget that you've been quoted is the actual budget. You don't wanna get 90% of the way through the implementation. They come back and go, hey. I need another $5 to get you your balance sheet. It's not fun. Obviously, preeminentation, we've talked about it. Finding the right partner. As you're having these conversations, say it and say it again, trust your gut. If something doesn't feel right, call it out, talk to the company, seeing if there's somebody else you can get. Just make sure you are comfortable with the people who are setting up your system. And thinking about that training and testing commitment. What what are your people going to have to do? What are they gonna be needed to do? And making sure that you've set up correctly, that they're gonna be able to do what they need to do on along with their day jobs. The last thing you want is, while setting up a new system, is to completely abandon your day job. And you realize as you're about to go live, I still have to close 2 prior months. So to make sure that all the balls keep rolling, and it's not easy, but planning is the key to that. So now you've implemented. How can I not have what what are some things that can take away my buyer's remorse? Thinking about have your people done their training and testing? I can do many things for my clients during implementation. I have not figured out osmosis to teach a client the system without going through proper training and testing of the system. Just haven't. If I do, make a lot of money. But thinking about as your users are ready to go live, have they have they showed you they know what they're doing in the system? Have you walked through the processes? Do you know when they go to make that first journal entry that they're actually gonna make it correctly? Also, thinking about and there was questions on that data migration. What does that look like? Who is helping you? What are you doing with the data you're not migrating? Are you housing it on a legacy server? Are you creating, like we said for our clients, this data room? Pull those GL and trial balances. They tie to our audited financials. They tie to our 990. This is what we have and kinda thinking about what your commitments are. What is your state on data your state policies and data retention? What are your funders policies? And making sure that you've saved enough detail that you can get it if somebody comes knocking. Really things to think about. And I know I've said it before. It's thinking about that post implementation. When does your implementer leave you? When do you go to either general support or to the implementation team support? Like I said, a lot of these partners we're dealing with now are offering that implementation goes through that 1st month and go live. Because they have to teach you how to click that button and give you the warm and fuzzies when you close them up. So thinking about, like, what that team is and when do you transfer to a normal support team. And who is that normal support team? Knowing where you go for question will help with some of that. Because the last thing you wanna do is think you're going live, have a quick question, and not know who to contact. So now you've you've hit go live. Now what? And this is like I said, I think what people think of buyer's remorse, this is when it happens. I'm using the system. I'm supposed to be live, and it just doesn't work. I can't get the reports I want. I've gone back to my Excel spreadsheet. I've gone back to printing out 4 different spreadsheets and tape in the back of them so I can have a big picture. Hopefully, that doesn't happen. How do I avoid that? First reason is right right before you leave implementation, let's revisit that product project charter. Have your goals been met? Have you gotten what you wanted? Next thing would be review your contracts and your purchase invoices, especially your implementation contracts. Have you gotten everything your implementer said they were gonna do? Are you using all the modules they said they would set up? And then once you go live, keep up to date with the project roadmaps and updates. I know my team just sat on the all the blackbaud updates, and we actually wrote an article that's on our website of some really exciting things. But we wouldn't know they're coming. They they issue releases. I know we all get bogged down in emails. We all get bogged down in everything. But making sure you're looking at what's coming down the pipe. If you see, hey. This software is releasing their own planning and forecasting module. Well, maybe I don't have to go out and look for a planning and forecasting tool now. I can wait the 2 months to see what's going to be developed within my accounting system. And then I think as you hit go live, thinking about rewriting your policy manual, rewriting your procedures to make sure they jive with your new system. You don't wanna come from a a a old system to an f e n x t, and then your auditors pull your policies and procedures and everything keeps referring to your old system. A, that doesn't help your audit. They're not gonna be happy. And b, it doesn't help your organization that if you bring in new people, there's no documentation as to the new system to make sure you've set yourself up to success. And then also just keep training your people. Make sure you have periodic training. We see a lot of organizations. They do that training when they go live. And then a year later, they're just modules they haven't used or they've gotten into bad habits. We always say continuous training. It's always good to get people certified, get people recertified. I know one of the nice things about Blackbaud is that Blackbaud University, there's so much there. I seem to keep getting new certifications. I know my team does because they they just offer it for everything. There's no reason that we've invested in the product. The key is then letting your people invest the time to learn the product to the best of its abilities. So that kinda brings us back to brings us to the end. What were our objectives today? So develop a key list of questions when selecting your new financial system. I hope you guys have have a few and can bring back to your organizations things to think about. Like I said, there are so many things to think about, especially when you're thinking about a fund accounting system. There it it touches everything, and it's not even just a finance thing. This hits your development team. This hits your program teams. This hits this hits your board. Thinking about what you truly need out of it so that you can develop that project charter that's gonna hit those goals and set you up for success. How to plan out an implementation to allow for efficient setup and go live. Thinking about what is my timing, what are my resources, how do I do it. And then just how to prepare for 1 day 1 in the system. I like I said, I love Excel. If you get to go live day and they and during go live day, you have to export something into Excel, your system is not set up correctly. Because if we're gonna invest all the time, money, effort, blood, sweat, and tears into these systems, We need to make sure that they are working for us. I think that leads us into our last poll question. Alright. So it should pop up on the screen. So this is the last one for CPE credit. You do not need to say yes. You just need to answer. So would you like someone to contact you to learn more about our fund accounting solution? And so that's Financial Edge and X Teams, which Andrew mentioned a few times. So if you'll just make sure that you get an answer in on this so that you can get your CPE credit. While we wait for those To finish, answers that are available for you in the docs tab, if you would like some of the lists that Andrew referenced, there's a buyer's guide. That's the first link. There's an infographic on the nonprofit accounting triangle. So this helps you understand and balance out those components that Andrew mentioned of people or talent, processes, and technology. There's a blog post of 5 questions to ask your vendor prior to selection. Another blog post on that project charter, so that's a sample one that you can reference. And some best practices for fund accounting system implementation. And then there's a deeper dive white paper where we actually break down creating a software implementation your users will love. So looking at 30, 60, 90 days, what should you expect and what should you be doing to stay on track? And then lastly, if you're in the market for software and you want to check ours out, we're actually hosting a live product tour this Thursday at 1 PM. It's led by my coworker, Heather Levin. She was a customer of ours for years. She's fabulous. So that is actually time to see the system live, and you can ask questions there. So there's a link to register for that. And then if you'd like to learn more about working with Andrew and Fortis Bazaars nonprofit advisory services, there's a link to their website, or you could drop something in the q and a, and Andrew and I'll connect with you there. Alright? Let's get questions. So I think one of the questions, that I saw and I think you had put it in there is even with all this, can our clients still be unhappy? And I think the answer is yes. And the biggest reason we see that is during, I think, the vendor selection that people don't drill down on what they're saying the system does. You say it can have dashboards. How are they created? What are my options? You say I can do bank recs in the system. Show me how. And then, because I think a lot of clients take things for granted when a salesperson says something, but to really get it get down to the science. It's the same reason you take a car for a test drive before you buy. You do a walk through the house. I have a staff who's buying out. I said, you do your final walk through. Turn on every faucet and flush every toilet. It's it's a simple thing, but just make sure everything works like they'd say it is. That's usually where we see the most buyers' remorse is, hey. The salesperson told me one thing, but we never actually drilled down on it. Or we were told it can integrate with this system and it can't. Like, if you're thinking of fund accounting software, like I said, check out the Blackbaud marketplace. If you think you need some add on software because my program people aren't going into accounting system to enter an invoice. Well, there's a ton of systems out there. Make sure yours integrates and make sure you that you you are getting what you needed. It keeps going back to that project charter. Let me see if there's anything else. I I think the the number one takeaway I'd have for this is just make sure you have those goals, and you just stick to them. Know what you want out of your system. I think where we see people falter is just they they know they need a new system, but they're trying to figure out exactly what they want as they go. And they're just it it ends up, like, kinda diverging the the marketplace and the the implementation down the rabbit holes. It's having that clear vision just allows for a straightforward implementation. Alright. Well, we're getting close to time. So, I am going to call it. Thank you so much, Andrew, for joining us today. Really appreciate your expertise. Alright. Well, thank you so much. Yeah. And, as a reminder for everybody, we will be emailing out the recording, so you'll be able to revisit it on your own time, and, you can share with your colleagues. And please also fill out the survey that will pop up on your screen momentarily. It helps us plan for future webinars. Hope everybody has a great rest of your day, and we'll see you soon. Thank you.