Intacct – Purchase System

Over the past few months, we at Faith Promise have been working on making our purchasing process more efficient and effective.  We have been using our accounting software, Intacct, to do this.  Here is what our purchase system will look like in a couple of weeks:

• Employees will be able to enter purchases over $200 as purchase requisitions and they will flow through an approval process electronically.  Approvers will be notified by e-mail when a requisition is awaiting their approval.  Once approved and the purchase is made, the employee will convert the purchase requisition to a purchase order.
• For purchases under $200, the employees will be able to enter then as purchase orders or credit card transactions, depending on the type of purchase.
• The finance office will match purchase orders to invoices and credit card transactions to statements.

This system will eliminate useless data entry and improve record keeping.  We will be able to report on different types of transactions.  The coolest part to me is that we have the ability to create different types of transactions for increased customization.  I have to say that I am extremely pleased with the Intacct system and I look forward to the value it will add to our organization.

Church Finance Tool #2

At Faith Promise Church we use FellowshipOne as our church management software.  Outside of the finance office it provides great value in small group management, children’s checkin for the weekend and contact management.  For the finance office F1 provides us with two key functions:

• Contribution management.  Every week we have volunteers that sort and count the offering, but we also have volunteers that take the checks or envelopes and they run them through a scanner and it associates with the persons contribution record.  It also maintains an image of the check or envelope.  Once a checking account is associated with an individual, the check will automaticly match to the correct person’s contribution record.  The reality is that we are able to reduce errors and save money at the same time.  Without these capabilities, we would have to add additional staff.

• Online giving.  The addition of online giving through F1 on our website has been huge for our church.  Around 25% of our total giving happens online, where people can setup automatic contributions to happen at specific times during the month, or they can do a one time contribution.  We receive so much positive feedback from our church on this feature.  The best part is that when someone gives online, it automatically matches to the person’s contribution record.  There is no human interaction, so the risk of error is virtually non-existant.

FellowshipOne is a great solution to church management and contribution management.  I would encourage any church to check it out.

SaaS

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not very technologically advanced. I finally bought a Blackberry Pearl last summer and for the first time I got unlimited text messages. I know, pretty advanced………text messaging!!!! The funny thing is that I didn’t get Blackberry service, so I can’t use features that use data on my phone!!! It is purely my phone and texting device. For Christmas, my parents gave me an iPod Touch and I don’t know how I ever lived without it. Technology is definitely a cool thing.

The thing that really has my attention is SaaS (Software as a Service). The concept is that you don’t buy software and install it on your computer or server, but instead the application is hosted and provided over the internet. There are obviously positives and negatives to this structure, but the things I like most are the lower costs, the wide spread accessibility, and that you don’t have to purchase expensive hardware or servers. I was first introduced to this through the various Google applications. I could work on documents at home and then go to work and pull up the web and access the same documents there. No flash drive needed, just the internet.

The church got a jump on me a few years ago when they moved our church management software to FellowshipOne, a SaaS system. It has worked great and allowed us to increase efficiency. Last year, we began reviewing new accounting solutions and after several months of review, we decided to go with Intacct, also a SaaS system. With these systems in place we are able to reduce IT costs and improve operations. It is safe to say that I am a huge fan of this concept.

What does everyone else think about the Software as a Service concept?