Having a fund accounting system can considerably streamline your finance operate. You have got automation, workflows, and dashboards instantly after implementation.
However you might be able to take it a step additional.
Instruments like Energy Automate and Energy BI can lengthen your fund accounting and rework your nonprofit accounting software program into an much more highly effective instrument. Leveraging these applied sciences helps you save much more time and extract much more actionable insights out of your information.
Extensibility tasks like these might be intimidating to get began. Fortunately, low-code and no-code options make embarking on these tasks extra accessible than ever, permitting you to customise your fund accounting software program with out in depth technical experience. From automating reviews to bettering information visualization, this course of empowers your workforce to attain higher accuracy and effectivity, finally driving your mission ahead.
This weblog submit will information you thru a structured 60-day plan to efficiently launch your fund accounting extensibility venture, enabling you to optimize your operations and make extra data-driven choices.
Week 1: Analyze Your Enterprise Processes
First, perceive your present enterprise processes. Spend the primary week detailing the key workflows that your group depends on. Search for areas that contain repetitive handbook duties, bottlenecks, frequent information entry errors, or consumer frustration.
Visually map these processes that will help you establish inefficiencies and alternatives for automation or enchancment. Use this course of map to pinpoint the place enhancements can be most impactful. Contain workforce members to get sensible insights and make sure that the recognized areas align with day-to-day operations.
This foundational understanding will information the event part, making certain your venture meets your organizational objectives. And having this course of map will make your subsequent extensibility venture go even quicker.
Week 1: Plan for Profitable Outcomes
If you are analyzing your online business processes and understanding the problems, additionally establish what success will seem like. Are you attempting to shut your books quicker, cut back errors, or create higher information storytelling?
Spend the primary week additionally verifying you’ve got methods to trace these metrics constantly—or setting them up should you don’t—making certain your venture stays aligned with its objectives. Common assessments will assist you spot areas needing additional enchancment and supply tangible proof of success to stakeholders. This ongoing analysis not solely retains your venture on observe but additionally ensures you possibly can display its worth clearly and convincingly.
Week 2: Supply Examples and Templates
In week two, you progress from “the what” to “the how” of your extensibility venture. Discovering related examples and templates can considerably speed up your venture’s progress. These sources present confirmed frameworks that you would be able to adapt to your group’s particular wants, saving you the effort and time of ranging from scratch.
Search for profitable case research and discover ready-made templates so you possibly can perceive what works effectively and keep away from frequent pitfalls. Be a part of communities (just like the Microsoft Energy Platform) and ask others what’s labored for them. Templates may help standardize your strategy, making certain consistency and reliability all through the venture.
Moreover, many examples include detailed documentation, providing step-by-step steerage that may make clear advanced processes and assist you implement finest practices. This strategic strategy empowers you to construct on present information and create efficient options tailor-made to your group.
Week 2: Accumulate Finish-Consumer Enter
If you are gathering finest practices and templates, additionally collect enter out of your workforce.
Gaining suggestions out of your end-users is essential for a profitable venture. They’re those interacting with the system each day and might provide sensible insights into what works and what doesn’t.
Share your course of maps within the format that works finest to your viewers—a PowerPoint presentation or a Visio diagram, for instance—and ask for his or her enter. This collaboration ensures that the enhancements you intend to implement are aligned with precise consumer wants, decreasing the danger of unexpected points. Their suggestions can spotlight potential issues and provide progressive options that you could be not have thought of.
By involving end-users early on, you additionally foster a way of possession and buy-in, which might be essential for the sleek adoption of recent processes. Be certain that to combine their strategies into your planning part, refining your strategy to handle the real-world challenges they face. This step not solely improves the accuracy of your venture but additionally boosts consumer satisfaction and engagement.
Weeks 3 and 4: Develop and Check the Preliminary Model
In weeks three and 4 you start placing the items collectively.
Begin by constructing the preliminary model of your resolution, specializing in essentially the most essential options recognized throughout your planning part. This strategy ensures that you just deal with the important thing ache factors first, delivering quick worth to your group.
Interact your workforce within the testing course of to make use of numerous views and guarantee complete protection. Tackle bugs and efficiency points early on to avoid wasting time and sources in the long term. By iteratively refining the answer, you possibly can guarantee its stability and effectiveness earlier than transferring on to broader implementation. This hands-on improvement and testing part is essential for making a dependable, high-quality product that meets your group’s wants.
Week 5: Interact with Group and Consumer Networks
Plan on spending week 5 understanding the kinks.
Whenever you encounter obstacles, reaching out to neighborhood boards and consumer networks can present invaluable assist and sensible options. These networks consist of people who’ve confronted comparable challenges and might provide recommendation primarily based on their experiences. Utilizing these sources helps you shortly resolve points that may in any other case delay your venture.
Consumer teams and boards devoted to your fund accounting system and Microsoft Energy Platform are significantly helpful. They typically characteristic discussions on finest practices, troubleshooting suggestions, and progressive methods to make use of the software program. By taking part in these conversations, you acquire entry to collective information that may improve your venture’s success.
Asking questions and looking for recommendation from seasoned customers can present new views that you just won’t have thought of. These interactions can result in discovering instruments and strategies that simplify advanced duties, making your venture extra environment friendly. Moreover, contributing your individual insights and options helps construct your status inside the neighborhood and fosters collaborative relationships.
Interact with these networks usually to remain up to date on the most recent developments and developments, making certain that your venture incorporates present finest practices. It additionally creates alternatives to community with friends, which might result in future collaborations and assist. Leverage the collective knowledge of neighborhood and consumer networks to beat hurdles and drive your venture ahead efficiently.
Week 6: Check Your Undertaking on a Small Scale
In week six, take a look at your venture on a small scale. This strategy minimizes threat and ensures that any changes might be made with out disrupting your complete group.
Begin by choosing a selected division or group to pilot the venture. Monitor the efficiency carefully, listening to consumer suggestions and system conduct. This real-world testing part offers beneficial insights into how the answer performs underneath precise circumstances.
Collect detailed suggestions from the pilot customers to know their expertise and establish any further enhancements wanted. Use your most well-liked survey instrument—like Microsoft or Google kinds—so you possibly can simply analyze the suggestions. This focused strategy lets you refine the answer, making certain that when it’s deployed on a bigger scale, it meets consumer expectations and performs reliably.
Conducting a small-scale take a look at not solely boosts confidence within the new system but additionally enhances total consumer satisfaction by addressing any points early on.
Weeks 7 and eight: Use Suggestions to Enhance Model 2
Plan to spend the final two weeks refining your resolution. Analyze the suggestions fastidiously to establish frequent themes and particular points that want addressing. Prioritize modifications that can have essentially the most important affect on consumer expertise and operational effectivity. This ensures that your changes are each significant and sensible.
Incorporating consumer suggestions not solely enhances the answer but additionally boosts consumer satisfaction and adoption charges. By addressing their considerations and strategies, you create a system that actually meets their wants. It’s important to speak the modifications made primarily based on their enter, reinforcing their worth within the course of.
As you implement these refinements, keep an iterative strategy. Develop the improved model in phases, permitting for steady testing and suggestions. This cycle of enchancment helps catch any new points early and ensures the answer stays aligned with consumer necessities.
In the end, integrating consumer suggestions into Model 2 transforms your venture from a fundamental implementation to a tailor-made resolution. This strategy not solely meets present wants but additionally positions your group to adapt to future challenges.
Construct on the Momentum
Your profitable implementation of your fund accounting extensibility venture has streamlined operations and enhanced information accuracy. These enhancements translate to elevated effectivity and consumer satisfaction, contributing to the general productiveness of your group.
As you progress ahead, keep the momentum by repeatedly assessing the efficiency of your newly carried out system. Common evaluations will assist establish areas for additional enhancement and make sure the system evolves along with your group’s wants. Partaking with the neighborhood stays essential; these interactions present ongoing assist and entry to new concepts and finest practices.
There are all the time new options in your fund accounting and different techniques that may additional optimize your processes. Give your workforce an hour or two a month to experiment and be taught each new performance and potential different extensibility tasks. Keep watch over technological developments and rising developments that would provide new alternatives for enchancment.
Able to be taught extra about how Blackbaud clients are utilizing the Microsoft Energy Platform to increase the performance of their merchandise? Be a part of the Energy Platform neighborhood and begin asking questions!
Heather McLean, Principal Product Supervisor for Innovation at Blackbaud, offered foundational experience for this text.