The Financial Edge Pre-Consultation Survey
The Financial Edge Pre-Consultation Survey
BLACKBAUD PROFESSIONAL SERVICES PROPRIETARY INFORMATION PAGE 1
The Financial Edge Pre-Consultation Survey
1INTRODUCTION
This documentation is provided as a service to you.The Financial Edge suite of products is a very sophisticated and flexible fund accounting system designed for nonprofit organizations of all sizes.As such, it is imperative that we understand your business before developing a database customized for your needs.
We respect the fact that your new financial system is a major capital investment and must serve you for many years.Because of this, we take care to thoroughly investigate all aspects of your financial processes.The better our understanding of your organization’s business needs as they relate to the software, the more focused and lasting the solution we can recommend.Your responses to the questions below, while not replacing a full design session with your consultant, will give us vital information to ensure the effective configuration and implementation of The Financial Edge.
This questionnaire requires approximately 60minutes to complete. Blackbaud thanks you in advance for taking the time to complete this questionnaire.
Blackbaud is excited to be working with you on this project and we have outlined the critical path of tasks below.Failure to complete any of the tasks below before the Blackbaud consultant’s onsite visit or failure to provide any requested information to Blackbaud personnel within the timeframes documented here or in previous or subsequent conversations, emails, or faxes could have a potential negative impact on the implementation.
Please email this completed document back to your consultant.We look forward to working with you!
2YOUR GOALS
1)Please explain your goals for The Financial Edge.
Response:2)Who are the key stakeholders of this effort?
Response:3)What challenges/opportunities need to be addressed during this implementation?
Response:4)Have you begun change management planning on any processes or procedures that may be impacted with the new system?
Response:5)Have you identified any potential impact of the new system on the organization and have you made plans for managing the change process within your organization?
Response:3YOUR CURRENT FINANCIAL SYSTEM
1)When was your current accounting system implemented? Are those involved in its implementation still members of your organization?
Response:2)Are you able to export information (account balances, transactions, vendors, etc.) from your current system into Excel?
Response:3)What is your current account structure?
Response:4)Do you currently use spreadsheets or other out-of-system tools to analyze your data or prepare reports? If so, please describe them.
Response:5)Once The Financial Edge is live, do you intend to continue using your existing system in parrallel?
If so, how long will you run parrallel?
6)Once The Financial Edge is live, will you maintain your existing system as a historical record?
Response:4YOUR IMPLEMENTATION TEAM
1)Who will be the project manager/decision maker?
Response:2)What is your proposed live date for The Financial Edge?
Response:3)Who will be the team members invovled with the implementation?Please provide names, titles, phone numbers, and email addresses.(Include inter-departmental team members as well, such as Information Systems personnel, Development Office personnel, etc.)
Response:4)How many hours per week will you and your team members be dedicating to this effort?
Response:5)What are your key milestones for project success (i.e., Establishment of Chart of Accounts, Installation of the application executables, training completed)?
Response:5YOUR BUSINESS
Please provide the following information in an electronic format (.xls or .pdf) when you return the completed survey:
- A copy of your current chart of accounts in an electronic format
- Copies of financial reports you currently require
- A copy of your last completed external audit report
- A chart of your organization’s management/departmental structure
1)Please (briefly) describe the day-to-day operations of your business.
Response:2)Are there specific business processes or procedures you hope to change by implementing The Financial Edge? If so, please describe the desired changes.
Response:3)Please describe your internal and external reporting requirements in detail.
Response:4)Do any portions of your business operate as self-contained entities, requiring their own balance sheets? If so, what are they?
Response:5)What are your funding sources (contributions, fee-for-service, etc.), and how do they operate?
Response:6)Is your revenue restricted by time or purpose? If so, please describe the restrictions.
Response:7)Do you receive grants? If so, please describe them.
Response:8) If you receive both grants and contributions, please describe how your organization differentiates between the two.
Response:9)Which aspects of your business require expense reporting (departments or locations, for example)?
Response:10)Please describe your budgeting process. Who prepares your budget(s)? How many budgets do you utilize in a given fiscal year? How many iterations of each budget may occur before the budget is finalized?
Response:11)Please describe the financial information that will need to be allocated across your books (investment revenue, indirect expenses, etc.), and how these allocations will be determined and directed.
Response:12)Please describe your complete accounts payable process, including end-of-year activities.
Response:13)Please describe your requisitioning/purchase order process, if applicable.
Response:14)Do you intend to use your existing check stock for Accounts Payable in The Financial Edge, or will you order new check stock from Blackbaud? If you intend to use existing check stock, please be advised that the check must be at the bottom of each page, with the stub(s) above.
Response:15)Payroll: Do you currently book the same pay type to different account codes? For example, is an hourly employee’s regular pay reflected in both account code 5001 and 5002?
Response:16)Payroll: Is the payroll expense for your employees typically the same for each pay period, or will your employees’ regular pay need to post to different General Ledger accounts in different pay periods?
Response:17)Payroll: Do you currently book payroll liabilities to a single account per type of liability, or to multiple accounts (for example, liability accounts in more than one fund)?
Response:18)Do you foresee your business changing in the next five to ten years in a way that would affect the design of your Financial Edge database?
Response:BLACKBAUD PROFESSIONAL SERVICES PROPRIETARY INFORMATION PAGE 1