How to Select Accounting Software

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How to Select Accounting Software

• Accpac Live Conference
• October 2008

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Agenda

• Introductions
• Who should be involved?
• Why What?
• How to Assess
• Research
• Evaluation Selection

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Introductions

• Name
• Company
• Role
• Situation
• What I want to get out of this session

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Cant Hit a Target if you Cant See It
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(No Transcript)
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Who Needs to be Involved?
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Parties Involved

• Customer
• Yourself
• Solution Provider / Reseller
• i.e. BAASS Business Solutions
• Publisher of Software
• Sage, Microsoft, SAP etc.

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Your Organization

• Selection Committee
• Decision Maker(s)
• Committee, Owner, Management Personnel
• Functional Areas
• Which departments have a stake in this project?
• Identify Stakeholders for each dept

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Why What?
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Why?

• Management Must Clearly Define
• Primary Objectives
• Address the critical business issues
• Critical Success Factors (Measurable)
• For each objective, what makes it successful

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What?

• Functional Requirements
• Basic functionality met by most Tier 2/3/4
• By Functional Area
• Business Process
• Reporting
• Financial, Management, Intelligence
• Data Requirements

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Budget

• What are you willing to invest?
• Is Return on Investment Important?
• ROI Cost not to Solve Benefit to Solve
  Investment
• Investment

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Time Schedule

• Targeted Milestones
• Evaluation Process Short-list Candidates
• Discovery Proposal Solution Demos
• Selection Date
• Purchase Order Date
• Implementation Timeline

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How?
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Selection Criteria Rating

• Prioritize the Requirements
• Must Have, Nice to Have, Future
• Keep focused on real requirements
• Whats really important?

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Selection Criteria Rating

• Weight the requirements
• 3 Critical, 2 Preferred, 1 Optional
• Ranking Definition
• 2 Meets the requirement
• 1 Meets the requirement with work-around
• 0 Cant meet the requirements
• Cant put all your weight on these results

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Research
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Identify Suitable Candidates

• Research
• Internet
• Vendor Seminars / Webinars (30K feet)
• Associations Magazines, Trade Shows
• Competitors
• Accountant

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Short List the Candidates

• Request for Information
• Functionality - Brochures
• Pricing
• Client List
• Preferred Solution Provider
• Value Added Reseller

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Solution Provider Selection

• Due Diligence
• Years Providing Solution
• Number of Clients
• Size of Firm
• Bandwidth Consultant availability
• Support post Implementation

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Solution Provider Selection

• Differentiation
• Implementation Approach
• Industry Expertise
• Full-Service?
• Consulting, Training, Technical, Customization
• Trusted Business Advisor?

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Evaluation Selection
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Discovery

• Transfer of Knowledge to Solution Provider
• Objectives
• Requirements
• Timeline
• Comfort Level for Solution Provider
• Did we make the right decision?

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Request for Proposal

• Software Maintenance
• Infrastructure Requirements
• PCs, Servers, Network, Backup, Web etc.
• Professional Services
• Defined scope of services, deliverables
• Financing Options

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Solution Presentation

• Approach Open Dialogue
• Presentation
• Publisher
• Solution Provider - Implementation Approach
• System Demonstration
• 3 or 4 critical business scenarios
• Rank the results

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Hands-On Testing

• Require more information to make decision?
• Hands-On Use of System
• Hosted by Solution Provider
• Do Not Download / Install Demos
• Frustrating
• Not fair to system

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Selection

• Requirements
• Calculate Solution Score Ranking X Weight
• Solution Provider
• Publisher
• Investment
• Go with your Gut?

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References

• Due diligence with 3 references
• On Time and On Budget?
• What did they do wrong and how did they handle it?

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What's Next?
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Steps to a Successful ImplementationOur Next
Session

• Accpac Live Conference
• October 2008

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(No Transcript)
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Introductions

• Chuck Jerome
• Vice President, Operations BAASS
• 21 Years of ERP Implementation Experience
• Partner, BDO Dunwoody Accountants
• Director of Special Services
• Chairman, Service Delivery Standards Committee