Title: Setting up Systems to Manage Your Business
1Setting up Systems to Manage Your Business
Presented By Trudie Carlesso
2Agenda
- First Things First
- Record Retention
- Accounting Systems
- Other Software Tools
- Selecting a System
- Implementing Systems
3First Things First
4First Things First
- To incorporate or to not incorporate, that is the
question - Find an Accountant and a Lawyer
- Business Number
- Sales Taxes
- Licenses
- Contracts
5Definitions
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Client Server
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
- Integrated
- Interfaced
- Customization
- Software Maintenance and Support
6Record Retention
7What is a Record?
A 'record' includes an account, an agreement, a
book, a chart or table, a diagram, a form, an
image, an invoice, a letter, a map, a memorandum,
a plan, a return, a statement, a telegram, a
voucher, and any other thing containing
information, whether written or in any other
form.
8Records Must...
- Permit the taxes payable or the taxes or other
amounts to be collected, withheld, or deducted
by a person to be determined - Permit the verification of all charitable,
athletic, and political donations received for
which a deduction or tax credit is available -
- Be supported by source documents that verify the
information in the books and records.
9Source and Other Documents
A source document includes items such as sales
invoices, purchase invoices, cash register
receipts, formal contracts, credit card receipts,
delivery slips, deposit slips, work orders,
dockets, cheques, bank statements, tax returns,
and general correspondence whether written or in
any other form. Other documents, whether written
or in any other form, including supporting
documents such as accountants working papers that
were used to determine the obligations and
entitlements with respect to taxes payable,
collectible or to be remitted, are considered
part of the books and records of the taxpayer and
must be made available to the CRA.
10Accounting Systems
11Manual Systems
- Paper or Spreadsheet based
- Labour intensive
-
- No investment
- Lack of Management Reporting
- Accountants and Government prefer this less
12Small Business with Simple Requirements
- Basic functionality
- A/P, A/R, General Ledger
- Purchasing
- Order Entry
- On premise solutions
- QuickBooks
- Simply Accounting
- Peachtree
- SaaS solutions
- Freshbooks
- Kashoo
- Zoho
- Industry Specific Solutions
Budget anywhere between 120 and 3,000
13Small to Medium Business - Moderate Needs
- More robust ERP functionality
- A/P, A/R, General Ledger
- Fixed Assets
- Light Distribution
- Light Manufacturing
- Better reporting
- Other Optional Modules
- CRM
- Planning Scheduling
- Service Management
- Project Management
- Business Intelligence
- On premise solutions
- Accpac
- SAP Business One
- Microsoft Dynamics GP
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV
- SaaS solutions
- Netsuite
- Microsoft Dynamics GP
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV
- Intacct
- Industry Specific Solutions
Budget anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 for a
5 user system
14Medium to Large Business Complex Needs
- Functionality in all areas is very deep and broad
- On premise solutions
- Epicor
- IFS
- Oracle
- SAP
- Microsoft Dynamics AX
- SaaS solutions
- SAP Business By Design
- Microsoft Dynamics AX
Budget between 150,000 and 400,000 for a 25
user system
15Payroll
- Some accounting and ERP systems have an optional
payroll module. Find out if you need to
repurchase the accounting system in order to get
updates or not before purchasing the payroll
module. - Determine if you will need US and Canadian
payroll functionality - Stand alone payroll systems can easily interface
with accounting systems - Paymate
- Canadian Payroll Systems
- You can opt to use a payroll service instead of
processing your payroll in house - Ceridian
- ADP
- Paymate
16Other Software Tools
17Best of Breed vs. Fully Integrated
- Best of Breed
- In most cases more in depth functionality that
solves a specific need - You dont need to change your whole system to
get more functionality - Dont give up the best accounting system in
order to get the other functionality you need
for your business - Interface needs to be created and maintained but
is much easier these days if up to date
technology and tools are utilized
- Fully Integrated
- One system and one database to maintain
- One look and feel across the enterprise
- In most cases functionality is lighter and
non-specific to your industry or needs.
Therefore some areas of your business must
settle for less. - Can result in customizations to fill holes which
are costly and hard to maintain
18Examples of Stand Alone Software
- Warehouse Management
- Yard or Container Management
- Advanced Planning and Scheduling
- CAD
- Business Intelligence
- CRM
- GIS/GPS
- Point of Sale
- Asset/Maintenance Management
- Service Management
- Project Management
- EDI
- Payroll Human Resources
- Time Attendance
- Transportation Management
- E-Commerce
19Selecting a System
20Step 1 - Define Your Needs
- Ask yourself these questions
- What business problems do you need to solve?
- What processes do you want to automate?
- Where do you see the biggest labour savings?
- What management information does the business
require? - Where can you increase revenue?
- What integration points will you require with
existing systems and will they play well
together? - What kind of savings and return on investment
would you realize with a new system? - Where to go for help
- Talk to your peers
- Talk to your existing Accounting Software vendor
and ask what systems already work with theirs - Look at hiring a selection consultant to help
with the process
21Step 2 Research Solutions
- Use experts, talk to peers, research solutions on
the web, and use on- line services such as
www.findaccountingsoftware.com,
www.softselect.com, or www.technologyevaluation.c
om - Attend on-line webinars, examine literature, and
possibly send a request for information to
vendors looking for budgetary numbers and to ask
them if they have your needed functionality and
how they would solve your specific issues - Check for configurability and use of current
technologies - After researching establish a short list of 3 or
4 solutions that you will then examine in more
detail
22Step 3 Proof of Concept
- Establish scripts or scenarios representative of
how your business works and invite your short
listed vendors to demonstrate their abilities to
fulfill your needs - Ask for pricing and implementation proposals and
review total cost of ownership for each - Review case studies of short listed vendors
- Establish criteria and the weighting of each for
which you and your team will evaluate the
solutions - Determine selected vendor and arrange for
customer references (on- site /or via phone
23Step 4 - Negotiation
- Ensure implementation/professional services
pricing covers installation, data migration,
interfaces, configuration, report writing,
customizations, user training and go live
assistance - Have contracts reviewed by your lawyer if
applicable - Ask for suggestions on leasing opportunities
- Know what your year after year costs will be
24Implementation
25Implementing Your New System
- If it a larger project establish a war
room/training room - Meet with key stakeholders to agree on processes
to be implemented and to establish a timeline - Order install any necessary hardware and the
software - Train Administrator/Power Users
- Set up data for testing
- Conference room pilot determine if any gaps and
find solutions for any identified - Determine reporting needs and ensure all in place
- Data migration (if applicable)
- Set up opening balances and orders
- Develop training materials for users
- Train users
- Go live
26What to Watch Out For!!!
- Most systems these days are built utilizing best
practices. Is your business really that unique
that it doesnt match these? Dont customize a
system unless absolutely necessary!! - Dont fall into the but weve always done it
that way mentality
27What to Watch Out For!!!
- Most systems these days are built utilizing best
practices. Is your business really that unique
that it doesnt match these? Dont customize a
system unless absolutely necessary!! - Dont fall into the but weve always done it
that way mentality
28Continuous improvement
- Implementation doesnt stop at go live.
Management and other stakeholders should
regularly meet to review the system and identify
any other areas to be implemented, added, tweaked
or trained upon.
29Thank You! Trudie Carlesso Imperative
Solves www.imperativesolves.com tcarlesso_at_imperati
vesolves.com 519-984-4593