FundWare at Home in Accounting Department of Community Housing Organization

The User

The Dakota County Community Development Agency (CDA) was established in 1971 pursuant to special Minnesota legislation. Since the funding of its first program in 1975, the CDA has grown to 100 employees, making it one of the largest housing and community development program providers in the State of Minnesota. Dakota County CDA serves the cities of Dakota County. Located south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Dakota County includes the suburbs of the Twin Cities and is one of the fastest growing counties in Minnesota.

The Dakota County CDA received the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Blue Ribbon Best Practices Award in 1998 for the overall achievement of affordable housing goals and for the development of affordable housing within the County. Currently, the CDA administers 33 Housing and Community Development Programs.

The CDA uses all available federal, state, and local resources to serve the residents of Dakota County by working to upgrade and maintain the existing housing stock; encourage the construction of new housing affordable to low and moderate income households; promote economic development efforts and provide assistance to Dakota County communities through community development programs; and to provide low and moderate income family and senior households with decent, safe and affordable rental housing opportunities.

The Problem

Prior to 1993, the Dakota County CDA had a stand-alone accounting system running on a single computer, according to Janet Olson, the agency's assistant controller. "One person did all the data entry for accounts payable, payroll and general ledger," she said. "As the agency grew, we knew we needed a multi-user system that would offer more versatility in terms of number of users and functional capability." Olson added that the previous accounting program was not designed for fund accounting and therefore did not automatically create inter-fund entries. All allocations were done manually using spreadsheets, a process the CDA hoped to automate with the deployment of a new accounting system.

The Solution

"After comparing the features and capabilities of all the commercially-available accounting programs that seemed compatible with our needs, we narrowed the selection down to three vendors," Olson said. "We contacted each of the three vendors and requested an on-site demonstration and a list of references. Four individuals in our department participated in the demonstrations and voted for the program of their choice. The program selected was FundWare, primarily because of its user-friendly screens and ease-of-use." Another important factor, Olson explained, was FundWare's versatility in designing the account number structure.

Award-winning FundWare is accounting software that delivers the unique functionality required by non-profit organizations and government agencies, all for the lowest total cost of ownership as compared with competing products.

FundWare is comprised of a suite of easy-to-use software modules that let clients better manage and report on their business, stay in compliance with government regulations, and improve productivity so they can focus on their mission rather than their accounting system. Available modules include General Ledger/Project Grant with Budget Control, Accounts Payable/Purchasing, Payroll, Budget Preparation, Cash Receipts, Allocation Management, Fixed Assets, Bank Reconciliation, Reporting, and Import/Export tools.

FundWare has been installed at over 4,000 client locations worldwide. These clients are supported by a direct sales force and a national network of value-added resellers. The company also offers a professional services group that will install and customize FundWare to a client’s exact specifications for a fee.

"FundWare has so many great features, it's hard to pick one over another," said Olson when asked to prioritize the software's most useful features. "We like the user-friendly screens that walk us through the payroll and accounts payable processes. We like the ability to have memorized journal entries and memorized accounts payable invoices. The ability to preview our allocations before we post them is very helpful. As is the automatic generation of due to/due from entries that make our paybacks between funds much easier." She continued, "the ability to create columnar reports in payroll using any criteria we choose provides increased productivity, while the ability to look up general ledger account activity and drill down to the original data source is critical for accurate reporting. We also like FundWare's ability to post entries daily and see account balances in real time. And we like that we can work in the current month without having to close out the previous month."

Benefits & Results

"Before changing to FundWare, accounts payable were processed from each fund separately. In other words, checks were cut from each fund's checking account," Olson said. "With FundWare, we've been able to set up one disbursing account from which all checks are paid and use the automatic due to/due from accounts that the system creates to determine how much each fund owes to the disbursing account." Olson said that the CDA also usesFundWare's Advanced Printer Control, which creates laser checks that have the MICR encoding and signatures printed directly on them. "This saves the time of running the checks through a check signer and a bursting machine. We've also eliminated the many problems involved with pre-printed check numbers, such as having to line up the paper just so, and the inevitable paper jams."

In addition, FundWare has allowed the CDA to drastically accelerate the payroll process. "Our agency has grown significantly over the years, both in programming and in staffing," Olson said. "With FundWare we are able to process our bi-weekly payroll for about 100 employees in about 75 percent of the time it used to take to process payroll for just 70 employees. And with the newer Windows version of FundWare, the payroll process is even easier because the system prompts you through each of the steps."

FundWare has yielded increased productivity and efficiency in the accounts payable process, as well. "We used to process accounts payable checks bi-weekly and now, due to our growth in volume, we process checks weekly," Olson said. "Even though we have significantly more vendors and invoices, and we pay more frequently, the accounts payable process takes less time than it used to with our previous software. As with payroll checks, FundWare has made the accounts payable check writing process very easy because it prompts you for each step."

Olson added thAt FundWare's Cost Allocation module and Allocation Management module are very useful. "We have been able to automate most of our allocations. This simplifies our entry of accounts payable and payroll, and also provides us with an excellent audit trail of the costs that we have allocated," she said.

Client Satisfaction

As is evident from Olson's positive remarks about FundWare, the CDA is indeed very satisfied with its accounting software. "We began using FundWare in 1993, and throughout the '90s it has been a stable, flexible and functionally-robust product," she said. "Since we upgraded to the Windows 2000 version in March 2001, we have run into fewer issues that require technical support. And when we do encounter minor issues, which is inevitable with any technology product, the software's online knowledge base has been very useful in addressing them quickly and easily."

Olson's praise is not reserved for FundWare software. "We are very satisfied with Fundware as a company," she said. "When we have needed software support we have always been treated very respectfully." Olson added that the CDA has participated in several FundWare Web cast seminars, interactive sessions conducted over the Internet that give participants a first-look at new features planned for upcoming releases of FundWare. "The Web cast seminars allow us to ask questions relating to our specific needs and concerns, and they give us insight into technology enhancements planned for future releases, which is important as we plan for upcoming technology purchases."

*FundWare was ranked #1 by the Nonprofit Financial Center in its independent review of 19 accounting software packages. In addition, FundWare recently received the top rating (5-Star) from CPA Software News in its annual review of NPO software packages.