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Solution Overview
Client Profile
One of the largest association management firms in the world, Illinois-based Association Management Center (AMC) provides complete management services for more than thirty associations. AMC's broad spectrum of clients has grown steadily for many years, with company leadership relying on a technology infrastructure still employing a Microsoft MS-DOS operating system.
Challenge
Despite a powerful accounting engine, it had become difficult for AMC to analyze profitability on a per consultant and allocate overhead across its customer base. The technology needed to be aligned with business processes.
Solution
BPS helped AMC leverage its existing investment in Microsoft Business Solutions-Solomon by analyzing -side by side with AMC executives - how financial information flows through their extended enterprise. By analyzing business processes first, BPS was then able to design an accounting engine that provided delivered business information and not just raw data. The billing cycle was reduced by 80% and profitability analysis available in minutes rather than days.
Association Management Center
Analyze Business Processes to Analyze Profitability
The Association Management Center staff of 140 professionals provides a wide spectrum of management services to a richly diverse set of clients—from non-profits to trade groups to healthcare organizations. With seemingly endless projects extending through such a wide variety of clients, it had been difficult for AMC to analyze profitability per employee in sufficient detail and then allocate corresponding overhead across its customer base.
"What are you specific business realities and goals?"
Instead of analyzing the software, the BPS Project manager first spent days with the AMC team to learn their business processes, goals and challenges. Only after a thorough understanding of what business information the client needed from the accounting system did the BPS team address the accounting technology.
"The thing I loved about BPS was that they sat down with us and asked us exactly what we were trying to accomplish," says Joan Muench, AMC Senior Project Manager. "And they just didn't leave it at that. They asked us why we were doing something in a particular way. They would challenge us, and if we didn't have a good answer we changed our design. The result has been a much simpler and far more reliable solution that we are extremely happy with."
Reams of Data but Very Little Business Information
BPS business analysis showed that AMC produced reams of data, but very little useful business information. BPS designed a system that leveraged the Microsoft Business Solutions - Solomon accounting system so reports provided information in an instantly useable form. On AMC's existing infrastructure (Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system, Microsoft SQL Server), BPS helped the company create customized stored procedures and views for reporting. Together, BPS and AMC defined application interfaces between AMC databases to handle organization billings, payables management and payroll. Screens were modified to better facilitate data entry.
The end result was an organization with an accounting engine better aligned with day-to-day business functions. Cost savings were immediate as the billing cycle was reduced by 80%. More importantly, an improved billing process allowed AMC to make faster, more informed decisions. Company management could quickly assess profitability and performance for each employee without hours of resource-draining "excel-itis."
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