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Choosing the right finance system in 2017 - part 1

6th Jan 2017
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With 2017 now upon us, changing to a new financial management system is not as difficult as you may think and there’s nothing to stop you undertaking the process yourself - with a little help from others in the organisation. In this two-part article, we have provided some common sense advice and a best practice approach to selecting and implementing a new financial management system.

Ask questions first

The first question you need to ask yourself is – why am I changing my financial management system? Have you really outgrown it and need a new system to meet the longer term needs and objectives of the business? Or is your current system simply being under-utilised? There are instances where organisations change a financial management system for the wrong reasons. For example; switching systems due to lack of knowledge of its full capabilities, users not using the system because they haven’t been trained, or a new senior manager wants the system they previously used.

Thankfully, those are in the minority, the majority of change takes place for valid business reasons. Recent statistics conducted by NCC Research shows that 62% of organisations changed their financial management system responding to changes in business procedure, 45% switched to gain greater integration with other operational systems and 38% decided to change solution because their previous system did not fit their business needs – all legitimate reasons for change. 

Before embarking on your journey in selecting a new financial management system, you need to put some structure around your selection process and also create a timeline to work towards. You should also make use of the resources available to you, ensure that you form a selection committee with representatives from different areas of the business; typically this would consist of a senior finance member, IT staff, and senior business users. Taking advantage of the experience and knowledge at your disposal dramatically reduces the need to outsource advisory services - enabling huge savings as a result. 

Tender for success  
The days of the detailed functionality check list are over, most modern systems are very flexible and will “tick all the boxes” and meet most business requirements, therefore it is the specialist requirements, those things that are the biggest challenge to your organisation which should drive the statement of requirements. This means that you no longer need to prepare an onerous Invitation to Tender document that can take around 100 man days to produce, there is an easier, efficient and cost effective alternative - the Request for Information (RFI).

A good RFI concentrates on those key business processes that hold your organisation back, and the business issues that must be resolved by any new system. An RFI is therefore quicker to produce, easier to evaluate and reduces the selection process to only four stages; preparation, evaluation, selection and implementation planning.

When producing an RFI document for potential vendors, prepare your document with your longer term business strategy clearly in mind - as well as departmental and operational needs. Ensure you’re specific when collating your key requirements and highlight non-standard requirements such as; international capabilities, processes such as consolidation, integration with external applications, reporting and Business Intelligence (BI). This ensures that vendors prepare explicitly for your organisation and do not submit a standardised tender. 

by Will Jordan, PS Financials Ltd

www.psfinancials.com 

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