True Definitions as they relate to financial management solutions for nonprofits, NGOs and the public sector.

We have all heard the buzz words, the cloud, SaaS, online, hosted, on-premise and more, but what do they really mean and which is right for my organization?  Join Serenic Software and learn the true definitions of these technology platforms and discover which solution is right for your organization.  Our team of experts will explore and demonstrate ways to increase the positive impact technology has on your day-today activities by maximizing the value you get from your financial and operational management software.

Join us for this comprehensive and dynamic presentation and find new ways to support and empower you mission!  Learn the true definitions of these technology platforms and key factors to consider before purchasing, including:

• Initial and ongoing costs
• IT resources
• Flexibility of access and customization
• Implementation
• Security

This event will include a demonstration of Serenic Software’s award-winning Navigator financial management system, available through SaaS, hosted and on-premise.  Serenic Corporation is a global provider of financial and business management software products that satisfy the unique and sophisticated functionality requirements of nonprofits, NGOs and the public sector.

Date:  Thursday, August 25, 2011

Time:  11:30 – 1:30

Location:  The Capital Grille
                  Biltmore Fashion Park
                  2502 East Camelback Road
Phoenix, AZ 85016

Lunch from the menu is included at this FREE seminar!  There will also be a drawing for an XBOX!

Register here: http://www.serenic.com/events/seminars/phoenix-aug25.aspx

You need a good plan to deliver great service. It’s not enough to have a comparison of a single budget to actual results. Non-profit organizations and NGOs need to monitor multiple budgets across different time periods and keep track of amounts encumbered, committed, and provisioned. These organizations want to compare expenditures to budgets for a single project or across different service areas. It takes a flexible system with information stored in sufficient detail to deliver critical insights.

Serenic Navigator Online gives you the tools you need to manage budgets at the right level of detail. You can view information across time periods and segments of your organization and track funds at all stages—from encumbered to committed to provisioned. You can associate expenditures to individual funding sources to ensure compliance with program guidelines. And while you’re entering transactions, Navigator Online can automatically monitor budget terms and notify you of compliance problems. Serenic puts you in control of your funds with:
• Time-sensitive information. Budgets that flow across any period of time, with complete access to all transactions, even after the fiscal year closing process.

• Grouped and summarized. Summarized budgets across account groups, user-defined dimensions, and self-balancing funds.

• Accurate. Budget checking that allows you to choose which types of transactions you want to be factored into determining your available budget, including commitments, encumbrances and/or actual expenses.

• Paperless. Ability to store scanned documents as supporting documentation for budgets.

Full access to the Serenic Navigator white papers available here: http://www.serenic.com/resources/whitepapers/navigator-online-registration.aspx?rsc=12&cpc=CMP-01189-G214DD

Our next post in this series will feature how our Cloud Solutions offer The Right to Remit Freely.

Our latest nonprofit case study shares Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake’s success story since it began using Serenic Navigator Online. The organization was previously using QuickBooks and spreadsheets for financial management. It sought a better solution to help track funding and spending for the many properties it builds and helps finance each year.

“We had a multi-dimension problem,” said Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake Chief Financial Officer David Seabrook. “We track expenses and funding sources by property – so it’s more complex than simply tracking grants. Some of our donors give for specific houses, and government organizations provide funding for groups of houses. We need to track all expenses by house, by contract and several other dimensions.”

Habitat for Humanity found its solution in Navigator Online, a streamlined software as a service (SaaS) version of Serenic’s flagship accounting software. Navigator Online brings the power and functionality of Serenic Navigator to small and mid-sized nonprofits through cloud computing.

The case study notes that Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake appreciates the cost advantages for organizations that don’t have an IT department but still want to track finances across multiple dimensions. They like that the organization has online access for its users without having to pay separate hosting or virtual private network (VPN) fees.

Special thanks to Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake for signing on as one of the first Navigator Online customers and to David Seabrook for sharing the organization’s experience in the case study, which you can view at this link. You also can download the Navigator Online Success Kit to read more and evaluate whether subscription-based service is a fit for your organization.

Today’s organizations need a solution that grows with them. Systems built upon old platforms with arcane data structures might be fine for your needs today but they can’t meet your needs in the future. You might need to manage across entities, locations, and even currencies. You need a solution built for use in a global economy with advanced features and advanced flexibility.

As a Serenic Navigator Online user, you might start out serving a single local market. As your services expand, you may cross state lines and eventually country borders. At that point, you will need multi-currency and multi-lingual capabilities and the additional comprehensive features available in Serenic Navigator’s on-premise solution. As an Online user, you would have the freedom to simply move your data to the on-premise solution, activate the advanced product features, and then continue to operate with your existing data. No one has to be retrained, no database has to be converted, and your existing processes would remain unchanged. System users would not even notice the change.

The Right to Visualize

Not everyone understands information presented in a written report or financial statement. Some users may prefer to receive information visually. While many applications allow you to export information for manipulation in Word or Excel, the process can quickly become unwieldy.

With Serenic Navigator Online, you can seamlessly create graphs from inside any list. You can access the embedded chart pane and quickly select the data to display. Once you have the graph setup, you can then paste it directly into Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, or virtually any Microsoft Windows-based document. Users can also email information directly from Navigator Online, creating an HTML link back to the information in the database.

Full access to the Serenic Navigator white papers available here: http://www.serenic.com/resources/whitepapers/navigator-online-registration.aspx?rsc=12&cpc=CMP-01189-G214DD

Our next post in this series will feature how our Cloud Solutions allow Freedom to Plan.

Non-profit organizations have unique system requirements. While horizontal accounting applications provide a general ledger to deliver financial insights, not only do non-profits need to manage to a financial result, they also need to adhere to individual funding and investment requirements. Simplified systems that provide a single view of information across standard accounting periods can’t meet the needs of non-profits who must manage grants and awards across multiple years. Non-profits need specialized tools that are designed to support their organization and their unique processes.

Serenic Navigator Online is designed to handle the unique accounting and process requirements of non-profits and NGOs. With Navigator’s fund management tools, non-profits can manage expenditures in accordance with restrictions imposed by individual donors, grants, or funding sources. Transactions can cross years and can be tracked to specific grants or awards through all areas of the application including:

• Cash Receipts
• Accounts Payable (Procurement processes including Requisitions and Purchase Orders, if desired)
• Accounts Receivable
• Fixed Assets
• Ledger journal transaction

Full access to the Serenic Navigator white papers available here: http://www.serenic.com/forms/resource.aspx?rsc=12&lnc=43

Our next post in this series will feature how our Cloud Solutions allow room to grow.

Everyone seems to have an interest in non-profit and NGO activities. From government agencies to community watchdogs, non-profits are constantly in a position of having to share information. That makes timely and accurate reporting a crucial function of any non-profit accounting solution.

Serenic Navigator Online provides everyone in your organization the information they need to make better decisions and comply with grant and donor requirements. Navigator Online makes information accessible through:

• Powerful drill-downs. Source documents are accessible in any area of the application, whether they were created two minutes ago or two years ago.
• Excel integration. Import and export transaction data in multiple areas throughout the system, including any journal in the application.
• Advanced reporting. Create individual row and column report formats, and then mix and match to meet every reporting need across profiles.
• Categorization. Associate transactions across user-defined dimensions and the report directly to pivot forms in Excel.
• Dashboards and alerts. Get information when you need it via dashboards and exception reporting.
• Flexible, easy reporting options. Create ad hoc reports directly the general ledger or cut and paste information directly in Excel.

It takes good information to make good decisions. In today’s mobile, global economy, successful non-profits demand information on their terms – whenever and wherever they need it. They need to stay on top of encumbrances, monitor fund balances, and manage budgets. They need to connect with field locations and track activities in the main office, in real-time.

With the depth of features and functions Serenic has made available in the cloud, employees and volunteers can finally break the chains that bind them to their desks. They can get out among the communities they serve without sacrificing management control. They can leverage the Internet to get the job done – all in a secure, robust environment. Serenic Navigator Online makes the powerful features of Serenic Navigator available from your laptop, anytime, anywhere. That means everyone in the organization is at liberty to benefit from features like:

• Role-based access. Employees access the specific information they need to perform their job via a role-tailored dashboard.

• Advanced allocations. Allocate dollars across funds, accounts, and user-defined dimensions using percentages, amounts, or a combination of the two.

• Budget alerts. Create budget rules or notifications to warn staff when a transaction will exceed budgetary limits

Full access to the Serenic Navigator white papers available here: http://www.serenic.com/forms/resource.aspx?rsc=12&lnc=43

Our next post in this series will feature how Cloud Solutions can give you the right to keen insights.

Traditionally deployed software solutions can be costly. First, there is an upfront investment in software and  hardware; then, there are annual maintenance costs and upgrade charges. And the cost doesn’t end there.  These solutions can take weeks, if not months, to install. There are backups to be made, security issues to  address, and databases to tune. In many cases, an IT staff is required to administer the network and applications.

Cloud solutions change all that. Software in the cloud is purchased on a subscription basis, with a flat monthly  fee.  Application installation and maintenance, including security and backups, are all managed by the vendor.  By moving to the right cloud solution, non-profit organizations can reduce their staffing needs, budget for recurring  monthly charges, get up and going more quickly, and leave the infrastructure worries—and costs—to the vendor.  Serenic Navigator Online delivers financial freedom in the following ways:

• Subscription pricing. Monthly fees are predictable and easier to budget, as compared to a single  capital expense.
• Easier implementation. Setup takes days, not weeks or months.
• Reduced administration costs. Software and infrastructure administration is managed by Serenic and their hosting partner, with a 99.99% uptime guarantee.

Full access to the Serenic Navigator white papers available here: http://www.serenic.com/forms/resource.aspx?rsc=12&lnc=43

Our next post in this series will feature how Cloud Solutions can give you more unrestricted access.

Revolutions occur in different ways. We have seen political revolts spring up in response to human rights issues, poverty, and poor governance. After years of increasing dissatisfaction, angry citizens finally reach their breaking point and take action. Other times, however, revolution comes in the form of a single idea or development that suddenly and rapidly changes the course of history. It might be an invention, a discovery, or a new way of thinking that dramatically alters the way we interact with the world. The changes brought about by space exploration, the invention of the telephone, and the discovery of penicillin, to name a few, have had a profound impact on our daily lives. Today’s software revolution is a little bit of both—it has been a long time coming, but thanks to new tools and advances in technology, big changes are occurring at a rapid pace.

Information is power. In the days before the software revolution, many non-profits were denied this power because it was difficult if not impossible for them to access the information they needed to accomplish their mission. Barriers to entry made robust applications—and the resulting critical insights—available only to a privileged few. Those non-profits and NGOs fortunate enough to afford to invest in an IT staff, a secure and reliable infrastructure, and robust accounting software had ample access to reliable information. They could easily turn data into insights, manage donors, and track field activities. As a result, they had the power to accomplish their objectives with fewer hassles, making them more effective. The power, and often the donor funds, remained concentrated in the hands of the fortunate few. Other organizations, despite their passion for their mission, struggled to meet their funding and operational objectives, spending more time on administration than on changing the world.

The days of limited access are gone. Savvy accounting software vendors are harnessing new technology to make powerful solutions available to the masses. This movement is called cloud computing. By harnessing the cloud and deploying their solutions online, these vendors have made their solutions accessible to non-profit organizations everywhere, regardless of size, infrastructure, or budget. Once an organization goes “to the cloud” for its accounting solution, the vendor assumes the costs of IT administration and delivers the solution via a subscription model. Thanks to the cloud, more non-profit organizations can take advantage of the rich features and intelligent design of solutions like Serenic Navigator.


Full access to the Serenic Navigator white papers available here: http://www.serenic.com/forms/resource.aspx?rsc=12&lnc=43

Our next post in this series will feature how Cloud Solutions can give you more financial freedom.