It’s one thing for an organization to put up with an inadequate platform or muddle through inefficient ways of doing things. But according to Diane Bedwell, her nonprofit’s accounting system was hopelessly behind the times.
“Our platform needed to move into the 21st century,” says Bedwell. “The system we were using just could not keep up.”
Bedwell is the director of IT strategic projects for The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore (The Associated). The organization is part of a larger network of federations across North America that work to support and strengthen Jewish life.
The Associated meets their community’s needs by leading their network of agencies. The organization spearheads initiatives and programs that provide community security, deliver essential social and humanitarian services, fight antisemitism and create meaningful Jewish engagement opportunities.
Bedwell says The Associated was operating with outdated accounting systems, such as Microsoft Excel, across 20 different entities. The lack of a unified accounting environment led to inefficiencies, inconsistencies in reporting and difficulties in communication among entities.
“Each entity had completely different needs,” says Devorah Miller, finance enterprise resource planning (ERP) project manager for The Associated. “Our goal was to create one consistent environment, so that procedures could be streamlined and our agencies could communicate and interact with each other.”
To accomplish this goal, The Associated turned to RSM.
Toward a new system
Miller says that from the start, RSM displayed a deep knowledge base and thorough professionalism.
“Their team was extremely sharp, so we were able to form a good relationship from the very beginning,” Miller says. “We liked that the team leading the demos was also the implementation team that would be guiding us through the process.”
“It wasn’t a slick sales team that would hand us off to a bunch of people who didn't know our needs, who would then have to start all over again from scratch,” Bedwell says. “We felt really good about that. And the quality of the RSM staff was top-notch—high caliber and very knowledgeable. They understood what we were trying to do.”
RSM set out to transition the organization from multiple antiquated systems into a high-tech, unified platform. The firm also sought to create efficiencies through automation, streamline workflows across all the organization’s entities and implement a shared chart of accounts to facilitate better communication and consistency across different programs.
Such a complex project required a long runway. Miller says the first four months of the project were dedicated to careful planning and devising the right solution.
“It was discovery, discovery, discovery and build, build, build,” Miller says. “It was a lot of constant work at the beginning, and RSM didn’t waste time.”
The project accelerates
RSM communicated regularly with The Associated, which kept the project on track and ensured that the new environment was built according to the organization’s specifications. Miller says the two teams met frequently and established a high level of open communication.
