How Can Nonprofits Weather Tough Economic Times And Still Remain Effective?
Monday, 13 May 2013 08:54
irene coetzee
For many Nonprofits the forecast for 2013 seems to be one of the worst in terms of donations for the Nonprofit sector for the last five decades. Despite this outlook, there are still opportunities for Nonprofits to boost their funded programs. Perhaps the smartest area to focus on improving is the bottom line and look to see how to divert administration costs to fundraising drives and programs. We know that administration costs fund the backbone of any organisation and are unavoidable – so how can Nonprofits streamline this expense?
Stay on top of budgets – Using a tool like Serenic’s BudgetVision will support you in ensuring that you are maximizing the funds for programs that have the greater impact and support you in maintaining focus on your organization’s priorities and make sure that your organization stays within the budgets.
So how can Serenic BudgetVision impact your bottom line? - Maintaining a working budget is a formidable task for any organisation, but Nonprofits are especially vulnerable to potential pitfalls of budget management. Real life, real-time budget management means no surprises and no outside spreadsheets. Revenue from fundraising, grants, donations and other sources must be carefully tracked against existing and future operating and capital expenses. Without easy-to understand, real-time budget management software, Nonprofit organisations run the risk of overlooking vital details that could seriously damage the organization and put your important work in jeopardy. 
Serenic BudgetVision enables you to manage your entire budget lifecycle by offering a budget preparation and monitoring tool that provides real-time access to budget information. The budget administrator can define subplans, track the progress and status of multiple budgets simultaneously as well as make adjustments to posts within Serenic Navigator. Additionally, budget preparers can create different what-if versions of their budget until they select one to submit for approval and/or posting.
Serenic BudgetVision is completely customizable and scalable to meet your organization’s specific requirements. Fully integrated with Serenic Navigator G/L, BudgetVision allows you to replace spreadsheets as your budgeting tool – streamlining your processes and creating cost effective efficiencies.
Send It South is a leading partner for Serenic Navigator in Africa. If you would like to know more about Serenic Navigator, and Serenic BudgetVision please visit our website by clicking here. If you would like to discuss how Send It South and Serenic Navigator could support the financial management of your Nonprofit organisation, please call us on 0861 000 737 or email us on
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Is This The Answer Your Business Has Been Looking For? Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013
Monday, 06 May 2013 08:46
irene coetzee
Has your company outgrown its entry level accounting system? Is your business stifled by outdated legacy systems? Do you feel that you need more control over and visibility into what’s going on in your business? Are you wanting to have information at your fingertips to make smarter business decisions, so that you can drive the growth of your business? If these are some of the things that are keeping you awake at night, then an ERP solution, like Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, which connects all the parts of your business giving you visibility and transparency at the click of a button, could be the solution for you.
So why should you consider Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013? To get a perspective from a company that has implemented Microsoft Dynamics NAV, we share what Sláinte, a provider of technology and services in the acute healthcare sector, have to say about the benefits they have experienced in supporting their growing business.
Sláinte, founded in 2006, is a rapidly expanding provider of technology and services that help hospitals maximise their clinical and operational performance. As they grew, the company found it a challenge to keep track of financial information across its operations. Now, it believes, with Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, they have a comprehensive view of their cost base worldwide.
Business Needs
Sláinte grew quickly into an operation in six countries with more than 70 employees. To maintain this growth, it needed fast, accurate financial information so that it could make informed decisions for sales, marketing and investments.
Sláinte has a portfolio of software products and therefore needed product-by-product and month-by-month analysis. As it has  operations in a number of countries, it needed a robust system that could manage accounts across multiple currencies.
Solution
Sláinte chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV, as not only does it service its current needs, it has the scalability to grow with the company. In addition the rapid-start functionality of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 made for an effortless installation.
Benefits
- Comprehensive visibility – access to fast, accurate overviews of financial situation at all times
- Better decision making –being able to see what the profitability of each product, month-to-month allows for the correct decisions to be made
- Automatic currency conversion – this handled seamlessly by Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013
- Quick and easy international tax compliance – this is automated in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, which cuts down on a huge amount of manual effort
- Efficient timesheet recording – this is a built in functionality of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 and allows you to bill your customers accordingly, project by project
- Excellent integration – Microsoft Dynamics NAV integrates with other Microsoft applications like Excel, Word and SharePoint.
- Flexible Customization – Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 is easy to customise and you can set it things up the way you want them making you more efficient
- Minimal training for new recruits – minimal training is required for people to get up to speed on Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
If you would like to read the full case study, then click here. To view video clip about this case study click here.
Send It South is a leading partner for Microsoft Dynamics NAV in Africa. Please contact us on 0861 000 373 or email us at
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if you would like to discuss how Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 can support the growth of your business.
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Send It South's Innovative Approach To Grant Writing for Nonprofits
Friday, 12 April 2013 12:31
irene coetzee
Writing a good grant proposal is not an easy task. At the same time it is a part of a fundraiser’s portfolio. To achieve optimal success, grant proposals should be part of your overall fundraising plans.
Send It South has given this some thought and have come up with an innovative take on applying for grants. Why not consider a proposal that is requesting funding purely for a financial system? In this scenario you can be specific about the system that you want and can itemise the benefits, to both your organisation and the funder, of your chosen solution. Once you have a secure financial system in place you are in an even more viable position to apply for further funding, as you can demonstrate the effectiveness of your financial processes for managing any grants or funds you may receive.
Unsure of which financial solution would be robust enough for the complexities of the Nonprofit space and want to be sure that you are proposing a world-class product? This is where Send It South’s expertise comes into play.
We recommend Serenic Navigator, the world-class financial solution that was developed specifically for the Non-profit sector. The Serenic Navigator suite of products offers you:
- A fully integrated solution
- Customization capabilities
- Multiple languages, multiple currencies
- Drill down capability
- Centralized and decentralized solutions
- Instant access to critical financial data across any time frame
- Elimination of tedious and expensive paper-based approvals
- Ability to proactively track expenditures against user-defined budget rules
- Allocation of expenses in real time to increase data accuracy and timely completion of reporting Automatically balance funds and fund classes
- Security of your long-term investment with Microsoft Dynamics NAV
- Complete integration with Microsoft Office programs
- Administer modifications and update milestones to awards, grants and contracts as needed
- Empower employees to be more productive with portals and remote access to all financials
Serenic Navigator, with their extended product suite, offers a robust financial and operational management software solution specifically for the Nonprofit sector. And it offers the longevity you need to meet your constantly changing challenges – a really powerful argument for persuading funders to support your applications for grants and funding. Click here to watch this You Tube clip to hear more about Serenic Navigator.
The Power of Using Dimensions In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013
Wednesday, 03 April 2013 16:06
irene coetzee
It’s a great feeling and very motivating for companies as they grow and expand. And yet this growth brings its own challenges, particularly for the person in charge of the company’s finances. As expansion happens you will begin to wonder if your current financial system has the bandwidth to support this growth. You will begin to ask questions like “How will I clean up our chart of accounts?” or “How do I restructure our chart of accounts?” Send It South offers you a solution that will reform and streamline your business through the use of dimensions in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013. Using dimensions allows you to clean up your chart of accounts, reduce it in size and increase your efficiency.
We believe that using dimensions will enhance your business for the following reasons:
1. Your chart of accounts is shorter. Does any of this sound familiar – Do you have a high number of accounts in the chart of accounts? Do you use project codes heavily and have 3 or 4 segments in each base general ledger account number? Do you spend over two days every month during the close, investigating and researching whether things were in the right place and then correcting the errors? With in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 you can change all this – reduce your chart of accounts dramatically and streamline your processes into an efficient system.
2. Account coding becomes intuitive. With Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 you can still use project codes, but now you can give then a name as well as a number, which makes the coding process much more intuitive, less prone to error, and allows people outside the accounting department to enter data on the system. When using dimensions, you can now talk to the non-financial people in terms that they understand.
3. Better control and accuracy. Certainly with having more intuitive coding and a shorter chart of accounts, you will see some improvement in control and accuracy of postings. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 does a fantastic job of layering in more features for dimensions like allowing automatically populated default values, adding warning messages to make sure you get the right kind of dimension in the right place, allowing control at the level of your master data, as well as your chart of accounts, and allowing restrictions on what dimensions can be combined with other dimensions and with what priority. All of these features combine to make sure the computer does the work instead of your employees and does it more accurately, shortening your month end process considerably.
4. Greater flexibility in your reporting. Even with this shorter chart of accounts, you will have more detail than you had before, because getting more detail through the use of dimensions makes it possible. You produce more reports with more valuable information and you will have the ability to combine the data you’ve gathered in more flexible combinations to assist you in making business decisions.
5. You will continue to have more options, even after go-live. Some people have the perception that the only time they can make decisions about dimensions is when they are initially implementing. While this is a very important time to lay the foundation for your NAV system, you do have the option to add or change dimensions as you go along.
If you would like to discuss how Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 can streamline your financial processes, creating more efficiencies, allowing for greater consistence and control and seamlessly catering for your specific reporting requirements, then contact Send It South at
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or call us on 0861 000 737. As a leading partner in Africa to deploy and support Microsoft Dynamics NAV, we have the experience and knowledge to support you in making an informed decision.
Some further useful links to learn more about dimensions in Microsoft dynamics NAV 2013:
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