Situation

Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority (SWHA) manages almost 700 units of Tribal housing and this number is growing annually. Their ever-increasing need to automate various functions requires flexible software. Prior to Great Plains, they used a fee accounting package, which was managed offsite. Beginning in 2000, it was apparent they needed to switch to an in-house system. Making that move would provide them access to information whenever it was needed so that timely reports could be provided to management and to the Board of Commissioners. The system would also need to handle all their operations including reporting, financials, tenant accounting, payroll, and job costing functions.

 

Solution

After using the fee accounting system for many year, they decided to look at bringing a package in-house. The auditors and board members also felt they needed a system that could provide better reports. In addition, they have all valued the need for self-sufficiency for their staff.

Several products were considered, but Great Plains was the front-runner due to many factors including area references, system functionality, previous system experience, and scalability. In June 2004, SWHA decided to purchase Great Plains, and utilize the American Computer Software for tenant accounting and WennSoft for job costing. The packages all seamlessly integrate and provide a fully capable solution for the housing authority. The cost to run the fee accounting package for a single year outweighed the cost to purchase Great Plains.

After just one week of implementation, they were already running payroll. In July, they entered beginning balances and completed their first financials without a hitch. Working with DFC they are able to receive the accounting expertise at their request if they need any assistance with projects such as GASB conversions. They also are able to receive support on their software as needed.

Understandably there was resistance in various departments. However, once the system was in place, those who were skeptical soon saw the benefits of the new in-house system.

Benefits

Reporting Ease

Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority runs the monthly financial statements in less than two hours. With their previous fee accounting package, this process took approximately 25 hours. This process alone has helped Louella Cloud, Accountant at SWHA, save countless hours of time and allows her to complete other important tasks. The ability to create a quality report exactly when it is needed for the board is invaluable. In addition, Louella now runs her Bank Reconciliation right in Great Plains which saves her over 3 hours of time over her previous process. She sees which checks are issued, cancelled and cleared and reconciles in just minutes. Great Plains’ ability to seamlessly integrate with Excel allows them to easily analyze data anyway they choose.

Payroll

Patrick Deutsch in the Payroll Department saves three to four hours at each pay run now that they’ve implemented Great Plains Payroll. Now when an auditor needs a report, it can be ran and printed on the fly, as opposed to the old system where reports needed to be requested and waited for. They benefit from the ability to get breakdowns of individual employees’ hours on the fly. That feature alone saves Patrick time when he receives requests for that information.

Flexibility

Great Plains addresses their need to automate other areas of their business. SWHA wanted to have their job costing and tenant accounting integrated into the financials. Great Plains had the out-of-the box ability to seamlessly integrate with WennSoft Job Cost and the American Computer Software Management Plus. This flexibility provided a fully integrated system for the SWHA to run all areas of their company.

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