Trees For Cities

Changing finance systems can be quite a daunting prospect. Have you any advice for other nonprofit organisations that may be considering an upgrade to their on-premise finance system?
Firstly, it takes up more time than you think it will! It’s important to be clear on what you really want to get out of the new system. Upgrading your finance system is also an opportunity to change things within your accounts structure and reporting. It’s definitely worthwhile to take the time to do the preparation in advance so that you get the desired outcome at the end.

My advice is to consider it as an opportunity not only to upgrade your accounting software but also a chance to upgrade some of your procedures, structure and reporting too. I also think it’s important to consider these issues before you put in the system rather than implementing the solution and then thinking what reports you can get out of it.

From a functionality perspective, what day-to-day changes have you noticed from the new system to the old?
We now use the workflow authorisation functionality, so everything can be done electronically now. Previously we used to have to get people to physically sign things off and then email their approvals. With the new iplicit system, all the documents are accessible digitally, at the point of approval, so the process is remarkably faster.

And we are also using the expenses functionality in the system which saves a considerable amount of time each week. All of our staff are now using the system for expenses submission; previously we had lots of paper-based forms, that have now been eliminated, so that’s been a big change for us.

Another exciting progression is being able to store all of our backing evidence on the system. This is great because, for the year-end audit, we’ve given the auditors access to the system so they can look at everything directly, rather than us having to physically collate all the information they request. This has saved us a great deal of time, money and inconvenience.

Do you have a favourite feature of the system?
Yes! Pressing the Ctrl key and being able to link from document to document or any relevant information. If you’re in something and you can link to something else, you don’t have to search for it, you can just press Ctrl and it will take you to wherever you need to go in relation to whatever information you are viewing. It makes the navigation so easy and also saves a lot of time to be able to access the information there and then rather than leave what you’re doing to see it.

Is Trees For Cities planning on growth, and if so, do you think that the new system will help you achieve this?
Yes, we are planning for growth. Obviously, no one knows how the next 12 months will pan out but before the Covid-19 challenges we had been growing quite fast. One of the reasons why I chose iplicit was because it was clear to see how the system can scale with us.

“I am also excited to use the new feature regarding the automatic posting of irrecoverable VAT on purchases; this will save us a lot of time and simplify things considerably.”

Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I know I’ve mentioned it already but I think that the Workflow and Authorisations functionality is worth coming back to. At Trees for Cities, we had very complex requirements when it came to our approvals process. Many of the systems available couldn’t cope with what we needed. However, the implementation team at iplicit worked very hard to ensure that system delivered exactly what we needed. They deserve a mention for their skill and dedication!