You Don't Need a PhD to Convert Your COA

Nephellie B. Dobie – Director, Business Analysis and Solutions Consulting Technology, Simmons College Kelly Nelson – Controller, Loyola University Maryland Mike Ionno – Senior Consultant, Datatel, Simmons College

You Don't Need a PhD to Convert Your COA Overview Chart of Accounts Design – Loyola’s story Project Management – Simmons’ story Conversion Benefits Questions

Overview Why do charts wear out? Out of space The chart logic has been consistently violated New and unanticipated reporting needs

Overview Know the symptoms A large percentage of account numbers are not used It’s difficult and time consuming to prepare financial statements – both internal and external Financial statements are manually prepared and rely on topside entries and adjustments Departments are used as objects and objects are used as departments Object code excess and redundancy Individual funds must be manually split for reporting

Overview What’s involved in a chart of accounts conversion? A new chart of accounts is designed and the old chart is mapped to the new A custom Datatel conversion utility swaps the new account numbers for the old throughout all of Colleague College staff from a variety of areas perform post conversion steps Finance, HR/Payroll, Student AR/CR activities, Development, Financial Aid, etc.

Overview How long does it take? A typical conversion is 5 to 6 months Chart of Accounts design and mapping – two months Testing Round 1 – one month Copy production to a dedicated test environment Run the utility Post conversion Testing in all areas of Colleague as well as reporting and interfaced applications Testing Round 2 (rinse and repeat) – one month Production Conversion – typically done over a three day weekend with Colleague offline

Overview How long does it take? Post conversion an institution continues to refine general ledger accounts, accounting processes and reporting over the next couple of fiscal cycles

Chart of Accounts Design – Loyola’s story Project Phases Phase I – General Ledger Conversion 10 digits to 18 digits Nine + months to complete Phase II - Reporting software implementation Synoptix Two + months to complete

Chart of Accounts Design – Loyola’s story Chart Issues Inconsistent logic Major codes (objects) meant different things in different funds Objects were not numbered consistently in all funds In some areas revenue and expense activity was recorded into a single liability or fund balance account Certain budget adjustments were recorded as actual activity Many top-side adjustments were necessary to create financial statements

Chart of Accounts Design – Loyola’s story Project timeline Initial chart design began in December of months to complete Old GL number were mapped to new – 2 months (February and March) Testing, testing, testing -> 3 months (April to June) Conversion in production (July 4 th weekend) Post conversion processes and clean-up – 2 to 6 months

Chart of Accounts Design – Loyola’s story Loyola’s New General Ledger Structure Fund Major Code Object Code Restricted 12 - Function 1 - Rev/Exp 12 - Fund School / Program Exp category Department Subcategory Specific Cost Center – Specific exp Specific exp

Project Management – Simmons’ story Project Stages Planning Design Wrap Up Design/Proof of Concept Testing Communication/Training Conversion

Project Management – Simmons’ story Planning and Preparation Project Sponsor/Project Charter Core Project Team Project Manager Project Leads: Controller and Budget Director Functional Contributors : SFS, Payroll, Accounting and Advancement Technology Lead User Advisory Group Detailed Project Plan

Project Management – Simmons’ story Development of a Detailed Project Plan Key milestones, dates, owners, etc. Systems/vendor Impact Application/Vendor Impact, Complexity Department to engage File Layout Process to address Solution Datatel custom programs Interoffice processes Forms

Project Management – Simmons’ story Chart Design Reviewed current mapping and identified existing gaps Determined best practices; talked to other schools Identify reporting requirements Worked with Mike Ionno on building new structure Multiple working sessions to finalize structure

Project Management – Simmons’ story Design wrap up and proof of concept Created documentation of new mapping, structure and object code use Finalized systems impact Communicated changes to all vendors Tested systems impact Finalized integration with systems of high impact Coordinated and planned cutover

Project Management – Simmons’ story Testing and Conversion 3 Phases of Testing 3 Mock Conversions Established a Detailed Conversion Plan Risk Mitigation Created an instance called HistGL 10 years of data in the old structure

Project Management – Simmons’ story Communication and Training Established a Communication Plan “ Road Show” Announcements Faculty/Staff newsletter Individual s to faculty with grants and all Datatel users Established a Training Plan Info sessions: Finance, Advancement, and General Community High impact systems training (i.e. Time & Attendance/Payroll, Purchasing Card) Web page with documentation and look-ups

Project Management – Simmons’ story Results Project completed in 5 months 3 component structure with 13 digits to 5 component structure with 21 digits. 155,000 to roughly 32,000+ accounts Converted ; deleted accounts not used in last 10 years

Benefits Easy financial reporting by net asset classification and function Cleaner organizational roll up Faster and easier building of financial statements Streamlined expense classifications used consistently across institutions

Lessons Learned Don’t rush chart design Spend plenty of time testing Communication and training are key

Questions? Nephellie B. Dobie Kelly Nelson Mike Ionno Thank you.