Baltimore Youth Cycling (BYC) is a nonprofit that introduces kids to bike racing and develops junior bike racers through their road and cyclocross racing programs. BYC is 100% volunteer-run and relies on electronic systems to keep their operations running smoothly.
As BYC entered their seventh year, they decided to move from QuickBooks Online to NetSuite’s SuiteSuccess for Social Impact edition. Why the change, and how did the switch go?
Better Reporting
NetSuite allows BYC to track their finances at a more granular level by program, classification and location. In addition, the Social Impact edition of NetSuite tracks donations and grants by restricted and unrestricted status and purpose, along with giving better visibility into how contributions to the team are being used.
The home page dashboards display important information, and the customizable financial reports can be emailed out directly to board members from NetSuite, whereas in QuickBooks, reports were exported to Excel, re-formatted and then emailed.
The allocation and amortization schedules in NetSuite make it easier for pre-paid and shared expenses to be recorded in the proper periods.
Better Donor and Member Tracking
The constituent tracking in NetSuite gives BYC more information about donor relationships, tracks pledges and additional information about donations.
The built-in CRM and email functionality allows for all communication with a donor to be recorded in NetSuite. BYC also uses the Celigo CloudExtend SuiteApp to sync data between Outlook 365 and NetSuite so that even if communication didn’t originate in NetSuite, it is still visible there. This is one way NetSuite provides better insight into donations, by tying the financial aspects of a donation to the relationship with the donor.
Integration With Outside Applications
NetSuite’s CSV import, SuiteTalk and banking integrations allow BYC to import data that was previously hand entered.
Since BYC’s registration system is tied into their team management software, registration information was not available in QuickBooks and payment information was entered in bulk as a cash transaction. With NetSuite, the registration information is integrated into NetSuite so that member and payment information is visible alongside the rest of the financial data without any extra effort. BYC’s bank accounts are connected to the banking module in NetSuite which makes it easier to record bank transactions and reconcile accounts.
Mobile App and Employee Expenses
BYC also takes advantage of the NetSuite mobile app to allow their volunteers to submit receipts for reimbursement. In the past, volunteers would text pictures of receipts or submit paper copies for reimbursement. With the employee expenses in the NetSuite mobile app, everything is in one place and receipts no longer need to be manually attached to transactions. The mobile app also allows for board members to view their dashboards on the go.
What Did the Migration From QuickBooks to NetSuite Look Like?
Our Technology Solutions Group assisted BYC with migrating master record data (chart of accounts, vendors and members/donors), open accounts payable and six years of general ledger (GL) history from QuickBooks to NetSuite. Our team also connected the banking module to BYC’s bank accounts and assisted with the first bank reconciliation, as well as configured the Celigo CloudExtend connector between Outlook and NetSuite.
For the migration process, BYC picked a cut-off date that they would stop entering transactions into QuickBooks. Prior to that day, our Technology Solutions Group mapped the existing GL accounts and classes from QuickBooks to the new program and classification fields in NetSuite so that historical reporting would line up with the new dimensions in NetSuite.
When the cut-off date arrived, our team grabbed BYC’s QuickBooks data and loaded it into NetSuite. Since most of the mapping and configuration had been completed in advance, the final migration of data only took a few hours.
In total, the setup of NetSuite and the migration of financial data only took about 30 days.
Need Help?
If your organization is ready to make the switch from QuickBooks to NetSuite contact us online or give us a call at 410.685.5512 to see how you can accelerate efficiency with a single, cloud-based solution.
