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This page was designed specifically for Applied Business Services' Goodwill
Industries member clients.
Goodwill Client Success Story
TRAVERSE is the Answer for Notable Non-Profits
March 24, 2002
Many people think of Goodwill as a place that sells used clothing and household items. But as Jackie Freeze will tell you, Goodwill Industries is much more. Jackie is the CFO at
Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Our goal is to help people with vocational barriers gain employment and independence,
says Jackie. Goodwill has been serving people in the region for over three decades. Through innovative job training and employment services, more than 15,000 individuals have acquired the skills necessary to move
beyond government dependency and into financial independence and enhanced self-esteem.
Although Goodwill is a non-profit organization, they have a unique business approach that has enabled them to earn
their own way while helping those they serve do the same. More than seventy-five percent of Goodwill's operation revenue is generated through highly successful entrepreneurial activities, such as their eleven retail stores. There they sell donated items as well as a small quantity of new goods to the general public; the net from this operation goes
back into programming and overhead. Some of the clients they
serve are in paid training or work experience programs in the
retail stores. Goodwill also has a number of governmental
contracts with county and state agencies to train and help move
the people they serve into more self-sufficiency: "A number of
our clients work in a manufacturing-type environment in which they are paid and also learn valuable work skills," says Jackie.
"We also work closely with the financial community, training
some of the people we serve to take positions in the banking environment."
Jackie and her accounting staff were processing transactions in batches on a mainframe computer via
communication with the corporate headquarters. Jackie began searching for a new accounting system just before Goodwill announced that they would no longer process the general ledger and subsidiaries.
"We wanted additional flexibility anyway-as it related to all of our systems-and better analysis capabilities we needed," says Jackie.
"We
started looking at vendors who provided PC-based applications
that could be networked."
Goodwill Industries hosted a CFO Conference in Washington, D.C. and invited a number of accounting software vendors to do presentations for its members. Even though Jackie had evaluated systems from Great Plains, MIP and SAGE (MAS 90), she selected TRAVERSE from Open Systems, Inc. Jackie made her final decision after a demonstration by Maureen Williams from Applied Business Services in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It was a decision based not only on the demo, but also on article research and conversations with Maureen Williams and her staff as well as other TRAVERSE users.
"I was convinced it was the route to
go," says Jackie.
The General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Bank Reconciliation and Fixed Assets TRAVERSE applications are now in use at Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. The flexibility of the TRAVERSE source code enabled Applied Business Services to create custom financial statements tailored to Goodwill's detailed reporting needs. Another modification written by Applied Business Services seamlessly links Goodwill's ADP Payroll Service to
TRAVERSE General Ledger.
"One of the major benefits of using TRAVERSE has been the
reduction in processing time," says Jackie. "Along with that has come improved efficiency in terms of staying on top of problems and issues that come up in our environment. Any information that has been entered into the system via subsystems or directly is immediately accessible. This is particularly useful when circumstances require close monitoring and I need to know exactly where we are financially. We can deal with variances and questions during the month rather than waiting until we get everything in at the end of the month. It makes the actual month-end closing process with the production of reports much more expedient. The accessibility to prior year data for comparability is readily available s well."
Jackie likes being able to see the status of accounts at any point in time during the month.
"We have immediate access to budgets," she says.
"Budgeting is much more flexible because amounts can be easily shifted between months, new operations can be incorporated when appropriate, and modifications and changes are much easier to handle. Going forward, I hope to utilize the budgeting capabilities of TRAVERSE to do some
'what if' analysis. But we're already light years ahead of where we were."
Thirty-two Goodwill offices now use Open Systems, Inc. software products. In the next several years, the Southern Piedmont office plans to add the TRAVERSE Purchase Order and Job Cost applications. As they move into more distant
territories, they plan to expand their existing system. In addition, they will be looking at more data interfaces with TRAVERSE, particularly for their retail division.
Past Events
August 6, 2007 - Come visit our booth at the Goodwill Summer Learning Event for Retail,
Marketing and Development in
Washington, DC for a free demo of Sage Fundraising 50.
FREE DEMO!
Summer Learning Event
Sage Fundraising 50 Software presented by Applied Business Services, Inc.
Designed for ease of use and affordability, Sage Fundraising 50 (formerly Paradigm) offers supreme value for growing organizations that need a fundraising workhorse. Sage Fundraising 50 supports all core traditional fundraising tactics and outreach programs, including volunteer, member and event management -- to help you reach new ground in donor acquisition, fundraising results and operational efficiency.
Come see it in action!
Sage Fundraising 50 helps you target your
prospects and solicitations to maximize the rate and level of your results.
The system includes Streamline and Online Gift Processing.
Flexible built-in reporting to make monitoring your campaign success easy!
Can't make the conference? Call or e-mail ABS to for a free demo CD!
April 16-17, 2007 - Come visit our booth and attend our free seminar at the Goodwill Spring Learning Event for Workforce Development, Information Technology and Finance in Atlanta, Georgia
FREE SEMINAR!
Tuesday, April 17th 2007
TRAVERSE Not-for-Profit Accounting Software presented by Applied Business Services, Inc.
Come see the powerful reporting features of the latest version of Open Systems TRAVERSE NFP Accounting Software.
Version 10.5 TRAVERSE has hundreds of new features including Electronic Fund Payments, E-Time Entry, Document Scanning and a CRM module. See the robust financial reporting and budgeting modules.
It is designed to meet the complex requirements for hiring
individuals with disabilities.
The system includes Piecework, Hourly, and Health and Welfare payroll types that meet NISH contract and Department of Labor requirements.
Client information is provided in a central location for informational purposes that include key data such as level of disability, contact information and medications and other necessary information.
As with all ABS products this software is
programmed in SQL with source code provided for easy customization.
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