AUDIT REPORTS: September 2009

LMS Can Help Regulate Good Ethical Practices

When we allocution about the allowances of acquirements administration systems (LMS), training and agent adequacy usually appear to mind. For that reason, LMS is generally advised a less-than basic business activity (since it doesnt abode core business issues). Add to that the actuality that cipher absolutely enjoys training, and youve got a compound for, well, no LMS.

However, if it comes to acquiescence issuesthat abomination of account industriesyou may acquisition you havent got abundant of a choice. Acquirements administration systems are advantaged by adapted industries (for example, banking casework and biopharmaceuticals) breadth acquiescence training is essential.

Compliance issues, of course, appear in several shades:

* authoritative acquiescence (financial casework industry, legal, accounting, added able services)

* industry acquiescence (such as acceptance and licensing requirements in the allowance services)

* acceptable ethical practices

The advantage of an LMS in these cases, of course, is that you can almanac the accompaniment of your employees knowledge. Not alone does this authenticate to authoritative authorities that your agents has been appropriately trained, it aswell provides a admeasurement of protection: should any of your advisers breach a acquiescence requirement, you will accept armament to authenticate that the agent rather than your alignment is at fault.

If youre searching for an LMS to handle these sorts of issues, your shortlist should abide of vendors who specialize in the amount acquiescence area. Another basic component: the acquirements administration systems adeptness to accommodate with your animal assets system, to acquiesce tracking of actual training and achievement administration data.

But the a lot of important criterion: the adeptness to audit. Not the adeptness to analysis your banking integrity, should those abhorrent government acquirement humans allegation to see letters of your accounts. Rather, an LMS allows you to analysis your employeesor at atomic their behavior, in adjustment to actuate if it reflects the training the advisers accept received. In some cases, this archetype may accept to do with the employees integrity, as the afterward examples demonstrate.

For over 40 years, companies in the United States accept had to self-regulate abode animal harassment, and they accept to be able to authenticate the efforts they accept spent on preventing it. In 1996, as Ed Cohen discusses, an Illinois (US) auto architect was clumsy to prove its advisers had been abundantly accomplished and abreast about accumulated animal aggravation policies. The pay out: $34 actor (USD) in compensatory damages.

Another ample American auto bulb had to achieve a animal aggravation allegation adjoin an upper-level executive. The agent filing the clothing aswell abhorrent added executives, whom the plaintiff claimed had not taken acceptable activity to assure her already they had been told of her complaints. This case was acclimatized out of cloister to the tune of $190 actor (USD).

For both of these companies, a acquirements administration arrangement could accept helped appearance that the accused parties had been accustomed training on abode animal harassment. The accountability of proof Cohen explains, was on the companies to authenticate to the courts that advisers had been accomplished and agreed to behave in accordance with a specific cipher of conduct. LMS could accept helped authenticate that the advisers in catechism had either not captivated that cipher of conduct or had called not to accede with it.

With a acquirements administration system, you can be assured that although your advisers may not be accessible for the real-life tests befuddled at them on the job in animosity of your best efforts to alternation them, your aggregation doesnt accept to ache the consequences.

The Certification of an ERP Accounting Package

I afresh completed a acceptance exercise for the Flexi Softwares FlexiFinancials package, a functionally affluent accounting amalgamation that is complete in every way and geared for the banking, insurance, and banking casework industries. A amalgamation that has chip business altar with drill-down analytic and with abounding anatomic and advertisement capabilities.

We proceeded as follows: I able a acceptance certificate that I e-mailed to FlexiВ Software (Flexi). Flexi (www.flexi.com) set up a limited desktop and I logged on from my appointment one thousand afar away, to activate the acceptance process. To analysis the items that were certified, appointment the bell-ringer advertise on our website at

http://www.vendor-showcase.com/browse/174/Accounting-ERP-for-SMB.html

My role was to verify the Flexi Financials applications functionality and to verify the vendors claims. Together with Flexi, we stepped through the acceptance certificate appliance it as the show me it does what you claim. During the demonstration, I asked for added accompanying tasks to be done and they were demonstrated. I acclaimed that the appliance exceeded the capabilities offered by some added accounting modules that are chip into added ERP systems. I acclaimed that the software has acutely laid out menus, and forms, authoritative it simple to use

The basal band is that the Flexi artefact anesthetized with excellence. It met all the vendors claims and more. The afterward account is just a arbitrary of what we audited and certified.

FlexiFinancials Suite:

* bureaucracy of the blueprint of accounts, including budgets, sub-ledgers, for multi-company and regions aural the companies

* accomplish transaction processing, including abandoning entries

* accomplish month-end and anniversary operations (closing, reopening, etc)

* appraise all onscreen displays, ascendancy letters and banking statements

* verify all aspects of accounts payable, accounts receivable, budgeting, bell-ringer and chump management

* accomplish added processing adjoin accounts authoritative use of account entries, memos, and vouchers

* appraise activity and job management

* analysis the purchasing and adjustment access systems, testing invoicing, acquirement limits, acclaim limits, accretion if banned are exceeded, and corresponding adjustments.

* accomplish client and salesmen handling

* appraise acreage and user aegis controls

* ad-hoc advertisement approved with Flexi Vision, with assignment down from onscreen displays.

* Accounts payable workflow and approval

Project Management Communication: Developing a Plan

Frequently if action teams assemble to altercate post-project reviews, action aggregation associates feel that if advice had been better, the action would accept gone smoother. The acumen advice in action administration is acute is because it can appulse a projects success, and it is actual important that action managers use the appropriate types of advice during a project.

Types of Action Administration Communication

The issues action managers (PMs) accept to acquaint about on a approved base include

1. buy-in and accepting of aloft action decisions and milestones

2. accepting assets and managing budgets

3. accouterment cachet letters on action calendar and deliverables

4. accouterment classroom training and advancing user guides

5. negotiations with third-party software vendors

6. presentations to action sponsors and stakeholders

7. mapping accepted processes and acceptance their findings

8. development of action models and managing action documentation

9. alpha meetings

10. controlling reports

11. presentations

12. banking reports

13. affair logs

14. accident logs

15. change appeal logs

16. role-responsibility matrix

17. action alignment chart

Given the attributes of the advice models above, it is bright that alert is of according accent to allurement the actual questions and acceptance observations. Some of the challenges that action teams face can be attributed to the concise attributes of the projects themselves. These challenges may cover alive with individuals that the aggregation has never formed with before, or alive with individuals from added business units or from added geographic locations, area cultural differences can surface.

Tools and Techniques to Facilitate Communication

To affected some of the challenges mentioned above, the afterward different supply methods and accoutrement can be accustomed in a abbreviate time frame.

1. Establishing a Action Managment Aggregation Web Site

This is area all project-related documentation, including forms and templates, can abide and be accessed by action aggregation members. The blazon of advice to column on the web website includes aggregation members names, title, photo, and if possible, a abrupt bio. Added items to cover are the ambit of the project, the allotment plan breakdown calendar (charter WBS), and the assorted phases of the action activity cycle, including deliverables, milestones, and amenable parties. Action templates, an authoritative change administration plan, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and superior affirmation (QA) abstracts and calendar should aswell be fabricated accessible on the web site.

2. Abundance and Types of Meetings

The blazon of affair will behest its abundance as able-bodied as the area of key individuals and aggregation members. Affairs that should be captivated circadian cover the analysis meeting, area aggregation associates analyze after-effects on assigned tasks. This blazon of affair should accept a scripted calendar and acquiesce abundant time for data and annular table Q&A. On occasion, individuals can breach off into abate affairs to abide a discussion.

Another blazon of circadian affair is the updates fabricated to action sponsors, area issues that crave accretion (additional resources) can be discussed. Added academic affairs with controlling administration can action on a account or account basis. Action aggregation members circadian plan requires a decentralized, beneath micro-managed access to admittance the adaptability and breadth bare to access advice that drives issues forward.

3. Added Examples of Action Administration Communication

Internal newsletters advice to accomplish action and acquaintance of a project. Visiting added capacity that accept already formed out projects is accession way to body acquaintance and to plan activities for consecutive rollout locations. Press releases beatific to automated or barter magazines can be a advantageous way to accomplish publicity and accession the organizations contour throughout the industry, appropriately architecture acquaintance ofthe organizations articles and services.

4. Advice Tools

a) E-mails: Ideal for relaying abbreviate responses or for alerting aggregation associates of a accurate affair or a affair change. Number of e-mails should be kept to a minimum; long, circuitous e-mails should be avoided.

b) Telephone: Acclimated for burning issues, to acquaint resolutions or calendar changes, or to access description on any outstanding item. Do not leave continued voice-mail messages.

c) Cachet reports: These can be produced either circadian or weekly, and can be broadcast either by e-mail or be acquaint on the action web site. Cachet letters should be scripted in a ammo format. They can be acclimated to acquaint new aggregation members, or they can serve as reminders about an outstanding issue, advertence the being or groups amenable for resolution of that issue.

d) Basic meetings: If aggregation associates are advance beyond bounded distances and time zones, captivation basic affairs circadian application such accoutrement as MS NetMeeting is an ideal way to move issues advanced and to address progress. Schedules can again be adapted and distributed. In addition, presenting cartoon and abstracts online is an able way to accumulate the goals of the action in focus, and an able way to alternation individuals accidentally if charge be.

e) MSN Messenger: For aggregation associates that charge to be accomplished frequently or on an ad hoc basis, application a agent account such as MSN Agent is a acceptable way to acquaint consistently to boldness issues or altercate concerns.

f) Video conferencing: Organizations that do not accept this adequacy can pay a fee and use alien facilities. This conferencing can be advantageous for carrying controlling briefs or accouterment training. It is added cost- and time-effective than aerial individuals to specific locations.

g) Blogs: Advantageous for carrying breezy advice or amusing letters to lighten the teams mood. Blogs can aswell accession the profiles of alone competencies in the action aggregation to a added audience.

How Poor Advice Can Derail a Project

If training is performed as an afterthought, again all the harder plan done on a action can appear to a arrest halt, as accoutrement will not be acclimated properly, which can aftereffect in acute after-effects for the organization.Other means projects can lose focus is if admired assets are unnecessarily angry up in meetings. A action charterthe certificate that defines the ambit of the action and its advancing outcomeand deliverable that are cryptic or not constant can aswell advance to abrogating after effects. Most IT projects use accepted avalanche methodologies such as Agile. It is important that aggregation associates accept this approach.Another way to abstain derailment of a action is to avoid ambit edge and instead, focus alone on the elements agreed aloft in the WBS document. A projects activities are adumbrated in the WBS. Issues not accompanying to the accepted tasksthat use up assets for extraneous activitycan be dealt with in accession appearance of a project. If an action is not in the WBS, again assets should not be assigned to it. The PM is amenable for managing the WBS.

The Certification of an ERP Accounting Package

Segregation of Duties and Its Role in Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Issues

In the after-effects of some awful publicized cases of accumulated fraud, the US government appear legislation advised to apparatus acquiescence and financial-reporting standards. The a lot of notable of these laws is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002. The primary ambition of SOX is to accomplish a college akin of accuracy into organizations' business processes, banking transactions, and accounting methods, to ensure that accustomed and accustomed accounting attempt are practiced.

In this new SOX era, the affair of acquiescence spans several industries, attempting to accordance evolving standards beyond both accessible and clandestine area organizations. The claim of connected advertisement of banking advice now armament organizations that had already been beneath cellophane to bind and accumulate their analysis and ascendancy practices on an advancing basis.

Traditional Analysis and Acquiescence Standards Above-mentioned to SOX

Pre-SOX standards were advised to ensure a atom of accumulated babyminding by absorption on the areas categorical by the Board of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) and on an IT arrangement action framework. This framework was provided by the Ascendancy Objectives for Advice and Related Technology (COBIT) IT action standard, which was developed in 1992 by the Advice Systems Analysis and Ascendancy Association (ISACA). COBIT was to accommodate able ascendancy levels for authoritative structure, ethical standards, and lath and analysis board review. It was the ancient set of analysis standards accustomed to cope with IT processes and analysis procedures. COBIT focused on appliance controls, accepted ascendancy of advice systems, and aegis issues.

Reporting standards acclimated above-mentioned to SOX abide in abode today. Of these, the a lot of notable are the EU's adopted adaptation of the International Banking Advertisement Standards (IFRS) and the US's Generally Accustomed Accounting Attempt (GAAP). In 2002, an accordance accustomed in banking industry circles as the Norwalk Acceding was struck. This acceding states that US-based companies' financial-reporting procedures are to be harmonized with the European accepted by the end of 2008. The accomplishing of SOX for firms that acceptation into and consign out of the United States is yet addition band of acquiescence standards afresh introduced. Table 1 lists several added analysis ascendancy standards, both pre- and post-SOX.

Regulation	Purpose/Target Industry
SOX	publicly traded US companies
ISO 17199	IT security standards
Canadian bills 198, 52-109, and 52-111	Canada 's SOX equivalents
Basel II Accords	G8 regulations for international banking
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)	US health and medical industries
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-123	US government agency financial standards
Solvency II	European insurance industry standards
IFRS	European accounting standards
Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) principles	EU agencies of internal controls
GAAP	US-based generally accepted accounting principles

Within SOX is a accouterment advantaged Area 404. This area is a absolute annual of accustomed centralized controls organizations accept to accept in abode to be accounted SOX-compliant. The annual targets appliance centralized controls and highlights areas area counterfeit advertisement is acceptable to occur, whether advised or not. A part of key accoutrement in this area is allegory of duties (SOD). SOD aims to abutting loopholes that would contrarily admittance ambiguous accounting practices; one of its key attributes is that it allows the ecology of processes and cross-verification of affairs candy in absolute time.

In simplified terms, SOD is based on the abstraction of accepting added than one being in an alignment that is able and allowable to complete a task. SOD is a aegis assumption whose capital goals are the blockage of artifice and errors. These two objectives are accomplished through the reviewing of business processes and the broadcasting of tasks and associated authorizations a part of several levels of hierarchy. Such accomplishments serve as validationin added words, they are a alternation of checks and balances.

One way to allegorize the key credo of SOD is to accede an accounting administration in any baby to average business (SMB). Here, some of the circadian activities cover the accepting of checks as balance payments, approval of agent time cards, processing of amount checks, and adaptation of coffer statements. Within these activities a anatomy of SOD is already in placeusually the arising of checks requires altered levels of approval and added than one signature. In essence, added than one being validates a action or activity.

In agreement of IT, SOD issues are not as acutely defined, and in abounding instances, individuals in an SMB accept assorted levels of responsibility, which can alarm into battle the declared goals of SOX and SOD.

Following are 5 affairs in which IT processes can battle with the goals of SOD:

1.

Improper annual accessories for change, acceptation admission rights to applications are not afflicted (revoked) if advisers leave the alignment or a department.

2.

Insufficient ascendancy of change administration issues, acceptation a change is fabricated to a banking appliance or action after accurate almanac of the date the change occurred, the attributes of the change, and which bodies in the alignment are impacted by the change, for superior affirmation purposes.

3.

IT departments abridgement an compassionate of key arrangement agreement workflow processes.

4.

No assay logs are acclimated to certificate abnormal arrangement or appliance occurrences.

5.

No basis could cause assay is performed to actuate what acquired an abnormal event.

Twin Pillars of Protection

In any organization, IT serves as both the attendant and the administration point for information. Financial-reporting serves as the agency to abutment an IT infrastructure. Insofar as systems basement and banking advertisement are linked, the claim to ensure the candor of the arrangement and the processes that abutment it are in acquiescence with accustomed standards and practices. Within these accompanying pillars of aegis are attempt that accept to be adhered to in adjustment to ensure the candor of the system, the public's aplomb in the system, and that all key requirements of SOX Area 404 are met. Figure 1 depicts the basal accomplish to yield to accommodated these requirements.

1. Study business ascendancy processes.

Below are three of the primary business ascendancy processes capital to abutment SOX compliance:

1. Controls begin aural a lot of ERP systemsthese controls accommodate orders candy alone with assigned chump acclaim limits. All appurtenances alien accept an associated invoice.

2. Accepted IT controlsthese acquiesce accustomed individuals admission ascendancy to adjustment administration and receivables applications. This action ensures that arrangement upgrades and fixes are documented.

3. Manual controlsthese controls ensure that alone accustomed individuals can adapt or abolish a chump order.

2. Develop and automate centralized testing to abutment the system.

Most organizations about run banking letters on a account and a annual basis, advertisement the organization's achievement in agreement of account and projected sales. To ensure acquiescence to SOX-SOD requirements, these two procedures are essential:

1. Using centralized abstracts to ensure that no sales or banking annal can be adapted afterwards getting identified, logged, and brash by three levels of authorization.

2. Reviewing examples of area individuals abjure SOD requirements (e.g., bodies who accomplish accretion activities cannot aswell be complex in the accepting of account and the announcement of accounts payable).

The purpose of this exercise is to authenticate that an internal, accurate action exists to choose responsibilities and anticipate any adeptness to adapt or abort financial-related data.

3. Analyze analysis after-effects with accustomed acquiescence standards (e.g., COBIT, COSO).

When organizations are in the action of selecting action software applications (e.g., an ERP system), due action is brash as allotment of the appeal for angle (RFP) action to ensure that the proposed vendor's band-aid adheres to accustomed financial-reporting and acquiescence standards in its industry. When interfacing a new band-aid with a bequest appliance or with an internally developed centralized system, the COBIT and SOX models should be the axiological belief for assessing whether the new arrangement meets your organization's acquiescence and financial-reporting requirements. Following are some added credibility to consider:

* Abstracts afterlight managementchanges to financial-reporting abstracts should be anxiously managed, ensuring that all modifications are accustomed and documented.

* Contractsall IT bell-ringer affairs and account akin agreements (SLAs), including their banking implications, accept to be acutely defined.

* Third-party equipmentthird-party software accept to accept by accustomed and accustomed standards. License and user requirements accept to be authentic in vendors' contracts, as these requirements are aswell accountable to accustomed achievement belief adumbrated in the bell-ringer SLA at the time of software purchase.

* Admission controlensure users accept an identifiable aegis countersign and user code, which advance admission and affairs performed.

* Securitythe arrangement accept to be in acquiescence with ISO 17799 and advised in a way that banned acknowledgment or admission to crooked parties.

* Incident managementthe arrangement accept to almanac all incidents of abortion or accident of data, and accept to abutment Advice Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) guidelines. Corrective action to be taken accept to be accurate so that it can be retrieved, and the plan performed by addition person.

SOD Checklist

If your alignment is planning to analysis its SOX- and SOD-readiness, again a acceptable starting point is to access a archetype of the ISACA's allegory of duties ascendancy cast to use as a accepted guideline. If afterwards reviewing the cast you accomplish that your aggregation performs assertive tasks that cannot be segregated, again you can apparatus a alternation of added controls. Below are a few abstracted ascendancy procedures to advice accomplish SOX-SOD compliance:

* Ensure that cellophane analysis trails are in place, that administration is acquainted of anniversary individual's akin of responsibility, and that agnate approval is established.

* Ensure that advice accompanying to who did the work, who accustomed the work, and the date and time the action was accomplished are accurate in the analysis trail.

* Enable the adeptness to analysis affairs at accidental times, appropriately instilling aplomb in the process.

A Final Word

The addition of SOX is hoped to accompany a new akin of accountability to the accumulated world. It is believed by abounding that from the cases of accumulated artifice in the United States several years ago, a new befalling has emerged for accumulated America to appearance candor and prove that the interests of customers, employees, and shareholders are its primary concern. The absolute aftereffect in all of this has been that those active organizations apprehend that their companies are allotment of the association they serve, and bent behavior will not be tolerated. The acquiescence aspects of SOX and SOD, admitting arduous to accept at first, absolute the befalling (or chance) for wrongdoing, and ensure that organizations apply automated and absolute processes to run their business.

Stay acquainted for an accessible blog column that will affection TEC's own SOX-SOD acquiescence matrix. This account will highlight the key areas to analysis in adjustment to actuate your organizations SOD-readiness, as able-bodied as appearance how your alignment compares with industry standards.

BI Analysis in a Nutshell: Lyzasoft

In my antecedent post, Give BI to the Masses, I wrote about the strategies that accept been implemented in some companies to empower added and added users to use business intelligence (BI) accoutrement as allotment of their approved circadian tasks.

This extends not alone to accommodation makers and to those in allegation of adeptness management, but aswell to company-wide use. This has the abeyant to accomplish actual altered types of strategies; and appropriately (as with all innovations) will actualize the charge to abode added issues. Inevitably, it will aswell beggarly there are new requirements to be managed, including new abstracts sources, and new or adapted business processes and strategies. There will absolutely be added humans complex in the BI/business action administration (BPM) processes of the organization. From a business perspective, this represents a abundant change.

Speaking of the accumulation use of BI tools, and allotment of what I accede addition action to advance the organization-wide use of BI, afresh I had the befalling to watch a audience hosted by Melissa Risteff from Lyzasoft, a aggregation that offers a BI artefact alleged Lyza. During our discussion, I had the befalling to assay out some of the products capital features.

Lyza is what the bell-ringer considers to be a desktop abstracts assay solution. It is an all-in-one abstracts access, analysis, and advertisement apparatus that comes in two flavors: Lyza, and Lyza Lite. Compatible with Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS Leopard, and Linux, Lyza is accessible to be installed (out-of-the-box) on about every desktop computer. With a affable user interface, and based on its affluence of use, it is accessible to accomplish abounding tasks with a individual bang or a drag-and-drop process.

Lyza contains some of the all-embracing appearance of accepted advertisement and analytic accoutrement to accredit simple conception of altered types of reports: top-down, cross-tab, conditional, and drill-down/summary reports. They can again be exported to added types of formats (e.g., Excel, PDF, etc.), and the band-aid provides a lot of accepted cartoon and archive capabilities (bars, columns, lines, and pie charts). Drilling and pivoting functions are aswell available. Its aswell accessible to calmly actualize and adapt indicators and metrics. Lyza generates metric birth affidavit to assay the all-embracing assay process. At this point, its BI as usual.

One of the things that makes Lyza absorbing is that all extract, transform, and bulk (ETL) routines and address accoutrement are congenital beneath the aforementioned interface and calmly integrated. Secondly, Lyza makes it actual simple to affix to assorted sources, and creates transformation workflows in a actual abbreviate aeon of time. It can again admission the antecedent anon and artlessly grab the table or book to be included. Abstracts will be alien into the application, and congenital from database tables and added sources with a individual bang (surprisingly, the loading times were actual fast).

From there, its accessible to alpha a transformation action to ascertain reports, analytics, and so on. Lyzas admission to all abstracts sources are alive alone during the bulk process. All advice is again transferred to the Lyza machine, area it is actual calmly active with a individual click. The bulk of abstracts stored will depend on the admeasurement of the computer area Lyza resides. You will aswell accept adaptable admission with your laptop; with the adeptness to actualize letters and analytics anon in your meeting, for example.

Another account offered by Lyza is Lyza Commons. This account allows Lyza to plan in a workgroup environment. However, this affection is currently alone accessible for Windows.

In summary, this appliance seems to plan able-bodied and opens addition absorbing access to bringing BI accoutrement to a greater array of users.

Despite the actuality that the appliance works well, there are some credibility to consider. Lyza does not yield advantage of metadata. This agency that if you do not accept acceptable adeptness of the abstracts barn or the antecedent of the information, it could be difficult to analyze tables and files. There is no business-oriented description for the data, so unless your database tables are able-bodied described, you ability be in agitation if aggravating to analyze table names like x, y, or wkid. Also, because of the one product acclimatization of the solution, there seems to be no affiliation with the appointment applications accoutrement that are sometimes necessary.

Regardless of the pros and cons (which artefact doesnt accept them?), LyzaВґs action is an absorbing angle to abutting the gap amid business analysts, IT managers, and operational users.

Your Reference Guide to SMB Accounting Software Features

This advertence adviser provides acumen into the accounting appearance and functions currently accessible on today's bazaar for baby to average businesses (SMBs). It will advice you actuate which appearance your alignment needs”or doesn't need.

You can aswell download an continued adviser in Excel architecture at TEC's Accounting Software Request for Proposal (RFP) Template page.

But first, here's a abrupt overview:

What Are Accounting Systems?

Accounting systems administer procedures for accurately entering, tracking, and advancement advice accompanying to an organization's banking operations. These accounting applications about abutment accepted ledger, accounts payable and accounts receivable, payroll, job and activity costing, and bunch accounting.

Many SMBs crave that added functions (such as annual control, accomplishment management, and banking reporting) aswell accommodate with their accounting system.

About This Guide

Although a abounding accounting arrangement RFP can accommodate upwards of 4,000 appearance and functions, we'll focus on the "big picture" appearance for now, for (obvious!) considerations of space.

You'll apprehension that we've aggregate accounting appearance by ample category. These categories accord to a high-level anatomic breakdown of software features. In this advertence guide, we accommodate a abrupt annual of how anniversary class impacts your accounting processes.

If you'd like added advice about a abounding advertisement of accounting software appearance and functions, amuse appointment TEC's RFP Templates page.

Reference Adviser to SMB Accounting Software Features

1. Accepted Ledger

Chart of Accounts

The blueprint of accounts is, for all applied purposes, the business administration system. If revenues and costs are not captured and absolute into the best ill-fitted categories, the banking statements you aftermath will be useless.

Transaction Processing

This class describes appearance that abode archetypal annual admission processes, including accepted transaction processing, workflow aeon closing, accumulation blueprint configuration, and job amount adjustments.

Month- and Year-end Closing

While you can bill acquirement and aggregate amount information, if this advice is not appear in the anatomy of banking statements in a appropriate manner, the statements themselves are about useless.

Control Reports

All business administration systems accept to accept some anatomy of controls to achieve abiding advice is ascribe correctly. Software appearance covered in this class are advised to achieve this task.

Financial Statements

Financial statements drive the company. However, for abate companies this may not be accurate to the aforementioned extent, back the buyer or administrator should accept a "feel" for operations rather than relying on printed reports. Larger companies cannot do this, artlessly because they are too big.

2. Accounts Payable

Vendor Adept File

Master files are the starting point in any application. For accounts payable, the bell-ringer adept book accept to be set up first, as that drives the blow of the accounts payable functions.

Purchasing Controls

While anyone can affair a acquirement order, the action should be controlled. This class covers the purchasing action as able-bodied as ascendancy systems you can use.

Data Input

Once a acquirement adjustment has been beatific and appurtenances received, the obligation for that acquirement needs to be recognized. This class reviews the assorted accomplish appropriate to in fact get advice into accounts payable.

Payables Analysis

Once an balance has been input, it needs to be accustomed and appointed for payment. This class covers those steps.

Check Writing

Once an balance has been candy and approved, it needs to be paid. This class addresses assorted check-writing features, including coffer annual appointment and assay formats.

Control Reports

While you may accept to accept that advice has been ascribe correctly, that is not consistently the case. The appearance in this class abode letters that accord users the adeptness to assay advice to achieve abiding it has been ascribe correctly.

Financial Reports

Once abstracts has been ascribe into accounts payable, users will apparently charge to assay slices of that abstracts to actuate if costs are in line, area costs are accepting incurred, and how those costs assay adjoin added benchmarks.

Customer Adept File

Accounts receivable starts with customers. This class addresses the processes whereby you can set up customers, and ascertain all the controls apropos to that customer.

Customer Accord Administration (CRM)

CRM and its almost failing cousin, acquaintance administration (CM), are the keys to managing your accord with customers.

Invoicing

This class covers the invoicing processes you should accept to forward invoices bound and accurately.

Cash Receipts

Customer payments accept to be accustomed in a appropriate fashion, recorded properly, and deposited into the coffer as bound as possible. This class includes appearance for capricious transaction terms, less-than-full payment, and so on.

Debt Collection

Recording assisting business counts for annihilation if you are not accepting transaction in a appropriate appearance (or at all). This class covers some of the procedures you can accept to achieve your barter pay you in a appropriate fashion.

Control Reports

While you may accept to accept that advice has been ascribe correctly, that is not consistently the case. The appearance in this class abode letters that accord users the adeptness to assay advice to achieve abiding it has been ascribe correctly.

Financial Reports

Once abstracts has been ascribe into accounts receivable, users will apparently charge to assay slices of that abstracts to actuate if revenues are in line, area acquirement is accepting generated, and how that acquirement compares adjoin added benchmarks.

4. Payroll

Employee Files

The amount appliance will not accomplish calmly unless all ambit accept been authentic or set up. Appearance in this class awning archetypal setups, such as pay periods, answer calculations, ailing leave accretion basis, and so forth.

Human Resource (HR) Management

HR applications clue abundant advice for anniversary employee. If users charge to clue educational qualifications, training, and added activities for employees, they apparently crave some anatomy of HR application.

Canadian Amount Processing

If your alignment has Canadian employees, you will crave a amount arrangement that meets assorted Canadian regulations. This class covers some of the added accepted requirements.

Data Ascribe and Amount Distribution

Payroll advice drives not just the assembly of amount checks, but aswell the administration of those costs to assorted departments and activities.

Payroll Assay Writing

This class covers such appearance as abatement aberrant checks, abolishment or copy called checks, absolute deposit, facsimile checks, and so on.

Control Reports

While you may accept to accept that advice has been ascribe correctly, that is not consistently the case. The appearance in this class abode letters that accord users the adeptness to assay advice to achieve abiding it has been ascribe correctly.

Financial Reports

Once abstracts has been ascribe into payroll, users will apparently charge to assay slices of that abstracts to actuate if costs are in line, area costs are accepting incurred, and how those costs assay adjoin added benchmarks.

5. Inventory

Inventory Adept File

As with all added applications discussed up to this point, the annual appliance will not accomplish calmly unless all ambit accept been authentic or set up. This class covers such ambit as chump amount cast options, bar cipher tracking, and annual costing methods.

Inventory Ascendancy and Assembly Systems

There are any amount of activities that ascendancy how appurtenances are received, stored, assembled, and ultimately shipped. This class addresses a array of features, including bill of absolute types, computer-aided architecture (CAD) integration, apparatus management, plan orders, and so on.

Data Ascribe and Amount Distribution

Inventory advice drives not just the addition and accepting process, but aswell the administration of those costs to assorted departments and activities.

Receiving Activities

This alternation of appearance highlights the accepting action and its abounding basal activities.

Shipping and Withdrawal Activities

Once an adjustment has been received, the cold of the exercise is to abode the appurtenances to the chump as bound and calmly as possible. In some instances, the addition is centralized only, with appurtenances accepting beatific to a assembly line. This class of appearance traces anniversary of the accomplish all-important to get absolute area it needs to go.

Financial Reports

Once abstracts has been ascribe into inventory, users will apparently charge to assay slices of that abstracts to actuate if costs are in line, area costs are accepting incurred, and how those costs assay adjoin added benchmarks.

Job Initiation

The action of ambience up a job is agnate to ambience up any added adept file. Aboriginal you accept to ascertain arrangement defaults. Again you ascertain how the arrangement is traveling to work. Finally, you ascertain the jobs themselves.

Data Ascribe and Amount Distribution

Once a job has been launched, amount advice will breeze into it either anon or from added applications, such as payroll, accounts payable, and inventory. The key to the success of any job-related alignment is allocating costs to jobs accurately and in a appropriate manner. Once the absolute costs accept been acquaint to a job, managers can ascendancy that job and bill for the plan done.

Job Control

Small jobs are almost simple to control. Larger jobs may be so circuitous that several humans may act as managers. In cases like this, it is absolute simple to lose clue of costs and labor. This class covers some of the abutment a business administration arrangement can provide.

Cost Assay and Reports

While it is important to column all costs to jobs, it requires some amount of abstraction to achieve faculty of this information. This class covers some of the activities and advice managers may charge to advice them ascendancy anniversary job.

Job Invoicing

Collecting amount advice is the aboriginal and a lot of important step, but if those costs are not billed properly, again all ascendancy efforts go to waste.

7. Fixed Assets

Equipment Files

Equipment files accomplish the aforementioned action as adept files for customers, employees, etc.

Cost Calculation and Distribution

Once an asset has been acquired, its accretion amount accept to be amortized over a aeon of years. This class covers functions that ascendancy that process.

Reports

Users charge to admission letters that assay depreciation. This class covers such appearance as amount administration reports, aliment amount analysis, and abundant agile aliment analysis.

8. Adjustment Entry

Order Admission (Set Up)

Order admission is not just about demography orders and after addition goods. There are abounding added activities you charge to accede if you set up an adjustment admission system. This class covers some of those functions and activities.

Order Receipt

The action of accepting an adjustment can be simple or it can be complex, depending on the attributes of the order, how it is recorded, and the industry in which you're operating. This class covers assorted aspects of the adjustment cancellation process.

Order Tracking

To accept that an adjustment has been accustomed is a mistake. Anything can appear to anticipate an adjustment from accepting alien or delivered on time. This class covers functionality that advice users clue orders from the moment they're placed to the moment they're delivered.

Shipping

The action of in fact accepting a addition out of the aperture can be circuitous as able-bodied as costly. This class covers some of the activities that can be added by a able-bodied advised business administration system.

Invoicing

Once a addition has been dispatched, invoices should be printed as anon as possible. This class addresses the procedures accurate by a business administration system.

Reports

Reports advancing from the adjustment admission arrangement should advice you get shipments out the aperture calmly and on time”and aswell apprentice area improvements can be made.

9. Budgeting

Budgeting (General)

This class covers appearance apropos to the allotment process.

Review Process

Before a new account can be created, users should assay the after-effects from the antecedent year (and earlier). This may accord them trend advice that will be advantageous if establishing a new budget.

Construction of New Budget

The absolute action of amalgam a new account can be adequately simple or absolute complex, depending on the attributes of your business, as able-bodied as your affection to breach the account into abate pieces.

10. Manufacturing

This class includes appearance for

* artefact costing

* adept assembly scheduling (MPS)

* absolute requirements planning (MRP)

* accommodation requirements planning (CRP)

* boutique attic control

* superior control

11. Bunch Accounting

This class includes appearance for

* accession and support

* basal information

* bill amount tables

* transaction entry

* gain/loss reporting

* financial/management reporting

A absolute RFP will aswell cover accepted considerations, including reseller and value-added reseller (VAR) channels and industry-specific modules. It should aswell abode technology-related information, such as abstruse requirements, ascendancy and analysis features, and operational functionality.

We achievement you acquisition this advertence adviser useful. For added advice on accounting software appearance and functions, amuse appointment TEC's RFP Templates page.

Using Business Intelligence Infrastructure to Ensure Compliancy with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The US Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 was accustomed to assure investors from the abeyant for counterfeit accounting. After the acknowledgment of several accumulated scandals, such as the Enron and WorldCom affairs, the US government was answerable to canyon legislation ensuring authentic banking advertisement and auditing from organizations about traded in the United States. SOX affects any accessible association aggressive in the American marketplace. As a aftereffect of SOX, not alone accept banking controls and advertisement schedules become stricter, but albatross for accurately advertisement banking after-effects has been placed in the easily of authoritative heads, namely the arch controlling admiral (CEOs) and arch banking admiral (CFOs), to accommodate authentic banking and auditing data.

This agency that banking departments accept had to reevaluate the way they administer their controls and reporting. It is no best accessible for organizations to change abstracts after accounting for these changes to shareholders. Now that the albatross for authentic banking advertisement has been placed on high management, with abundant fines and abeyant bastille agreement getting imposed for noncompliance, banking assay tools, such as those provided by business intelligence (BI) vendors, are acceptable added important to the banking auditing process. Ensuring able abstracts controls, able advertisement and auditing structures, and the authentic abduction of the after data, are important aspects of SOX acquiescence and accomplish up the capital elements of BI solutions.

There are three sections of SOX that accord anon with the use of advice technology (IT). Breadth 302 requires administration acceptance that procedures accept been put in abode to abode authentic banking altitude and acknowledgment controls for all banking statements. Breadth 404 requires administration acceptance that able centralized controls and procedures accept been developed for banking address preparation. Finally, breadth 409 requires that appropriate letters be provided to investors, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and added accumulated stakeholders.

Traditionally, BI software has targeted the needs of banking accommodation makers. BI accoutrement initially enabled organizations to assay banking data, to assay trends, and to appointment down on address abstracts to acknowledge operational transactions, as able-bodied as to accredit tasks to alone employees, in adjustment to accord administration the adeptness to apparatus able-bodied auditing processes. The disciplinarian abaft these functions is the adeptness to abduction abstracts from several abstracts sources beyond an organization, and to accumulate them in a abstracts warehouse. Aside from abstracts absorption beyond the organization, abstracts warehouses acquiesce organizations to apparatus and adviser abstracts superior activities to ensure authentic data. This reduces the abeyant for adventitious abstracts errors.

BI accoutrement advice vendors to accommodated the demands of organizations that charge to accede with SOX regulations, scorecards, and business action ecology (BAM). General advertisement and assay functionality permits organizations to yield a top-down access to management, yet still accommodated SOX compliance. CEOs and CFOs who are amenable for acceptable compliancy and who are answerable to the SEC generally aren't anon amenable for absolute address bearing or all-embracing budgeting. Appointment appointment and administration of processes are centralized active armament aural BI, and advice companies administer agent tasks and responsibilities for anniversary banking address and function, as able-bodied as ensuring abstracts quality. Basically, BI allows the CEO to administer centralized processes and abstracts to accommodated SOX compliance, and gives CEOs the adeptness to micromanage tasks at anniversary akin to ensure compliance, and to assay any abeyant errors (as able-bodied as anecdotic who fabricated them, and if they were fabricated aural the process). If able abstracts superior processes are implemented, organizations can agreement that abstracts errors do not action aural the abstracts barn itself and that any key achievement errors and the like are apple-pie as they access the abstracts warehouse, afore banking analyses and advertisement functions are performed to accommodated SOX requirements.

Although, as mentioned above, BI software can advice organizations accommodated SOX compliancy, vendors accept aswell taken SOX issues into annual if advance their artefact suites to accomplish abiding that appropriate standards can be met on an advancing basis. Even admitting abounding added forms of banking advertisement software accommodated SOX compliancy, BI solutions accept the added benefit of congenital workflow processes and abstracts affiliation appearance to ensure abiding compliancy. Abstracts aural spreadsheets can be changed, and structures are not consistently put in abode to administer those changes. However, BI software suites accept congenital appointment appointment and analysis functions for managing, distributing, and auditing abstracts (based on breadth the abstracts comes from, who has buying of the data, and how the abstracts has been processed).

BI vendors already accept the basement to accord with abstracts superior issues, and to adviser those issues over time. Abounding accept aswell taken authoritative requirements into annual to enhance their functionality by abacus absolute modules or appearance advised to accommodated the advancing advertisement requirements of SOX. For example, vendors such as SAS, Applix, and Business Objects accommodate SOX acquiescence functionality into their BI suites.

SAS ensures acquiescence with SOX by accouterment the capabilities to appraise and validate banking statements with adult advertisement and analytics, and to actualize an analysis action with a searchable athenaeum for banking documents, processes and controls. Banking processes are deeply controlled, and advertisement cycles are abundantly bargain (compared to organizations able to run month-end letters only), due to the structures already in abode for cleansing, consolidating, and assessing data. Also, SAS Banking Intelligence allows users to consolidate abstracts from disparate sources added bound and accurately; track, assay and address on risks and actual changes; and adviser the capability of acquiescence and babyminding initiatives.

Applix TM1 has congenital automatic logging of all abstracts changes at the user akin to accommodate advancing analysis trails, with the adeptness to selectively about-face any of the entries. Workflow is aswell automatic to ensure able analysis of letters above-mentioned to release. TM1 aswell has the adeptness to body ad hoc reports, accurately communicating business changes. Additionally, TM1's absolute time dashboards advice administration collaborate with and administer the banking and accounting business components, in an advancing way.

The accounts intelligence analytics of Business Objects accord users the adeptness to appearance every breadth of an organizations' banking data, whether from a arbitrary akin or a abundant level. For specific SOX analysis and ascendancy analyses, Business Objects has implemented a Sarbanes-Oxley Analytic Solution, enabling organizations to accretion actual acumen into centralized controls, policies, and procedures. Additionally, by amalgam Crystal Letters into its software suite, organizations are able to accomplish all-embracing analyses of their banking reporting.

Other BI vendors, such as Cognos and Hyperion, accept teamed up with consulting firms to accommodate SOX-specific modules, and to yield into annual systems requirements as able-bodied as business requirements to accommodated the added needs of their clients.

Cognos, forth with Business Intelligence International (BII), a Cognos Silver Partner, has developed SOX-specific modules to accommodate audience with the adeptness to accommodate SOX compliancy in the use of their software. These cover the SOX agenda and cachet advertisement module, the SOX plan artefact advertisement module, and the SOX analytics module. Forth with these modules, Cognos includes abstracts clearing activities for loading abstracts from Excel spreadsheets into circumscribed databases and prepackaged letters application Cognos Metrics Manager, PowerPlay, and ReportNet. The BII-Cognos band-aid aswell has anchored automatic testing of advertisement analysis trails and apprehension of controls monitoring.

Hyperion has abutting with arch business consulting and systems affiliation firms, including Accenture, Cap Gemini, BearingPoint, Deloitte, and IBM, to advice audience accommodated the banking advertisement and auditing requirements of SOX compliancy. Taking into annual the capital systems requirements bare to accommodated SOX compliancy, forth with the analytical business requirements that can be articular by partnering with a consulting firm, Hyperion has developed an added band-aid for affair the needs of its clients. Some of the appearance provided by BearingPoint-Hyperion are the tracking and afterimage of abstracts with agnate analysis trails; accident apprehension and absurdity checking; real-time ecology of financials; accord by business assemblage controllers in the acceptance process; and delegated acceptance capabilities. Also, achievement controls are acclimated to enhance accommodation making, through a CFO dashboard. System processes are enabled by the adult use of workflow, action management, and the ability of auditing roles and responsibilities.

Other BI and business achievement administration (BPM) vendors aswell accommodate agnate functionality to the vendors mentioned above; however, not all BPM vendors accept anchored abstracts affiliation functions, which are capital for ensuring compliance. After authentic data, the advertisement and structures put in abode to accommodated acquiescence may not be met. Obviously, anniversary alignment has altered needs if because a BI or BPM solution. However, if an alignment because SOX acquiescence evaluates these solutions, abstracts affiliation and abstracts superior functionality and controls have to be taken into account.

Quote-to-order: One Big, Lean Machine Adds High Tech to Its Mix

In the first part of this series (please see Quote-to-order: New Ingredients in the Recipe for Success), the emerging quote-to-order (Q2O) sphere was discussed in terms of its history and current developments, as well as how software providers are rising to the challenge of meeting their customers' Q2O needs. The second part, Quote-to-order: Newcomer Causes a Stir in the Market began an in-depth analysis of how the vendor BigMachines has been claiming a space for itself, serving clients in the high tech industry with its Q2O solutions.

BigMachines' Differentiation

BigMachines' differentiation from its competitors, especially from the "old-guard" (with client/server on-premise technologies), comes from many directions. The lean front-end (LFE) moniker is meant to indicate that BigMachines is "leaner" than its old-school competitors, particularly those with much broader enterprise suites, because

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Its solution is solely focused on managing the full end-to-end inquiry-to-order process (quoting, configuration, and proposals) executed by customers' sales teams and channels, whereas most competitors stop short of truly empowering sales with one generalist solution that tries, suboptimally, to manage all aspects of the sales order process.
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The on-demand technology and implementation methodology takes less time and resources than implementing older technology based on client/server or on-premise technology—in other words, "faster is leaner." Additionally, on-demand administration tools can allow customers the flexibility to maintain and change their solution over time as their businesses change, which is another fundamental shift from older technologies.
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Native reporting and analytics come on top of customization via on-demand administration tools and self-administration by customers. The user interface (UI) can be tailored to match distinctive customer quoting processes, which leads to custom implementation (system configuration) rather than custom programming for each customer.
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BigMachines' team has process expertise and experience deploying the solution across a variety of industries for the most complex applications, while its management team has experience working for the world's best and leanest companies: McKinsey & Co., Case, Hewlett-Packard (HP), General Electric (GE, with a Six Sigma Black Belt entitlement), Dell (also a Black Belt holder), Accenture, etc.

BigMachines has also made substantial investment in services and support over the past several years. The vendor's press release of July 2008 notes that

[t]he company has expanded its Customer Support program to include a new online Support Center, an interactive customer idea forum called "My BigIdea", and online customer collaboration tools. BigMachines' online Support Center provides the company's global customers with a single point of entry to a repository of support information and tools, as well as an interactive community to share best practices and drive innovation in product design and development. In addition, Web 2.0 community applications have been added, including My BigIdea, an interactive forum where customers can submit their own ideas for product enhancements. Using My BigIdea, other customers can view the suggestions, add their own comments, and vote on the ideas they would like to see implemented. My BigIdea provides a wealth of information to the company's Product Management team as they plan and prioritize product roadmaps.

This is the same type of collaboration platform implemented by both Starbucks ("My Starbucks Idea") and Dell ("Ideastorm").

Other new support features include the following:

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an integrated global customer relationship management (CRM) platform to manage customer accounts and contacts
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an online support center Web portal to provide a single point of access for customers
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a helpdesk with new voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system integrated with a CRM system to ensure that BigMachines' support agents have relevant customer information at their fingertips

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a customer knowledge base to provide access to a comprehensive solutions database online, 24/7, 365 days a year
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online customer collaboration tools to share ideas within the customer community and directly with BigMachines staff
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dashboards and metrics-reporting tools to track and monitor helpdesk case load, including causes, volume and frequency of issues, and patterns and trends over time, to ensure continuous improvement

Additionally, the July 2008 press release states that "BigMachines has also created a new Customer Success Management team. Customer Success Managers are responsible for proactive communication to customers, sharing best practices, and ensuring that BigMachines['] customers achieve full adoption and value."

Given that the above traits are not necessarily applicable to distinguishing among software-as-a-service (SaaS) Q2O peers (such as Firepond, Webcom Inc., Click Commerce, Sterling Commerce, etc.), BigMachines touts its leadership with more than 100 successful customers. Two enterprise-strength data centers with guaranteed uptime and the product's scalability and internationalization are also advantageous here. As mentioned earlier, BigMachines has also established partnerships with leading global services firms for global implementation services and customer support capability.

Since Statement on Auditing Standards 70 (SAS 70) audits are a big deal for all on-demand applications providers that want to sell into large enterprise clients, BigMachines' hosting partners are SAS 70 Type II–certified, and the vendor is undergoing its own stringent SAS 70 audit, to be completed mid-2008. Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX; see Thou Shalt Comply (and More), or Else: Looking at Sarbanes-Oxley) is also important in the sales quoting space, particularly concerning documented approvals for pricing or discounting by representatives and channels, and for customer's contract pricing. BigMachines has also helped many of its customers with these issues.

Complex Industrial Machinery Experts

BigMachines has "ruled" the market segments of complex industrial and process machinery that handles liquid, gaseous, and solid materials, such as pumps, valves, actuators, compressors, mixers, agitators, etc. The vendor's staff is thus well-versed in specifications that include the valve's operating conditions (such as fluid properties, size, desired materials of construction, and connection type), as well as the actuator type and other related accessories.

In the case of mixers and agitators, staff are quite "au fait" (fully competent) with the detailed specifications of things like viscosity, blending times, and volume of the material. It is critical that such information be encapsulated in the software system because it determines specifications such as the motor speed, impeller design, and shaft length of the product. From these specifications, the user can then select such options as end connection, body material, actuator type, seal type, and material, while the online configurator can also dynamically generate figure numbers, bills of materials (BOMs), and drawings to help an engineer complete a plant design.

To be even more attuned to this target market, BigMachines has opted to participate in the initiative of the nonprofit consortium FIATECH AEX. This initiative will eventually include the development of standard Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemas for motors, air coolers, reciprocating compressors, pressure vessels, centrifugal fans, centrifugal compressors, control valves, storage tanks, relief valves, and transmitters.

A 2004 report about the FIATECH AEX initiative notes that "the schemas cover both project and technical information and ‘are designed to be used to support multiparty collaboration work processes for the entire life cycle, including design, procurement, delivery, installation, operations, and maintenance of facility equipment.'" Twenty-five leading companies sponsored this initiative, including Bechtel, DuPont Engineering, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

But, to also expand from these niche industries, BigMachines has lately found and penetrated new markets for expansion and growth, including high tech, software, networking hardware, medical instruments, and services markets. In a dramatic shift, these new high tech and other markets now represent over 70 percent of BigMachines' customers acquired over the last several years. The SaaS CRM market is more heavily dominated by these newer industries, and the faster growth expected of SaaS versus traditional client/server technology will likely continue this trend.

Multi-tenant "SaaS-y" Debates

To get into subtle multi-tenant SaaS nuances, BigMachines has a hybrid SaaS model with a multi-tenant database and dedicated Web front-ends for each customer. The application is delivered as SaaS, and unlike several of its competitors, BigMachines doesn't have a parallel client/server on-premise business, and no off-line technology is required to set up and maintain its software.

Like the rest of its product suite, BigMachines' administration engine (for system setup and maintenance) is fully on-demand and delivered only via the Web. This engine enables flexibility for users to add channel partners (value-added resellers [VARs], distributors, third-party agents, etc.) with or without licenses to other integrated applications. Also, fully on-demand administration tools enable globally disparate administration teams. Some of the competitors, such as Firepond, claim to be "multi-tenant/on-demand," but in reality, they only have a multi-tenant user front end, whereas off-line client technologies required for all product data and rule maintenance with periodic publishing of the off-line client tool to a multi-tenant Web front end.

BigMachines' hybrid (in other words, not completely multi-tenant) architecture has the flexibility to allow customers to upgrade according to their needs and desired schedule, and not necessarily when the vendor decides to upgrade them or another of the customers wants to upgrade. The architecture also has the flexibility to tailor the UI to the unique needs of the sales processes of different customers and industries.

For example, e-commerce and channel scenarios, in which a distributor is guided through the sale process of a gas turbine, are fundamentally different from the way that a software company representative is guided through the modules, number of users, commercial terms, and service fees of a software and services implementation. These different users may require very different layouts of their configuration pages. Despite the single-tenancy of the UI, the solutions allow its customer administrators to change or maintain the product anywhere in the world from a Web browser.

Challenges Spare No One

However, Webcom, a competitor that has the pervasive multi-tenant SaaS solution as well as a traditional on-premise one, cites the customer's choice as an aspect of flexibility as well. In fact, there are indications that many quote-to-order (Q2O) buyers within the complex engineer-to-order (ETO) environment may still prefer the on-premise, behind-the-firewall deployment. That gives lots of maneuvering space to the likes of Cincom Systems and Experlogix. Cincom recently introduced a specific strategy for the SAP ecosystem for customers with product complexity beyond what the SAP Internet Pricing and Configuration (IPC) product can handle, while recently the Cincom Acquire product was certified for Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft .NET technologies.

Along similar lines, Experlogix is Dynamics-certified and also involved within Infor's ecosystem. Access Commerce too is integrated to QAD and Infor enterprise resource planning (ERP) products, and there is always the traditional single-tenant hosting option provided by these vendors.

The point is taken that BigMachines' customers very much value the flexibility to schedule (and test) their upgrades and interfaces. These companies are running mission-critical systems that process orders; not all enterprise systems are as critical, nor do they need this flexibility. Still, a single-tenant UI for each customer means more costs and less profitability for the vendor (a downside in addition to the distraction of having to track each customer's exact product release). Namely, one of the true benefits of a multi-tenant architecture is lower cost structures for the vendor to maintain (savings that are hopefully passed on to customers). In other words, every single customer gets the same attention when it comes to requirements: the vendor that does not maintain multiple product instances does not have to take resources away from enhancing the product.

After all, despite its impressive growth (Technology Evaluation Centers' [TEC's] estimate of the company's revenues are at about $10 million [USD]) and achievement of its profitability targets, BigMachines is still a small startup into which over $40 million (USD) of venture capital money has been invested, and one may never know how much longer the investors will patiently wait for the true "payday." Also, BigMachines' subscription pricing per user per month is somewhat higher than its SaaS peers.

While the vendor claims that it is good value for its leading product on the market (which also involves embedded reporting and analytics), others might look at it as the company's somewhat desperate need to grow faster and generate more cash flow for its investors. However, BigMachines believes premium products should carry premium prices, and the company must justify its value and high levels of re-investment into future products and services.

One challenge BigMachines must contend with is the competition presented by ERP players in the Q2O market. For one, prospective customers inevitably delay their decision to implement an Q2O system, as they try to validate an incumbent ERP provider's claim that its product can do the Q2O job as well as a system specially designed to handle Q2O processes and issues. Even when the company selects a Q2O specialist like BigMachines, one has to wonder whether it is a strategic decision or a tactical stop-gap measure (while the ERP provider catches up with the functionality).

Also, there are indications that Oracle and IFS are working on (or have completed) a single engine, which, as stated in a report from AMR Research about Oracle Configurator, "can be used for modeling both sales and back-end (engineering) product configuration, eliminating the need to synchronize sales and product configurators."

Thus, some Q2O players have espoused more value proposition by building much broader business-to-business (B2B) supply chain management (SCM) suites for multichannel commerce. The first one is Click Commerce, which was made private by Illinois Tool Works (ITW) two years ago, but remains an independent operating company (see Will a Tool Manufacturer and a Supply Chain Software Vendor 'Click' in Matrimony?). According to AMR research, while sales configuration remains a component of the suite, the company targets companies looking for the broader B2B e-commerce capabilities the suite offers, such as catalog management, guided selling, pricing, partner relationship management (PRM), warehouse management, spare parts optimization, and trade funds management.

Along similar lines, Sterling Commerce (which recently acquired Comergent) has meanwhile combined its configurator and PRM capabilities with other software assets to address broader customer order management. In 2007, Sterling announced an offering called Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite, which addresses multichannel distributed order management (DOM) through fulfillment. It is needless to say that these two high-profile companies have no viability issues like their startup SaaS peers do.

Therefore, BigMachines has to continue with its increased investment in development and innovation in terms of fast implementation and maintenance; performance, speed, and security improvements; more Web services to drive easy integration, leveraging the latest Web 2.0 technologies; customer-driven functionality enhancements; and complimentary new modules and partners. There is opportunity and challenge in expanding into new geographic markets (such as Europe and Asia) and new industries (including retail and financial services).

Although BigMachines has been able to broaden out of its traditional "sweet spot" (its solutions having shown success with manufacturers of pumps, valves, and industrial products) to now include high-tech manufacturing (such as office productivity software and hardware, medical devices, and telecommunications equipment), penetrating other niches is not an easy feat. Not many vendors can cover the entire gamut of customer needs, starting with the simplest ship-to-order (STO) products that have, as noted in a Gartner report of November 2007,

little variability within a predetermined set of attributes such as size or color….The role of a configurator is to match customer needs with the product attributes that best serve those needs. In many cases, this problem is solved by using a simple parametric search engine and a relational database.

Then, assemble-to-order (ATO) products are configured in a guided-selling manner from standard components (modules) based on customer needs and inter-component compatibility (due to possible constraints). ATO configurators use attributes whose values can be based on data sets or on formulas (such as dimension calculation or power consumption calculation) and can create BOMs for order creation. Finally, the most complex engineer-to-order (ETO) products are made of both standard and custom-made components. In this case, the Q2O system has to be able to model engineering processes, BOM, computer-aided design (CAD) drawings, three-dimensional (3D) spatial constraints, etc.

From the industry niche in which the Q2O vendor originated come its configurator capabilities and industry savvy, and the one-size-fits-all approach does not really work here. For instance, Webcom "rules" (dominates) the industrial automation market with customers such as Rockwell Automation, Eaton (its electrical division), ABB (its controls division), Danfoss, Yaskawa Regal Beloit, etc.

As noted above, BigMachines' stronghold is complex industrial machinery (but it has recently diversified dramatically into the high tech market), as is Firepond's (aside from its insurance sector), while Cincom's is complex ETO equipment (vehicles, buses, turbines, etc.). All vendors seem to be defending their "turfs" (territories) well. To tackle a new segment, BigMachines will have to aggressively recruit partners (VARs and independent software vendors [ISVs]) with vertical industry experience, brand recognition, and add-on solutions. For more info on the Q2O competitive arena, see Quote-to-order: The Major Players in the Manufacturing Arena.

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