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No good business depends solely
on either people or technology. It's
the mix of trusted consultants and
world-class software solutions that
is most critical in solving a
company's compelling business
problems. The same process applies
to organizations like the Democratic
National Committee.
When the DNC needed to improve
its internal accounting system and
facilitate the task of reporting to
the Federal Election Commission
(FEC), it turned to AVF Consulting
and Navision Financials for the
solution. Andrew Fass, president of
AVF Consulting, had been working
with two other election campaign
committees, the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)
and the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee (DCCC) to
implement a similar accounting and
FEC reporting solution.
To accommodate the DNC's unique
processing and reporting needs, AVF
Consulting utilized Navision
Financials' built-in customization
tools (C/SIDE) to adapt the standard
Navision product to the DNC's
requirements. AVF Consulting
developed a fully integrated
"add-on" that was based on a
thorough analysis of the DNC's
business.
The primary purpose of this
add-on is to automate the laborious
task of generating the FEC schedules
that must be filed on a periodic
basis. These schedules have become
more complicated in recent years
with the increase in "soft money"
that the DNC and other national
political committees now raise to
help fund evermore expensive
political campaigns. Tight
restrictions on the use of soft
money raised from corporations, PACs
and unions creates the need for a
system that can give management
constant feedback on how funds are
being raised and spent. The Navision
add-on gives the DNC constant access
to data that is formatted in line
with FEC reporting requirements,
which is crucial for the DNC to help
achieve its ambitious political
goals each election cycle.
The DNC uses Navision Financials
to manage the committee's
disbursements, including operating
expenses and political contributions
directly to candidates. To provide a
frame of reference, the 1996
election cycle created approximately
$130 million in contributions-all of
which needed to be closely
documented, along with the
expenditure of each dollar. The FEC
reporting process occurs
periodically. The challenge facing
the DNC was that the content of
these reports changed 100 percent
with each new reporting period.
"I'd been working with a similar
organization for more than eight
years," says Andrew Fass.
"Unfortunately, the product I was
representing at the time could never
be adapted to my clients" specific
requirements. Because the system was
inflexible, we were never able to
meet their needs 100 percent. Most
accounting systems today still
suffer from this problem. When the
DNC came to me about the FEC
reporting issue, we had been working
with Navision Financials for
approximately six months. It was a
perfect fit, as they needed a
solution that was structured yet
offered maximum flexibility to match
the DNC's business processes. With
Navision Financials we finally have
a solution that meets our clients'
requirements 100 percent."
"Our previous system was based on
another system and employed Oracle
databases and Crystal Reports
software," says Courtney Ruby, the
DNC's deputy chief financial
officer. "Essentially, AVF adapted
an excellent accounting package to
our specific environment. In most
organizations, there are two
different systems for accounting and
FEC reporting. By customizing
Navision, we're able to handle both
processes from within the same
software, which has proven to be a
great efficiency and time-saver for
us."
As deputy chief financial
officer, Ruby serves as liaison
between the CFO and the controller
of the DNC. Her responsibilities
include supervising the FEC
reporting process. Ruby notes that a
key factor in the success of the
project is the fact that although
Navision Financials maintains our
accounting on an accrual-basis, we
are able to produce the FEC reports
on a cash basis.
"Navision was heaven-sent," says
Ruby. "Maria Galdo (the DNC's
controller who manages the FEC
reporting) is working normal hours
now, whether we're involved in
reporting or not. That is something
that has never happened within the
DNC," Ruby notes with a smile.
"We had several obstacles to
overcome, but overall I would say
the implementation was virtually
seamless," says Ruby. "AVF managed
and supported the entire process,
which greatly diminished the level
of stress in the department. I think
you can point to one critical
success element of the entire
implementation: trust between
business partners," says Fass. "We
knew the DNC's project represented a
challenge for us, but we also knew
that we had a solid product and a
good group of people to work with at
the DNC. The results are a fully
integrated solution that meets the
DNC's requirements across the
board."
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