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."