7/13/12: Implementation, training and more

Owned by David Geilhufe
Last updated: Jul 13, 2012
3 min read

 

Office Hours Agenda

We prepare an office hours agenda based on the questions and topics outlined by the grantees who have submitted questions & topics in advance.

  1. Implementation
    1. Orientation to resources
      1. NetSuite.org Implementation Guide
    2. Homework
  2. Training
    1. Orientation to resources
      1. Grantee Training Resources
    2. Homework
  3. Anatomy of the Fundraising Bundle
  4. Householding
    1. Householding
  5. Preparing your 990
    1. Use the UCOA methodology
  6. Entering Bulk Transactions
  7. In-kind donations

Grantee Questions

These questions have been submitted in advance 

Soi Dog Foundation
Principal topic from my perspective is to gain a macro understanding of the steps and considerations involved in implementing Net Suite and the associated fund raising bundle. Some ancillary topics to this include.
Recommended steps involved (methodology etc.)
Staging of the implementation steps.
Some idea as to the amount of time required for implementation
End user buy in - Discussion regarding how best to achieve end user buy in. Often a crux point for software solution implementations.
Training of end users - I would assume this is normally done via "train the trainer" type approach with someone from the organization (us) training other staff.
Methods/tools etc. for data import.
A minor fourth point: Capabilities if any for handling the processing of donations in multiple currencies.

Women's Shelter Program of San Luis Obispo County
1. The donor/fundraising bundle, covering topics such as:
a. Basic functionality of the bundle – I see that there are many added fields and reports. What are some of the thoughts, goals with these fields?
b. Ways to streamline processing donations in bulk (for example, event related transactions where many transactions of the same type are received on the same day)
c. In-kind transactions – there are references to allocation journals – how do we record an in-kind donation with a zero value on the donor record but a value for the in-kind revenue and offsetting in-kind expense.
d. Households – what is the best way to match donors that give individually and/or as part of the household?
2. How to prepare the financial statements in Form 990 format – is this a custom developed report that I can write using the custom reporting functionality?

Frequently Asked Questions

These FAQ entries cover topics discussed in office hours.

How do I process transactions in bulk (e.g. Bulk Donation Entry)?

For example, you run an event and you know have a hand written sign up sheet and a stack of checks.

NetSuite provides a few tools to help you with this:

  • Quick Add (Customers (donors) only, not transactions (donations, pledges)
  • CSV import. Create an excel file to upload your mass transactions
  • Memorized transactions. Create a memorized transaction & then just change the customer name.
  • Mass update. If transactions already exist in NetSuite, they can be updated en-mass.

In general, the csv upload is the best way to bulk upload transactions for most nonprofit use cases. Donation and pledge templates are included in the SuiteDonor bundle.

Third party tools can also ease this process greatly. 

How do I prepare my 990?

We recommend you follow the Unified Chart of Accounts (UCOA) methodology (http://nccs.urban.org/projects/ucoa.cfm). UCOA provides an excel file that maps their standard chart of accounts to the 990 line numbers.

  1. Each account in the chart of accounts is associated with the appropriate line of the IRS form 990. Create a custom field the account record [view account, click customize, then new field] for the 990 line number. 
  2. Expose the line number in an income statement or other financial report organized by account.
  3. Export report to Excel
  4. Total values using Excel's subtotal functionality for each IRS 990 line item
  5. It is also possible to built a NetSuite financial report that does this directly by grouping the accounts by IRS 990 line number. This requires  financial report builder skills.
How do I record different in-kind donation values on the fundraising & accounting sides?

Since a donor transaction always has an accounting impact, the amount you enter associated with the in-kind item record (Charity Accounting Classification Best Practices: Alternative Model) will be that accounting impact. If you need to record an additional or alternative amount for that in kind donation, it should be recorded in a custom field on the item record. The Suite Donor bundle automatically includes a field for deductible value on item records, but that field would need to be exposed in the transaction form (i.e. the user interface).