Sage Accpac ERP Grows Efficiencies for Pulse Crop Association

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Canada is a world leader in the production and export of pulses. Expanding the market for lentils, beans, peas, and chickpeas, collectively known as ‘pulses’, requires a team of dedicated individuals focused on everything from promoting health and nutrition attributes to reducing trade barriers. That's why Canadian pulse crop growers, processors and traders rely on the expertise of Pulse Canada; an industry association working to advance the industry by focusing on market access, market growth and innovation, transportation, environmental issues, and a wide range of initiatives and services for members.

Since 1997, the association has focused on expanding the pulse crop market globally, and in 2006, the organization merged its operations with the Canadian Special Crops Association (CSCA) to pursue its mission more efficiently. To complete the merger, the two associations had to reconcile their different accounting systems, so it was an ideal time for Pulse Canada to evaluate new accounting software solutions.

A Need for Flexibility

Brian Gilchrist, Finance Manager of Pulse Canada, says the association's previous accounting software wasn't able to handle their growing needs. Pulse Canada required more sophisticated functionality and better security to guarantee data integrity.

"One of the issues was that you could go back in and actually change a transaction from previous periods, so there were some problems with security and audit trail in the old software," explains Gilchrist.

Pulse Canada considered other software packages, but the dynamic features in Sage Accpac ERP made it stand out. "There were a few proposals put out, but Sage Accpac allowed the flexibility and the customization that was needed for the level of reporting we do," he relates.

An Efficient Solution

Pulse Canada chose to implement the AP, AR, and GL modules for accurate financial management. According to Gilchrist, Pulse Canada's merge with CSCA brought about efficiencies by eliminating duplicate efforts to reach the same goals. However, bringing the two organizations together did present the need to develop a more complex accounting system using intercompany accounts. Without the right software, this task would be time consuming and cumbersome. "Sage Accpac can handle this process very easily," Gilchrist advises.

In addition, Pulse Canada receives government funding, which requires special tracking. "When there are certain types of costs incurred, we don't claim the actual, we claim a per diem," describes Gilchrist. "That was posing a challenge because our old software wasn't powerful enough to track two separate sets of numbers. Sage Accpac ERP allows that." Now, Pulse Canada can easily keep a set of books managed by the standard accounting method and at the same time, show data based on the government's standards without requiring double data entry or separate record keeping.

21st Century Systems Pulls It All Together

To implement and customize Sage Accpac ERP, Pulse Canada relied on the expertise and knowledge of 21st Century Systems, a Sage Software business partner specializing in accounting and management consulting. Their team of Sage-certified professionals worked to properly install Sage Accpac ERP and then design customizations to match Pulse Canada's needs.

"The team at 21st Century Systems has been great to work with," Gilchrist explains. "The staff is very prompt in getting back to any concerns I've had. I would definitely recommend 21st Century Systems to other businesses."

"We had 21st Century develop a specific membership invoice template which already indicates current membership levels and allows members to write in additional contributions. That has been really helpful," he added. With this form in place, Pulse Canada bills for membership dues, ensuring that the association is receiving the correct amount from each member. Before Sage Accpac ERP, invoices lacked information about current membership levels, leaving members to figure out how much money to send in for dues.

Customized Reporting

Pulse Canada needed the ability to customize reports and manipulate data into meaningful information. Using Sage Accpac ERP helps Pulse Canada save time by eliminating excess data entry and facilitating report design.

"Prior to implementing Sage Accpac there were still a lot of reports that required hand-entering data," explains Gilchrist. Now, users quickly and easily pull reports through an automated integration between Sage Accpac ERP and Microsoft Excel. "We just use the Excel-based financial reporter, which is very helpful. Eliminating this manual process saves time and prevents errors."

"Our old software limited us to prebuilt reports. Sage Accpac lets you design your own," Gilchrist continues. "We've been able to customize reports so they are more visually appealing to the people who use them. We've also been able to customize reports so that the information gets to our program managers a lot better. 21st Century Systems has helped us develop our custom financial reports. We also used them to design specific templates, such as our cheque-printing templates and our invoice-printing templates."

Ensuring Accuracy in a Secure Setting

Sage Accpac ERP has a number of features to ensure the data is accurate and secure. Administrators can control user access to limit and restrict certain activities, ensuring that only authorized personnel change data. By pulling together numbers from all modules, Sage Accpac ERP easily compiles information, eliminating manual data re-entry and reducing errors. "The nice thing about Sage Accpac is that it gives you a lot of places where you can double check your numbers, so you know with certainty that your numbers are correct," Gilchrist emphasizes.

Sage Accpac ERP has proved to be the ideal solution for Pulse Canada and it will continue to serve the association well into the future. "It's a much more powerful system than what we had before," Gilchrist declares. "We are taking advantage of a lot of the features, but I’ve never had a situation where I think we've used it to its max. It can definitely grow with us."