Meeting Minutes
From: Will Potter
To: File
Date: April 29, 2015
Subject: Meeting Minutes for ParishSOFT ConnectNow Accounting Kick-off Meeting of 4/29/15
Attendees:
- ADW: Will Potter, Terry Farrell, Tom Schmidt, Michele Thiec, Sandy Kountz
- Parish Reps: Jenna Parks, Brenda Canter, Mary Linehan
- ParishSOFT: Matt Dent, Karen Kasenow-Johnson, Lola Killey
The following agenda was the focus of the April 29, 2015 ParishSOFT ConnectNow Accounting suite Core kick-off meeting. ParishSOFT provided the agenda and the attached documents which provide additional text to the items in the agenda.
The two items highlighted in yellow had detailed discussion about them that generated some concern and the need for follow-up conversation with ParishSOFT. The details of the conversations held to-date with ParishSOFT regarding these concerns are provided in the respective section of the agenda below.
Archdiocese of Washington
ConnectNow Accounting
Kick-Off Meeting Agenda
- Sales-to-Service Handoff
- Review of the contract
- Discussion of any special requirements
- Consultation & Strategy
- Implementation Team
- Diocesan team
- ParishSOFT team
- Discussion of Roles
- Communication Plan
- Weekly Status Meetings
- Determine date/time
- Communications from Arch/Diocese to Parishes
- Communications from ParishSOFT to Arch/Diocesan Project Manager
- Implementation & Roll out
- Considerations
- Overview discussion: (details will be handled at the planning meeting)
- Parish Rollout Groups
- **Organization List
- **Standardizations
- **Chart of Accounts – follow up webinar meeting to review and explain Chart to be scheduled
The Chart of Accounts (COA) discussion created a great deal of initial reaction by individuals in the room as we learned the natural expense account number had a length of four as opposed to the Microsoft Dynamics GP length of five. This caused some intense discussion during the meeting.
After meeting follow-up:
Although the initial reaction caused concern, it was determined after the meeting that the change is not significant. The change in the account number format may require some rework in CHRIS but that was not unexpected. A meeting has been scheduled for early next week to regarding the Chart of Accounts. The meeting will be attended by ParishSOFT, Parish / School. Finance Operations Team, and IT.
- Database Created (**these items are required in order to create the database)
- Orientations
- Diocesan Training
- Explanation of Chart of Accounts and Mapping Meetings (pre-work for parishes)
- Beginning Balance vs Data Conversion
In regards to moving data moving from Microsoft Dynamics GP into the ParishSOFT ConnectNow Accounting suite, ParishSOFT initially stated that not all data could be imported. They stated that data such as but not limited to opening balances and vendor information would have to be manually entered by someone in the Parish or within the ADW. This caused extreme concern to the core team members in the meeting. This manual method for moving GP data to the ConnectNOW accounting suite was contrary to both statements made to the committees of the user community and ADW staff at previous meetings and previous calls with ParishSOFT that data would be captured through data imports.
After meeting follow-up:
Shortly after the meeting, I spoke with the ParishSOFT team about this topic and they changed their initial response and said that an automated data import approach would be available to move GP data to the ConnectNOW Accounting suite. We are awaiting more detailed specifications from ParishSOFT that will assist us in having a more technical conversion with ParishSOFT to address all of our concerns surrounding data imports.
- Organization Training
- Evaluation & Culmination
- Questions