The YMCA of Monroe County drives financial efficiencies and best practices while preserving resources.
The Challenge
A long-time user of Sage 100, the YMCA faced new requirement mandates its existing software could not support.
The Solution
Sage Intacct is the ideal platform to future-proof the YMCA’s financial operations. Scalable, flexible workflows keep staff working smarter, not harder.
Results with Sage Intacct
- Saving staff hours in the accounting department
- Monthly close takes just two days
- One-click integration with member management software
- Managers gained secure, self-service access to budget reports
- Eliminated paper-based processes
About YMCA of Monroe County
At the Y, strengthening community is the cause. Through group exercise classes, youth programs, swim lessons, adult health programs, and more, the organization aims to build a healthier Monroe County. Every day, it works side-by-side with its neighbors to make sure everyone, regardless of age, income, or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive.
Company: YMCA of Monroe County
Location: Indiana, USA
Industry: Non-for-Profit
Sage Products: Sage Intacct
Sage Partner: DWD Technology Group
Sage Intacct becomes the “how” for the”Y”
The YMCA of Monroe County is one of Indiana’s many treasures. The thriving organization has three locations and over 10,000 members. The YMCA rarely sleeps — its facilities are open 15 hours a day, seven days a week — serving the community with dozens of programs, activities, classes, and camps. As part of one the most venerable nonprofit organizations in the country, Monroe County’s branch understands that to continue carrying the torch, it must future-proof its technology to allow it to thrive for years to come. For The YMCA of Monroe County, Sage Intacct is that future-proof solution.
It worked, until it didn’t
It takes a dedicated workforce to keep the organization running smoothly, and YMCA’s finance team is among the most loyal.
For example, Shannon Kane, the organization’s CFO, has been with the YMCA for 23 years. “My work is still exciting to me. That’s why I stay,” she says. “We’ve known for years we needed to migrate from Sage 100 to a modern, cloud-based financial management application, but as a nonprofit, we tend to hold things together as long as possible.”
The organization relied on Sage 100 for decades — it was already in place when Shannon joined YMCA. “We loved Sage 100,” she says. “It just worked. Until it didn’t.”
Shannon explains that over two decades, the YMCA only updated the software four or five times to save on costs and disruption. The strategy worked, until it didn’t. “Last year the IRS released a change to the 1099 form, introducing the NEC,” she continues. “Our version of Sage 100 didn’t support it. So, we had to produce them all by hand. That was the impetus we needed to make the change and migrate to the cloud.”
Shannon says her first phone call was to her Sage business partner. “We didn’t look beyond Sage,” she says. “Our partner was so important to us, and we’d received so much value from Sage 100 that when they recommended a move to Sage Intacct, we said yes.”
Accelerated 10 years in 12 months
The YMCA’s Sage business partner asked Shannon and her team to identify goals for the migration. Eliminating paper processes and incorporating automated workflows that didn’t require manual touchpoints were high on the list. Shannon also included better, faster reporting and easier data sharing among the organization’s goals.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that we accelerated 10 years in 12 months. All our goals were achieved within that time period,” she notes.
Automating workflows
As evidence of the organization’s digital transformation, Shannon describes how Sage Intacct helped YMCA completely modernize accounts payable payment processing. “Previously, all four of our accounting staff members were required to be ‘in their chairs’ at the same time in order to process and complete a check run.
Now, the application’s automated workflows and remote access capabilities mean that each staff person can complete their steps from anywhere, at any time. Ultimately, after the CFO approves the payments, checks are printed with an electronic signature.”
Employee expense report processing used to be another manual, paper-intensive process — now transformed by Sage Intacct. “Our employees can quickly enter expense reports in Sage Intacct, dragging and dropping receipt files to attach them,” recounts Shannon. “We’ve configured the approval workflow, so the report is automatically routed and once approved it’s ready to pay. No paper, no headaches, and no delays.”
Eliminating paper
Automated, paperless workflows allowed the YMCA to eliminate several large file cabinets, delivering space and newfound efficiencies.
Shannon relays the sense of accomplishment the staff felt as they emptied filed folders and carted out four metal filing cabinets from the main office.
“All that information is now available to us electronically in Sage Intacct. We cheered as those file cabinets were hauled away and destroyed.”
Similarly, YMCA’s finance team used to rely on a “blue folder” for accounts payable processing that held paper invoices dotted with notes and questions. Before the check run, the blue folder ended up on Shannon’s desk for her to review and approve with a final post-it note.
“Shortly after going live with Sage Intacct, our AP clerk stood up, smiled, and ripped the blue folder in half,” Shannon recalls. “Our team embraces the changes and loves the efficiencies they bring to their jobs.”
Easy integrations with other applications
Sage Intacct is built to support easy integrations with other business applications. The YMCA implemented a new member management application last year — before Sage Intacct was in place.
“We had three full pages of instructions to follow in order to import the data into Sage 100,” recalls Shannon. “With Sage Intacct, we import the data in one click. Literally — from three pages to one click.”
Democratizing data
Reporting was also an ongoing challenge for YMCA, occupying much of Shannon and her team’s time. “Reports took several long minutes to generate,” Shannon notes. “And the way we had to structure permissions in the software meant that many managers had to come to me to print the budget reports they needed. It was frustrating for everyone. With Sage Intacct, we can provide secure, role-appropriate access to anyone in the organization that needs it. Managers can now access and print their own budget reports — and they can do it from anywhere.”
Saving cost of staff hours
By automating manual processes and streamlining workflows, The YMCA has been able to reduce the burden on its accounting department and allow employees who wanted to work part-time to do so.
“We used to have a larger, accounting team”, explains Shannon. “I’m now the only full-time staff member. Our team is able to work smarter, more efficiently, and we’re more focused and flexible.”
Ultimately, we’re saving the cost of one full-time equivalent employee.
Future-proofing the YMCA
In conclusion, Shannon says the YMCA simply couldn’t have accomplished what is has, were it not for Sage Intacct.
“I was out sick for a week during the pandemic, but I was able to complete month-end processing from home. We closed the month in two days. With Sage Intacct, the office is no longer a requirement. We can get our work done from anywhere.”
She concludes, “Sage Intacct is definitely a good investment for The YMCA of Monroe County. The staff salary savings helped us justify the cost. But even more importantly, Sage Intacct has prepared us for the future. Even if we never grow any larger, we simply could not sustain operations at our former size without Sage Intacct because the world is different.
Taking the Next Step
When you are ready to take the next step and need a partner to provide trusted advisory, DWD is here to help. Contact us today to discuss your Sage 100 to Sage Intacct migration project.
