Reimbursement system requirements (was Re: npo-accounting Digest, Vol 15, Issue 8)

[Brett Smith]

On 08/29/2016 01:28 AM, ssackett at adaxa.com wrote:

> For example, the open-source ERP I deal with will let you do the
> following with a relatively small amount of configuration and no code
> changes:

[snip]

Steven,

Thanks for chiming in. Your list is good core functionality, to be sure.
One major requirement we have of the system that wasn’t listed is that
it be proactive about helping the filer submit a good reimbursement
request—one an accountant can review and (hopefully) accept quickly. A
primary goal of the project is to reduce the time both sides spend
organizing the necessary data, and mailing back and forth to get missing
documentation and so on. We want it to be possible to configure the
system with information about reimbursement policies, and notify filers
/before/ they submit a reimbursement request that can’t be accepted, and
suggest ways they might fix it. If you know of systems that make that
possible, I’m definitely interested to hear about them.

Having a form that comes directly from the accounting system is great
for integration, but could pose challenges for smoothing over the
process for filers. An interface that uses terminology from accounting
like “purchase order,” “cost center,” and so on may be opaque to filers,
who often aren’t native English speakers. If they end up e-mailing for
help as a result, that could thwart the goal above.

Meanwhile, one benefit to having a Reimbursement system that’s separate
from the accounting system is that it’s possible for many different
organizations to start using and benefiting from it, even while they’re
all using different accounting systems themselves. Several organizations
have already expressed interest. If we can help them start using it
soon, it would be great to start getting their feedback and generating
more interest, both for the Reimbursement system specifically and the
Non-Profit Accounting Project generally.

> I have not stated which open source ERP this is because the point I
> wish to make is that there are probably a number of existing open
> source ERPs which will do all this stuff (and more) but which were
> dismissed during the early reviews as unsuitable, or too big/complex,
> or (validly) as not quite real open source.  Of course, as soon as you
> get into real-world situations a lot of complexity that has already
> been addressed by ERP's that have been under development for many
> years will come back to haunt the developers of the new project. 
>
> In nearly every system selection process I have been involved with in
> 12 years of running an open source ERP business there has been a
> detailed user requirements document and an attempt to compare these
> specific requirements with candidate system's capabilities.

This sounds sensible to me. It doesn’t cover the whole Non-Profit
Accounting Project, but I’ve put together an initial Requirements
document for the Reimbursement system
<http://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/Reimbursements/Requirements/> on our
project wiki. This is only my first pass, so I might have overlooked
something, but I’m eager to hear the list’s feedback. Are there
requirements you know about, or commonly see, that we should consider?
Are there systems that you know meet these requirements?

The page is organized by “first release” requirements—functionality that
Conservancy needs from the system in order for it to help us save time
today—and requirements that can come later, that would save additional
time or make the system more user friendly but aren’t strictly necessary
for the first release. If there are systems that meet many of the
requirements, including some later requirements but maybe not every
single first release requirement, I’d be especially interested in
hearing about those—we could look at extending it to meet our needs.
Conversely, if there’s a system that meets all the initial requirements,
but the architecture isn’t suitable to fulfilling some of the later
requirements, that’s admittedly a little less compelling from my
perspective.

Thanks,

​
-- 
Brett Smith
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