LAKE SUNSYSTEMS NEWSLETTER - April 2008

Welcome to the April edition of the newsletter for LAKE Customers.

This month, our product focus is on the SunSystems module known as Recurring Invoicing. This newsletter also introduces a new feature that focuses on service.

Once again, I would welcome your comments or suggestions regarding this newsletter.

Best regards

Adrian Howard
General Manager
0113 273 7788

IN THIS EDITION

Product Focus:
SunSystems Recurring Invoicing

Focus on Service:
Projects

SunSystems Training:
Latest SunSystems Training Dates

PRODUCT FOCUS

SunSystems Recurring Invoicing

SunSystems Recurring Invoicing is specifically designed for companies that have repeat billing and/or contract management requirements and provides users with a range of time saving facilities while ensuring relevant analysis is available to management.

SunSystems Recurring Invoicing delivers contract management functionality ensuring that customer contract details are held centrally, invoices are produced for accurate, user definable periods and renewals are highlighted according to user defined frequencies. This central store of information ensures users are fully aware of client needs as well as ensuring customer needs are serviced.

SunSystems Recurring Invoicing enables users to automatically create all repeat invoices due for generation at any given time, removing the need to manually create each transaction on an individual basis.

SunSystems Recurring Invoicing comes with a set of analytical reports that enable users to accurately assess deferred revenues and detail when those revenues will be recognized. This information enables management to make investment and budgetary decisions based on accurate revenue information without having to resort to bespoke analytical tools.

CLICK HERE to download a data sheet

FOCUS ON SERVICE

Projects

This month we interview a senior member of the LAKE consultancy team in order to share ideas on preparing for projects. The following are some of the questions we are often asked and are intended as guidance only.

Adrian:
Is it necessary to allocate someone to work on a project full-time?

Ruth:
"Often people will think it is a full-time job co-ordinating a project but I don’t think it is in practice. It is important to dedicate sufficient time to the project, certainly. But where it seems to work the best is where people run with their existing jobs and share or delegate some of their existing responsibilities."

Adrian:
How should a project team be structured?

Ruth:
"There are a number of roles that need to be allocated. For larger projects these roles may be taken on by different people; with smaller projects people will take on multiple roles...

.. One, is project management. This involves project planning, co-ordinating all of the personnel and resources, and milestone monitoring...

.. Possibly the most important role is the person who makes the decisions about how the new system will be designed. This person will also usually be the one making sure that it is tested, understands what they are testing against and what they expect it to do...

.. There may also be another person whose role is hands-on, setting up accounts, creating journal types, and so on. It is important that they have the skill-set to make initial decisions and are supported by the person above...

.. It is very important to have at least one person in the project team that has a good overview and understanding of the business. This is often a Finance representative as Finance interact with all areas of the business."

Adrian:
What about the wider community of users not directly involved in setting up the new system?

Ruth:
"A new system will always have an impact on more than just those people in the project team. A new finance system, for instance, will be important to members of the wider management team; a new Spend Control system will be important to everyone who gets involved in raising or approving purchase orders, and so on...

.. It is important to give these people a channel through which they can learn and contribute. Change is a tricky process and the team should take steps to make everyone aware of what the project team is doing so that they know what’s happening, they know things are going to change and they know when it’s going to change. This improves the effectiveness of training when that starts and helps win people over."

Adrian:
Is it better for the system to go live at the start of a new financial year?

Ruth:
"Traditionally, year-end was thought to be a good time, but that’s actually a very busy time for Finance. It can be managed quite nicely at year-end, but it does not have to be done then...

.. Customers routinely ask for their historic transactions to be migrated as comparitives anyway, so they may prefer to schedule a quiet period outside of the year-end cycle when they will have more time to devote to data migration and live running."

SUNSYSTEMS TRAINING

Latest SunSystems Training Dates

CLICK HERE to view the current SunSystems training schedule

CLICK HERE for Proactis training