Zobrio

Success Story: Prevention First, Illinois

Any Time, Anywhere Access, Reporting Functionality & Stellar Support

Located in the capital city of Illinois, Prevention First is a nonprofit training and resource ­center specializing in the prevention of substance abuse. They are a resource to the state for critical training, technical assistance and resource materials and have helped ­countless prevention specialists, schools and community groups implement effective substance abuse prevention programs and ­strategies. With such an important mission, Prevention First struggled to find the time and funding to replace their legacy software solution that was reaching the end of its lifecycle. To replace their aging solution, Prevention First chose Blackbaud’s The Financial Edge NXT® (FE NXT) solution.

FE NXT has saved me at least 10 hour a month. The bulk of that time comes from increased efficiencies in reporting. With FE NXT, I can customize our reports down to the smallest detail. I can choose the headings and footers, the date range, the account groupings, and even the color scheme. The customized reports are saved and ready for future use. When I need to send a report, it’s just a click of a button, save to PDF, and send! The over-arching benefit that I have received from our partnership with Zobrio and FE NXT is definitely efficiency.

— Lisa Andrew, Controller

SITUATION

Prevention First used FundWare as their fund accounting solution for decades and resisted the opportunity to upgrade. As a very lean nonprofit organization where the mission was prioritized over software upgrades, Prevention First was very conscious of the cost to upgrade and how it would impact them not only financially, but also in time and effort. With the news that FundWare was no longer being supported Prevention First looked to Zobrio to provide a solution that would be easy for their team to grasp and get up to speed. Once Prevention First embraced the upgrade, they quickly looked forward to additional functionality that helped simplify many of their current processes, such as anywhere, anytime access and better reporting features.

SOLUTION

Zobrio recommended and implemented Blackbaud’s The Financial Edge NXT® (FE NXT) cloud-based solution. Zobrio also provided robust training and consulting to ensure the ­solution was properly aligned to meet the expectations and requirements of Prevention First.

OUTCOME

Zobrio was able to implement FE NXT for Prevention First very quickly, staying on hand to ­ensure a smooth conversion and adoption of the software. Zobrio conducted training to make sure all users were comfortable with the new interface, and to impart best practices and tips to help automate processes for Prevention First.

Cloud-based anytime, anywhere access

As a cloud-based solution, FE NXT provides convenient and secure permission-based access to connect Prevention First’s remote staff. Since many of Prevention First’s staff work remotely, this convenient access allows Prevention First to devote more time to their mission while still keeping in touch with the main office.

Better reporting capabilities

FE NXT reporting and dashboards gives Prevention First access to interactive transactional ­reports, personalized dashboards, and advanced analytics tools to generate board-ready reports in an instant, schedule email report updates, or drill into report details to analyze key metrics. By using FE NXT, Prevention First is able to eliminate the need for any manual calculation and automate monthly reports, saving valuable time.

Lisa Andrew, Controller at Prevention First, said, “The one thing I was hoping for with the upgrade was better reporting functionality. Everything was done by hand before: we had to print out the reports and manually sum up everything. FE NXT is great. I love the Visual Chart Organizer. I can customize reports down to the smallest detail, save it, and it’s available to be used. It’s just a click of a button.â€

Added payment processing solutions

FE NXT made managing Prevention First’s cash flow easier, providing easy solutions for ­payments and also receipting. From checks to electronic funds transfer (EFT), FE NXT made the entire accounts payable process – from vendor invoices to bank reconciliation – more efficient.

According to Andrew, “Our old system was not set up to process credit cards. Since many of our staff have company credit cards, our old method of tracking expenses was a little backwards. FE is very straightforward, and provides a much quicker and more efficient way to reconcile our credit card bills. It’s the same with ACH and EFT payments to staff and consultants. With our old system, we had to ­record every payment as a manual check, and I had to process each one individually, rather than in a batch. With FE, there is a built-in option for ACH and EFT payments. The process has been significantly simplified.â€

Superior consulting and support

Not only did Prevention First rely on Zobrio for a robust fund accounting system that ­simplified a lot of their workload, but Prevention First also has come to count on the dependable and ­knowledgeable support from Zobrio to ensure their immediate and future needs are met. ­Zobrio’s staff of experienced CPAs understand first-hand the fund accounting challenges faced by an organization and provide expert consulting and support to help ensure organizations ­successfully implement and attain the standards of control and accountability they need.

Andrew said, “The support I’ve received from Zobrio has been fantastic. This wasn’t just a simple software upgrade. The staff at Zobrio worked with me to upgrade and simplify our Chart of Accounts so that we started fresh with an ­updated ­version in FE NXT. So much work went into this project behind the scenes to build and ­configure the system to my liking. Zobrio is over the top reliable and available. I get great customer service and I value the relationship I have with them.â€

About Zobrio

Zobrio is a preferred Blackbaud Channel Partner for Financial Edge, the industry-standard in Fund Accounting Solutions. Countless government entities have made Zobrio their trusted advisor, relying on our expertise and premium support for their fund accounting solutions. For more information on Zobrio or Blackbaud’s Financial Edge Fund Accounting Solution, call us at 800.796.4984 or visit www.zobrio.com.