Want to know if you are ready to upgrade from QuickBooks to a more robust ERP? Do a gap analysis. Simply stated, a gap analysis enables you to determine the gap between where you are today and where you want to be.
Start Here
Begin at the end. In order to do a realistic gap analysis, you have to know where you are headed. Most companies go through some sort of planning process to determine the company’s goals. You can use this as a starting point if your planning process gets down to the level you are analyzing. Another approach is to look at the complaints and excuses that surface within meetings and status reports and use that to start to create a list of requirements that will get you to where you want to be. However, you pull it together, you’ll want to start with your endpoint.
Then look at where you are now. Take a good look at the QuickBooks documentation and talk to users and individuals who handle your IT to figure out exactly what your current state is and to see if there is any way to get to where your where you want to be using this application. If your accounting software does not have a clear path from your current position to your desired position, you may need to make some changes.
What You Need Versus What You Have in QuickBooks
Here are some very specific endpoint versus current position examples with respect to desired accounting needs:
- We need to close the books monthly in 3 days; with QuickBooks our month-end close takes 6 days.
- We need strict auditability with double-entry recordkeeping; QuickBooks is a single-entry system.
- We need to have 15 concurrent users on our accounting system; QuickBooks sometimes bottoms out at 5.
- We need flexible reporting; QuickBooks has a number of good canned reports, but they are not easily customizable.
- We need to integrate our QuickBooks data with data from our contact management, payroll, and time and expense programs to get a better view of our costs per contract; using QuickBooks, we consolidate some relevant data in Excel but it’s a time intensive and error-prone process.
- We need to get our reports out to more people in less time; QuickBooks is not Cloud-based so distribution takes too long.
- We have 7 companies and we need a process to accurately reflect intercompany transactions; QuickBooks does not have an intercompany module.
- We just opened a location in Mexico and we need multi-currently functionality; QuickBooks does not provide for multiple currencies.
Coming up Short?
If you are coming up with more than one or two gaps that cannot be closed using QuickBooks, it’s time for you to consider upgrading to a more complete, more powerful, more flexible accounting system. NexVue (now Net at Work) delivers Acumatica Cloud-based accounting and ERP systems that include CRM, distribution, and project accounting software on a single platform and can be easily integrated with almost any business software you need to run your business. Acumatica is designed for small and mid-sized businesses with functionality you’d expect from much higher-priced systems, giving your business the control it needs while giving you the flexibility you need to optimize and grow your company.
Read a short but educational post about gap analysis for software applications by Tech Target.
By Sandi Richards Forman, sforman@nexvue.com
NexVue (now Net at Work) Information Systems, www.nexvue.com
Learn more about Acumatica.
Download the whitepaper, “Clearing the ERP Clouds.”