How much time does your organizations spend getting data to and from critical business systems such as your donor management, association management, membership and accounting applications? What about time sheets, expense reports and payroll data? Have you made customizations to your systems that make packaged integrations difficult to work with? In this session we will share considerations, best practices and use cases from actual customer integrations that may help you tackle your next integration project.

1. Helping Great Organizations Thrive
www.raffa.com P: 202.822.5000 F: 202.822.0669
BEST PRACTICES FOR
SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
July 25, 2019

2. Page 1
 Learning Objectives – Attendees will learn
 Understanding the value of integrating business systems
 Practical options for systems integration
 Considerations before you embark on the integration project
 NASBA Essentials
 Course Update Date: 6/1/18
 Course Review By: Jeremy Taro
 Course Reviewed Date: 6/2/18
 NASBA Field of Study: Information Technology

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 Mutual Introductions
 Objectives
 Introduction
 The Problem
 The Solution
 Considerations
 Q&A

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Our mission is to be a catalyst for positive system change in our community. Raffa is nationally recognized with
access to all the resources of the largest international firms. We contribute to our clients’ abilities to achieve their
missions and deliver promises to the world.
 LARGE ACCOUNTING, CONSULTING &
TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING FIRM
• Serve 1,500+ organizations in DC/MD/VA (Nonprofit &
Professional Services)
• 300+ specialists on staff at all levels
• Support over 250 Financial System Clients
• Certified System Consultants, Certified Project
Management Professionals, Business Process
Consultants
 34 YEARS SERVING THE NON PROFIT COMMUNITY
 19 PARTNERS, INCLUDING 12 WOMEN PARTNERS
 WOMEN-OWNED FIRM
 MULTI-CULTURAL WITH DIVERSITY AT ALL LEVELS
 PRIMEGLOBAL ALLIANCE MEMBER
 WIDE RANGE OF SERVICES
• Technology Solutions
• ERP & Accounting Systems
• GovCon Expertise
• Software Development
• Managed IT Services
• Audit and Tax
• Managed Accounting
• HR Consulting
• Business Advisory
• Forensics and Litigation Support
• Financial Services, Employee Benefit Plans, Insurance
• Executive Search and Transition Services
 NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED
• Top 100 Largest Accounting Firms (WBJ & Accounting Today)
• Top 100 ERP VAR (Bob Scott & Accounting Today)
• Top 100 and Fastest Growing Value Added Reseller

5. Page 4
 Graduate of the Mays school at Texas A&M
 8+ years Salesforce experience
 Wide variety of industry verticals
 Certified 6x on the Force.com Platform
 Focus on the big picture
Scott Hollrah
Managing Partner
Venn Technology
214.762.6891
shollrah@venntechnology.com
venntechnology.com
linkedin.com/in/scotthollrah

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 Show of hands:
 Using Sage Intacct
 Using Salesforce
 Using Microsoft Dynamics ERP/CRM
 Other(s)
 Where are you on the integration spectrum?
 Scale of 1-10

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 Manual data transfer processes are:
 Time Consuming
 Error prone– the more times you “touch” the data
the more likely there is for something to go wrong
 Lack of timely insight into:
 Revenue
 Expenses
 Program Metrics

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Export/Import
 Pros:
 “Free”
 Cons:
 Time consuming
 Excel formatting
 Error prone
 Did I already import these transactions?
 Mistake in a formula/macro

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Packaged Integrations
 Pros:
 Quick to implement
 Typically maintained by a software publisher with updates/additional
functionality
 Cons:
 May not meet the desired use case
 Doesn't always play well with customizations

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+

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Sage Intacct Advanced CRM Connector
 Pros:
 Excellent tool for quote to cash
 Collaborate – cross system use of Chatter
 Cons:
 Most nonprofits don’t follow the quote to cash
process
 May not work with customizations/CPQ

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Custom Code/Point to Point/Web Services
 Pros:
 Get exactly what you want
 Cons:
 Usually the most costly option
 Time consuming to implement
 Changes are not flexible – must have experience with code to modify

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Middleware
 Pros:
 Get exactly what you want
 Extensibility to multiple systems
 Faster to implement than custom code
 Most flexible option
 Cons:
 Not packaged
 Investment in the integration tool

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Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – use when API methods aren’t available or don’t make sense
 Pros:
 Get exactly what you want
 Extensibility to multiple systems
 Faster to implement than custom code
 Cons:
 Not packaged
 Investment in the RPA tool

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Begin with the end in mind
 Can you finish the following sentence:
 When our systems are properly integrated we will
be able to…
 Example:
 When our systems are properly integrated we will
be able to have our customers in sync across
systems where users can see full order and
payment history in each application.
 When our systems are properly integrated we will
have summarized journal entries in our GL on a
daily basis.

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 How well defined are your business
processes?
 Is everyone on the same page?
 Where does the integration begin/end
 Should your integration run:
 Automatically
 By button press
 After operations/accounting review

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What is the quality of your data?
 If you have a mess in one system you will
have a mess in two systems after integration
is complete
 Do you have:
 Duplicates
 Incorrect data
 Missing pieces
 Common ID’s across systems

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 Once you have defined your end in mind for the integration:
 Validate packaged integration options first
 Middleware second
 Custom code last
 Ensure that all stakeholders are in alignment
 Coordinate across all of your solution providers

25. Helping Great Organizations Thrive
www.raffa.com P: 202.822.5000 F: 202.822.0669
Seth Zarny, Raffa Partner
szarny@raffa.com
301.279.6500
Jeremy Taro, Raffa Account Executive
jtaro@raffa.com
301.279.6504
Scott Hollrah, Venn Technology
shollrah@venntechnology.com
214.762.6891