Accounting Software User Needs Checklist and Gathering Tool 2013

7/28/2019 Accounting Software User Needs Checklist and Gathering Tool 2013

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This checklist provides facilities for you to enter any specific needs you are aware of, and it

also presents you with a list of frequently encountered needs and problems to help youidentify all user needs. Facilities are also provided to capture information regarding event

frequency, how much time is lost on average, and other data needed to determine how

much each issue is costing your organization on average.

INSTRUCTIONS:

COLUMNS F allows you to record the IMPORTANCE of a given problem. Is it a minor

internal irritation or a major source of waste or customer problems?

USER NEEDS CHECKLISTfor

Back Office Accounting (GL, AR, AP)

Please Note that ROW 2 in each Worksheet contains online HELP for each of columns C

through P. J ust click on the cell in Row 2 for the column desired.

COLUMNS C, D, and E allow you to record the specific business process and task the

problem is encountered in, and the cause if known.

Each functional area, such as Accounts Payable, is represented by a worksheet Tab. When

that Tab is selected the Worksheet for that application opens to display a GENERAL

problem area that enables you to record YOUR SPECIFIC PROBLEMS. This is followed by

a list of common, frequently encountered problems. These problems are grouped by

Business Process name. WEEKLY TOTALS are calculated and displayed at the bottom of

columns G up through P.

PURPOSE OF THIS TOOL:

The "USER NEEDS CHECKLIST" worksheets have one goal, and that is to help you identify

and document in detail ALL user needs caused by missing software functionality, bad or

missing information, and other causes of wasted time & effort, within your current General

Ledger (GL), Accounts Receivable (AR), and Accounts Payable (AP) systems.

Once all problems are documented you will have a very good list of what a new system

must do, and HOW MUCH money can be saved. This will help you in many ways. First, it

enables you to accurately predict what the ROI & Payback Period will be with each

proposed system. Second, it serves as the benchmark for what consitutes a "fully

completed system". Third, it is the foundation of a thorough "post implementation" audit, a

task which should always be performed and whose results should control payments to the

vendor.


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COLUMNS G and H allow you to record the AVERAGE time lost or required for each

occurrence of the problem.

COLUMNS I, J, and K allow you to record specific causes of problems

COLUMNS O allow you to record the AVERAGE HOURLY LABOR cost for the positionaffected, and is used to calculate the total labor cost per week in col P.

This document is for internal use only

COLUMNS N and P are calculated fields and require no input.

Copyright Infotivity Technologies, Inc.


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GENERAL LEDGER

ISSUES Process Task Description

GENERALThe first three questions are general innature. We want to know what you

think about business processes &

productivity. Which of your current

tasks need to be improved? When you

examine your current taks, please

looking for indications of:

* Redundant data entry

* Time spent looking for documents

* Inefficiencies in general

* Staff dissatisfaction with a process

* Unacceptable error rates* Rising administrative costs

Enter the first task that you feel is more

difficult than it should be. Please

enter the cause of the difficulty in the

"Cause" column:

Enter the second task that you feel is

more difficult than it should be.

Please enter the cause of the difficulty

in the "Cause" column:

Enter the third task that you feel is

more difficult than it should be.

Please enter the cause of the difficulty


GL ACCOUNT FILE

MAINTENANCE

Problems caused by the need to ADD a

new GL account or sub-account:

Problems caused by the need toCHANGE a GL account or sub-account:

Problems caused by the need to

DELETE a GL account or sub-account:


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Problems caused by the need to set-up

and track accounting Period specific

budget amounts for a given GL

account:

GENERAL JOURNAL ENTRIES


process a transaction for a PRIOR

period:

Problems caused by the need to make

entries to FUTURE Periods:


monthly RECURRING entries:


Automatic REVERSING entries:


automatically process RECURRING

entries that have a variable amout:

Problems caused by entries mistakenly

made to a prior period:

REPORTING & INQUIRY ISSUES

Problems or Time Lost trying to view

GL Account data for a specific Source,

Date, Month, or range of Periods:

Problems or Time Lost trying to find

and view the ORIGINAL SOURCE

document for a specific entry to a

given GL account:

Problems and/or Time Lost when

preparing a Trial Balance:

Problems and/or Time Lost when

preparing Financial Statements:

List those reports and/or inquiries

needed on a regular basis that are NOTavailable in the current system:

How are those reports and/or inquiries

being created right now?

How much time is spent creating those

reports and/or inquiries?


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generate reports and/or on-screen

Inquiries sorted by one or more of the

following:

Balance Only, Summary, or Detail:

Starting & Ending Account:Starting & Ending Date

Starting & Ending Source

Starting & Ending Period

Starting & Ending Sub-Account

Other criteria

OTHER REPORTING OR

INQUIRY TASKS

Enter the first reporting/inquiry task

that you feel is more difficult than it

should be. Please enter the cause ofthe difficulty in the "Cause" column:

Enter the second reporting/inquiry

task that you feel is more difficult than

it should be. Please enter the cause of

the difficulty in the "Cause" column:

Enter the third reporting/inquiry task

that you feel is more difficult than it

should be. Please enter the cause of


Infotivity Technologies, Inc.


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Cause (if known)Imp.

Level

Avg Minutes

Lost per

Incident

Avg #

Incidents

per week

Caused by

LACK of

Functionality

Caused by

Systembeing

DOWN

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N


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0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N


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0 0.0 N N0 0.0

N N0 0.0 N N0 0.0 N N0 0.0 N N0 0.0 N N0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

0 0.0 N N

Weekly

Total:0.00 0.00 0.00


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Caused by

Waiting for

Information

Avg TIME Lost per Week, in

hours

Avg LABOR

Cost/Hour

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00


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N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00


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N 0.00 0.00

N0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 20.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

N 0.00 0.00

Weekly Total: Weekly Total:

0.00 HOURS: 0.00 LABOR:


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LABOR Cost/Week

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00


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0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00


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0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

$0.00


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ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

ISSUES Process

GENERALThe first three questions are general innature. We want to know what you think

about business processes & productivity.

Which of your current tasks need to be

improved? When you examine your

current taks, please looking for indications

of:

* Redundant data entry

* Time spent looking for documents



* Unacceptable error rates* Rising administrative costs

Enter the first task that you feel is more

difficult than it should be. Please enter the

cause of the difficulty in the "Cause"

column:

Enter the second task that you feel is more



column:

Enter the third task that you feel is more



column:

CUSTOMER MASTER FILE

MAINTENANCE

Problems caused by the need to retrieve

customer information without knowing the

Customer ID Code or Number:

Problems caused by the need to import

customer information from a web site:

Problems caused by the need to manage a

customer's branch locations.


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Problems caused by the need to manage

the a customer's branch location contact

information

Problems caused by the need to run

reports or view information sorted by

customer typeProblems caused by the need to report or

view information sorted by customer

SALES RETURN PROCESSING


Prepare a Return Material Authorization

(RMA), i.e., authorizing the customer to

RETURN a product.

Process a customer RETURN with full

distributions being made to GL, AR, and

Inventory:

Process a customer RETURN of a

product purchased in a prior month with

full distributions being made to GL, AR,

and Inventory:

Show open RMAs on the AR Aging

Reports:

Show open RMAs on the RMAs

Outstanding Reports:

Show open RMAs on the Receivers

Incoming Shipments Report:


List those reports and/or inquiries needed

on a regular basis that are NOT available in

the current system:

How are those reports and/or inquiries

being created right now?

How much time is spent creating those

reports and/or inquiries?

Problems caused by the need to generate

reports and/or on-screen Inquiries sorted

by one or more of the following:

Customer Type:

Transaction Type:


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Starting & Ending Date

Starting & Ending Transaction Number

Starting & Ending Customer Number

Return Status

Other criteria

How much time is lost trying to identify allthe payments, credits, and debits that have

been applied to a specific customer

invoice?

OTHER REPORTING OR INQUIRY

TASKS

Enter the first reporting/inquiry task that

you feel is more difficult than it should be.

Please enter the cause of the difficulty in

the "Cause" column:

Enter the second reporting/inquiry task

that you feel is more difficult than it should

be. Please enter the cause of the difficulty


Enter the third reporting/inquiry task that


Please enter the cause of the difficulty in

the "Cause" column:



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Task Description Cause (if known)Imp.

Level

Avg Minutes

Lost per

Incident

Avg #

Incidents

per week

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0


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0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0


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0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

Weekly

Total:0.00


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Caused by

LACK of

Functionality

Caused by

Systembeing

DOWN

Caused by

Waiting for

Information


hours

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00


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N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00


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N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

Weekly

Total:

0.00 0.00 0.00 HOURS: 0.00


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Avg LABOR

Cost/HourLABOR Cost/Week

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00


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0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

32.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00


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0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

Weekly

Total:

LABOR: $0.00


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ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

ISSUES Process

GENERALThe first three questions are general in nature.We want to know what you think about

business processes & productivity. Which of

your current tasks need to be improved? When

you examine your current taks, please looking

for indications of:

* Redundant data entry *

Time spent looking for documents



* Unacceptable error rates *Rising administrative costs

Enter the first task that you feel is more difficult

than it should be. Please enter the cause of


Enter the second task that you feel is more


cause of the difficulty in the "Cause" column:

Enter the third task that you feel is more

difficult than it should be. Please enter thecause of the difficulty in the "Cause" column:

VENDOR MASTER FILE MAINTENANCE

Problems caused by the need to retrieve

vendor information without knowing the

Vendor ID Code or Number:

Problems caused by the need to run reports or

view information sorted by Vendor type

Problems caused by the need to report or view

information sorted by Vendor location

AP VOUCHER PROCESSING

Problems encountered when processing

REGULAR Vouchers:


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ADJUSTING Vouchers:


FREIGHT Vouchers:

Problems encountered when processingCREDIT Vouchers:

Problems encountered when processing NON-

AP Vouchers:

Problems encountered trying to make

distributions to MULTIPLE GL Accounts and/or

COST CENTERS when processing any of the

above voucher types:

CHECK RECONCILIATION

How much time is lost trying to reconcile all

checking accounts?

How much time would be saved if checks did

NOT have to be manually sorted prior to

reconciliation?

PURCHASE RETURN PROCESSING


Prepare a Return Material Authorization

(RMA), i.e., authorizing the customer to

RETURN a product.

Process a customer RETURN with fulldistributions being made to GL, AR, and

Inventory:

Process a customer RETURN of a product

purchased in a prior month with full

distributions being made to GL, AR, and

Show open RMAs on the AP Aging Reports:


List those reports and/or inquiries needed on a

regular basis that are NOT available in the

current system:

How are those reports and/or inquiries being

created right now?

How much time is spent creating those reports

and/or inquiries?


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Problems caused by the need to generate

reports and/or on-screen Inquiries sorted by

one or more of the following:

Vendor Type:

Transaction Type:

Starting & Ending DateStarting & Ending Transaction Number

Starting & Ending Vendor

Starting & Ending Vendor Number

Return Status

Other criteria

How much time is lost trying to identify all the

payments, credits, and debits that have been

applied to a specific vendor invoice?

OTHER REPORTING OR INQUIRYTASKS

Enter the first reporting/inquiry task that you

feel is more difficult than it should be. Please

enter the cause of the difficulty in the "Cause"

column:

Enter the second reporting/inquiry task that


Please enter the cause of the difficulty in the

"Cause" column:

Enter the third reporting/inquiry task that you

feel is more difficult than it should be. Please

enter the cause of the difficulty in the "Cause"

column:



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Task Description Cause (if known)Imp.

Level

Avg Minutes

Lost per

Incident

Avg #

Incidents

per week

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0


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0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0


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0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

WeeklyTotal:

0.00


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Caused by

LACK of

Functionality

Caused by

Systembeing

DOWN

Caused by

Waiting for

Information


hours

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00


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N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00


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N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

N N N 0.00

Weekly Total:

0.00 0.00 0.00 HOURS: 0.00


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Avg LABOR

Cost/HourLABOR Cost/Week

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00


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0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00


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0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00

Weekly Total:

LABOR: $0.00


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OTHER RESOURCESAVAILABLE

SAVING CHECKLISTS:

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL TEMPLATES:

DEMONSTRATION SCRIPTS:

Copyright Infotivity Technologies, Inc.

Non-Mfg ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING - Identify problems in all organization processes for GL,

AR, AP, Payroll, Purchasing, Inventory, Warehouse

Management, Sales Order Processing, Job Cost, Quote

Preparation, Point of Sale (POS), Time and Attendance

(T&A)

RFP MASTER TEMPLATE LIST - Choose from a wide variety of Ready-to-Use RFPs and

matching Vendor RFP Response (Proposal) evaluationmatrices.

SYSTEM DEMO SCRIPT LIST - Choose from a wide variety of software demonstration

scripts with full response scoring functions.
http://www.infotivity.com/initial-system-planning-justification.htmlhttp://www.infotivity.com/software_demonstration_script.htmlhttp://www.infotivity.com/rfp_template_db-gen1b.htmlhttp://www.infotivity.com/initial-system-planning-justification.html


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Documents

Accounting Software User Needs Checklist and Gathering Tool 2013