I so not recommend Abila MIP Fund Accounting
Updated October 27, 2016

I so not recommend Abila MIP Fund Accounting

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Abila MIP Fund Accounting

MIP is being used across our organization. However, it seems to be creating more problems than it is addressing. I honestly don't know if the flaws are in the setup or in the program itself. We don't have the resources to pay the exorbitant rates their consultants charge to have this troubleshooted. The company itself will refer you back to the consultants. The company does not offer any online tutorials to assist and the documentation is deficient. In its current configuration I cannot in good conscience recommend this product to anyone. I find it frustrating that it cannot be configured to talk to Andar - our fundraising program. We currently have to enter every revenue/pledge information twice.
Cash handling is the worst, however. All cash disbursements are credited to a central pool - no dept, no grant - we cannot designate where the credit goes. So to balance our fiduciary accounts we must make a manual entry for every disbursement. I have worked with a multitude of accounting software over the years - and this is ultimately the worst.
  • I cannot provide any significant detailed examples on what it does particularly well - because I can name other softwares that do it better at almost every aspect.
  • The only feature to this program is the ability to track by year for your fiduciary accounts that have a different fiscal year. This is useful for monitoring multiple campaigns that straddle multiple fiscal years.
  • There is almost no support for this program. Other programs Like Caselle offer free tutorials - everything on MIP will cost you major dollars.
  • Cash management - we should be able to have the cash disbursements post to the department and grant that the AP resides in.
  • Abila needs to work on their bridges so that their program can interface with others that are commonly used.
  • How about providing templates for financial statements that actually work. If we use the financial statements resident in the program - what we get is absolute garbage.
  • How about a dashboard that actually works.
  • How about free tutorials on how to use the program. There is no manual and this program does not work intuitively.
  • The general ledger has no running balance - EVERYONE else provides a running balance. And if printed out it is a huge paper waste. And who provides a credit balance on an account by just placing it in the credit column rather than just placing brackets on the total for the account.
  • All negative. The previous controller was unable to function using this product - which resulted in over $20,000 in additional audit fees. I have developed workarounds that have impacted my ability to complete work timely. I really hate this product.
  • No preconfigured financial statements. Everything must be downloaded into Excel and reworked.
  • No manual - Help is useless, You have to contact a consultant for everything and that's big $$$$.
  • There are no consultants anywhere near us - again big $$$$ to attend a class or conference.
I cannot find a benefit to a program that manages multiple funds from multiple sources but cannot interface with other softwares, provide any kind of standard reporting or books cash disbursements to a general pool regardless of fund. This product sucks. I have never been so disappointed in a product before.
We can't afford a partner. The closest is hundreds of miles away. The cost is prohibitive. There is literally no support for this product. It was clearly not set up properly by the consultant that we previously used. There are no preconfigured financial statement templates. There are no manuals. The help function is virtually useless. I've had to teach myself by trial and error. I hate this product.
MIP is barely functional. Even QuickBooks would have been a better choice. The only functionality that MIP has is the ability to track by year across multiple year ends. There are no functional financial statement templates. Cash management is a nightmare. The work arounds to make this product work are endless.
This program as currently configured is unacceptable. I cannot address any aspect that it does well. Fixing it will cost a fortune since they always refer us to an outside consultant that is out of area and prohibitively expensive. There is no way to take tutorials online, they force you to take the full classes and pay for travel and lodging. In this day and age, it's ridiculous that the training cannot be conducted by webinar. Leaving your customers in the lurch with no feasible way to address their problems is criminal.

MIP Fund Accounting Feature Ratings

Using Abila MIP Fund Accounting

3 - Accounting, finance and development. This program does not bridge with our fundraising software so we have to input all cash receipts and pledges twice and then reconcile the detail. The accounts payable function is rudimentary and difficult to use. We had to teach ourselves how to use it since the manual is non existent and the Help function does not explain adequately.
1 - They must be really good at creating workarounds because the support is nonexistent. The program is unstable. It times out too quickly and will drop lengthy journal entries. If you have an allocation entry that takes over thirty minutes to input - you have to split it into multiple smaller entries or it will drop and you will lose all your previous input. Have I mentioned that this program is a nightmare?
  • The only reason we still use this software is that we can't afford to replace it.
  • This software has cost our organization a significant amount of money in wasted time due to the need to duplicate entry.
  • The lack of resources has forced us to create workarounds at every level of use.
  • I would have been happy if it just functioned at Quickbooks level.
Honestly - if we had the resources to move - we would do it in a heartbeat. We have wasted so much money on this program. I am so disappointed in this product. I am so glad that I did not install it here. I just want basic functionality - and this program does not deliver.

Evaluating Abila MIP and Competitors

  • Product Features
The single most important factor in our decision was that it was used by our parent organization. Next, was the ability to track multiple campaigns over multiple fiscal years. It can also track fiduciary accounts and grants with different fiscal years. Otherwise this product is not particularly functional for our needs.
If we had the resources we would switch immediately to a product that offers more functionality and stronger support. We are constantly frustrated when we are blocked when multiple people are using the account. Although we have a license for three - it will block us when the third person logs on.

Abila MIP Implementation

Don't waste your time with MIP. There are plenty of other softwares out there that will do the job better. Do your homework. Get references from actual users. Make sure that what you choose will truly integrate. Make sure that there is local support. Get training. You will be glad that you passed this one by. Trust me.
Change management was a major issue with the implementation - Do not implement this program if you think it can be bridged to other existing programs. It won't be. They started out as partners - never developed the interface. Then they abandoned the project and created their own. Left us high and dry without a solution. We can't afford to change.
  • Lack of support.
  • Lack of bridge to existing software.
  • Lack of resources to change.

Abila MIP Support

Because when you try to get support - they will instantly refer you to a consultant. Unfortunately we don't have a consultant relationship. The nearest consultant is at least six hundred miles away and prohibitively expensive. Classes are rarely offered. Online courses are either unavailable or too costly. It's really frustrating.
ProsCons
None
Slow Resolution
Poor followup
Problems left unsolved
Escalation required
Difficult to get immediate help
Need to explain problems multiple times
Slow Initial Response
No - We lack the resources. Too expensive. Not available locally. Classes are too costly and require travel. When we have used customer service it takes days to get a response. We will find out that the ticket was closed without resolution or contact with us. I have occasionally had a question answered but that takes multiple tries.
Yes - Nope. They could not offer any idea how to resolve the issue and we just ended up doing yet another workaround. We provided all the error codes - tried to recreate it. We lost a ton of time trying to get it resolved. No resolution was ever reached. Now we just work around the issue.
I honestly wish I could. The service people seemed overworked and testy. But the issue was never resolved. We had to perform a workaround. I feel sorry for their technical support - they are very clearly overworked. I believe that they sincerely tried. I am looking forward to a day when we can switch to another software.

Using Abila MIP

I'd give it a zero - to be honest. This program is not intuitive at all. The only reason I can use it at all is because I used a similar system called Caselle before that was honestly much more functional and had better support. If I had not learned Caselle - I would not have been able to function in this program at all.
ProsCons
None
Do not like to use
Unnecessarily complex
Difficult to use
Requires technical support
Not well integrated
Inconsistent
Slow to learn
Cumbersome
Feel nervous using
Lots to learn
  • All of them.
  • Really poor reports - no working templates - lot's of paper waste.
  • Applying credits is a complete misery.
  • Actually the entire AP function is difficult to use. No real logic.