Item: MIP Fund Accounting
Rating: 8
Author: Jennifer Jones

Overall Satisfaction with MIP Fund Accounting

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

MIP Fund Accounting is used for daily cash management activities including Payroll, Bank Reconciliations, General Ledger, Accounts Payable. I do not know that I can actually name a business "problem" that the software addresses per se, as use it for day-to-day accounting activities. I really like many aspects of MIP, but also feel, as someone coming from other accounting software which I taught myself to use, MIP is somewhat user "un"friendly. I feel that it is difficult to learn and seems that it could be more user friendly without so many steps to go thru to attain a goal of cash management for a non-profit!

Pros and Cons

Pros

Easy to obtain check register for select periods
Easy to do bank reconciliations
Easy to log in for remote work, for anywhere I need to access it from!
Easy to pull vendor, chart of accounts and other pertinent information, also easy to add information to those sections.

Cons

I feel that there are too many ways to pull necessary reports
I feel that it would be easier to pull reports that are somewhat more streamlined or easier to edit
I would love to be able to pull an "audit trail" as I have with past software that was easy to pull and easy to obtain info froml
I do not like that the software has to have so much printing information set up to save paper when pulling reports
At this time, again, it seems as though it is difficult to pull reports that should be easily obtained through the software.

Return on Investment

I really cannot name a time where it has actually had a positive or a negative impact on our overall business objectives. It seems to do what we need it to and thankfully we have a somewhat "seasoned" user along with myself!

Performance

It has impacted our ability by the setup of each fund as its own in the software, thus allowing us to pull for a specific year (grant) for a specific fund. That is something that I do like about the software. How our grants are "named" using Grant Codes as well as the ability to separate programmatic and administrative expenditures from each other.

Likelihood to Renew

Because we have had the system in place for well over 10 years. Our staff in finance is limited which restricts our time for setup and start up of new software. We plan to stay with MIP as long as we can continue to afford it! Hopefully, there are not a lot of governmental funding cuts in the grants that we use to assist our clientele and to pay agency related expenditures.

Alternatives Considered

Sage 100

Abila MIP Fund Accounting was already in place with the Agency I am currently employed with, when I started my position there. I was able to teach Sage to myself, but Abila has been a little bit more complex as far as that goes, at least in my opinion.

Key Insights

Do you think MIP Fund Accounting delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with MIP Fund Accounting's feature set?

Yes

Did MIP Fund Accounting live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of MIP Fund Accounting go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy MIP Fund Accounting again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

I do like the check register, it is easy to access. It is also easy to access information for bank reconciliations but some entries are difficult and I have had ongoing issues with duplicated entries. Those situations coming at times when I am not really sure how I have duplicated an entry and they are somewhat intimidating. It is also somewhat difficult to delete or void erroneous entries or those that need to be otherwise corrected. I do understand that it is accounting software, but feel again that it could be a little bit more user friendly, at least from a fairly "new" user's standpoint!

Using MIP Fund Accounting

Support Headcount Required

2 - Currently, Abila is used by myself, the Chief Financial Officer as well as the Executive Assistant/Bookkeeper. She is the one who has great working knowledge of the software! I generally go to her for help and she is usually able to answer my questions.

Business Processes Supported

Vendor Checks
Grant Management (funds)
Employee information
Payroll & W2 processing
Payroll tax related filings

Innovative Uses

I cannot think of anything right off the top of my head

Future Planned Uses

At this time, I am not sure of an answer to this question.

Users and Roles

2 - Finance and Accounting, Payroll, etc.

Evaluating MIP Fund Accounting and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - I do not know what software, if any, it actually replaced. That was well before my employment start with the agency, but I believe that prior to the implementation of MIP, accounting processes were still done by hand using ledger paper!

Key Differentiators

Again, it was implemented before my time of employment, so this is a question that I cannot answer. I assume that the biggest reason was to go from handwritten journals and accounting processes to computer related/updated software processes.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

Again, this was a process completed long before my employment began with the Agency.

MIP Fund Accounting Support

MIP Fund Accounting Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

I do not know if premium support was purchased with the software or not. Again, this was a product implemented long before my employment began with the Agency. Another question that I cannot answer.

Support Rating

I personally, have not used the support associated with MIP Fund Accounting, but my coworker has. She seems very satisfied with the success she has had in getting issues resolved and I have heard no negative comments about her experiences either.

Using MIP Fund Accounting

Easy Tasks

Pulling check registers
Maintaining Employee Information
Maintaining Vendor and pertinent information
Maintaining the chart of accounts

Difficult Tasks

There are several that are still difficult or cumbersome for me, only because they are not functions that I deal with daily or even on a regular basis. Again, I have an excellent co-worker who helps me with those issues!

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes, but I don't use it

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use	Unnecessarily complex Feel nervous using

Usability

Again, there are very few things that I have actually "mastered" as far as using the software to create, generate and do other things that I would like for it to be able to do for me. Thanks to an excellent co-worker, she helps me to maintain my composure on bad days and helps me get thru issues that I have or is able to reach out to support when we run into issues that we cannot resolve on our own!

Integrating MIP Fund Accounting

Systems Integrated With

None

I am unable to answer this question as we have not integrated or attempted to integrate any systems with MIP unless this was done prior to my employment with the Agency began.

Future Integration Plans

Not that I am aware of.

Integration Lessons Learned

Again, this is not something that I am aware of us having done or used.

Comments

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Michael Young
(Vendor Representative) commented 2 years ago
Thank you for your review and interest in our reference program, Jennifer! It sounds like you could use our support with MIP's reporting functionality. Please feel free to reach out to MIPCustomerSuccess@communitybrands.com to continue the conversation. You will be hearing from our marketing team soon regarding our reference program.