I’m so fortunate to have great clients, and I appreciate them allowing me to share their projects and comments!
Client: Avex, Inc.
Type of Business: Aircraft Sales, Maintenance and Parts
GL: Dynamics GP
Location: Camarillo, CA
Onsite or Remote: Remote
Implementation Type: New Reports
This company sells airplanes to private individuals, and CEO Terese Winson needed some charts to view performance trends over a period of time. I created one report in FRx that exports to Excel, then based several charts in Excel on that one export. When the charts are opened, the user is given the option to refresh the data. If the FRx report has been updated and exported, the charts change to reflect the updated data. I describe the technique I used in the post Executive Reporting: Using Excel Charts with FRx. I also created a report to pull external data from Excel but originally from an Access database, along with a few other new reports. Very interesting and creative project, and I very much look forward to meeting Terese in person one day!
“Thanks Jan – your reports are a dream, and have really made my life much easier. I can now easily track key management information on our performance.”
—Terese Winson, President and CEO, Avex Inc.
Client: Commonwealth Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation
Type of Business: Orthopaedic surgeons, rehab, and surgery centers
GL: MAS200
Location: Fairfax, Virginia
Onsite or Remote: Onsite with a little remote
Implementation Time: 1+ Day
Implementation Type: Revamp & Training
I remotely helped CFO Rick Givens change a couple of things in the chart of accounts to streamline FRx reporting, then flew up to provide user training while at the same time revamping their existing implementation. I did about a half hour of hands on, then Controller Brad Phillips took over and I talked him through reworking the balance sheet and income statement. At the end of the day, the reports were accurate and had drilldown capabilities, and the users had learned how to better utilize FRx.
“When we did a conversion to FRx in the spring of 2007, we jumped in without any formal training. We learned enough to be dangerous but were struggling with basic understanding of FRx and its’ capability. Because of the way our corporation and G/L are structured, we were grappling with multiple rollup issues and couldn’t solve them. With the monthly financial closing cycle and reporting requirements rapidly upon us we needed a quick boost. I found Jan Harrigan’s website and called her to consult. She was extremely responsive over the phone to address our acute needs. She was able to quickly grasp our situation and help us over the hump. When she visited for a day of on site training, Jan was extremely professional and helpful. Her twelve years of experience with FRx was clearly evident. With Jan’s help and guidance, our reports today are streamlined and accurate. We enjoyed working with Jan and would highly recommend her.”
—Rick Givens, CFO Commonwealth Orthopaedics
Client: ATCO Rubber Products, Inc.
Type of Business: Manufacturer of Flexible Ducts
GL: Great Plains
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Onsite or Remote: Onsite
Implementation Time: 1 Day
Implementation Type: Revamp & Training
This project combined user training with revamp report development. As is so often the case, the users had inherited an FRx install from earlier days, only used a few of the reports, wanted those cleaned up, and wanted to know how. I worked one on one with Controller Karen Graham. Together we created a new spec set and brought over only the reports that they actually use. This really cleaned up the implementation. After I did the first report, Karen took over and did the hands on for the rest of the day. One by one we revamped and cleaned up these reports, and even had enough time left to finish a cashflow.
“Thank you so much for the time you spent with me. I feel empowered! If you ever need a business reference, I’d be glad to give you a glowing one.”
—Karen Graham, Controller
Client: InterState Oil Company
Type of Business: Wholesale Lube and Fuel Distributor
GL: DM2 on MAS200
Location: Sacramento, California
Onsite or Remote: Onsite
Implementation Time: 4 Days
Implementation Type: Revamp & Training
This project combined user training with a revamp report development. We did the balance sheet, income statement, departmental reporting, cost of sales with statistics, budget variance, and some analysis reports. Lots of Quarter To Date reports. Implemented Launcher and discussed options for electronic distribution. I worked closely with Controller Nyla Barrett and Accounting Manager Barbara Manning. Due to time constraints, I did the hands on report development for much of the project, while talking these users through exactly what I was doing and why. We involved CFO Larry Chillemi and the four of us brainstormed the best way to streamline one of the statistical reports. In a crunch to get ready for a meeting, Nyla made the GL entries to get our statistics to work, and Barbara took over FRx after watching, and finished up with next to no direction from me. The entire project was a true collaborative effort.
“We had such a good experience with Jan helping us with our FRx challenges. The first time we spoke with her we could feel confident in her abilities. She was easy to talk to as she pre-qualified our needs. Her knowledge and understanding of the FRx system was apparent at the very beginning. When she came out to our offices to help us with our specific requests, she was extremely organized and totally cognizant of our requirements and time-lines. She was able to help us eliminate some of our immediate pressures. We look forward to working with her again.”
—Nyla Barrett, Controller
Client: Durham Western Heritage Museum
Type of Business: Nonprofit
GL: Microsoft Dynamics SL (fka Solomon)
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Onsite or Remote: Onsite
Implementation Time: 3 Days
Implementation Type: New
I worked with Director of Finance Kathy Larson to create the reports she needs to furnish to the auditors annually for the Museum and the Foundation: the Statement of Financial Position, the Combining Statement of Financial Position, the Statement of Activities, the Combining Statement of Activities, and the Statement of Cashflow. We also tackled the unaudited Statement of Revenue & Expenses and unaudited Cashflow that she prepares monthly. These should save Kathy a lot of time since they no longer have to be prepared in Excel.
“The FRx reports that Jan created for us saved a lot of time in preparing for the audit. I was able to print the reports for the auditors and prepare the account reconciliation book for them by using the reports that Jan created. Before leaving Jan verified that all the reports tied out to the general ledger. Jan’s expert knowledge of the FRx program helped us to keep our costs down as we only had to use her services for 2 1/2 days and the end results were exactly what we asked for. I would highly recommend Jan’s services for any FRx report writing.”
—Kathy Larson, Director of Finance
Client: Investment Company
Type of Business: Real Estate and Other Investments
GL: Microsoft Dynamics GP (fka Great Plains)
Location: Ft Worth, Texas
Public: Yes
Number of Companies: 15
Onsite or Remote: Onsite with some Remote
Implementation Time: Several weeks
Implementation Type: New
This was a brand new implementation of FRx, and Treasurer Paul C. had already created the exact formats for the reports needed in Excel. He just didn’t have the extra time to devote to creating the numerous reports he needed. Following Paul’s Excel lead, I created a wide variety of month to date, quarter to date, and year to date financials, several with extensive links to Excel. Challenging project, but it turned out great!
“These reports have been extremely helpful to us. I am particularly pleased with how the reports are structured in a way that allows for easy addition of companies. We recently changed one of the companies from Excel to GP, and I was able to go in and make simple changes in the report formats to adjust to the change seamlessly. I was impressed with your focus during the project and your understanding of what I was looking for in the reports. Your thorough testing of the reports made our live implementation error-free. You took several of my “that might not be possible” requests and found a way to make it happen. We will absolutely call on you again for our next FRx project.”
—Paul C., Treasurer
Client: Ginger Myers, Microsoft Dynamics GP Consultant
Type of Business: Hotel Interior Design
GL: Microsoft Dynamics GP (fka Great Plains)
Location: California
Onsite or Remote: Remote
Implementation Time: 2-3 days
Implementation Type: New
This was a brand new implementation of FRx for one of Ginger’s clients. After just migrating to Great Plains, Ginger’s client also had a brand new chart of accounts. I created a basic set of financials, melding the old financials with the new chart, then set them up for departmental reporting. I worked independently on this one since Austin-based Ginger was onsite in California and I worked from Dallas and didn’t pack my suitcase.
“Jan’s quick synthesis of the customer’s chart of accounts and reporting needs combined with her simple, easy-to-maintain report format left my client very satisfied. They are now empowered with the knowledge that as they add more general ledger accounts, those accounts will auto-appear on their simple, elegant reports.”
—Ginger Myers, Microsoft Dynamics GP Consultant
Client: Stonegate
Type of Business: Nursing home management
GL: Microsoft Dynamics SL (fka Solomon)
Location: Lewisville, Texas
Number of Companies: 100
Onsite or Remote: Onsite
Implementation Time: Several weeks
Implementation Type: Revamp
This was revamp implementation of FRx. I worked with Director of Financial Reporting (now Assistant Controller!) Kris Condrin to define the requirements and to pull over the existing pieces we needed to keep. I created detail and summary versions of budget, budget variance, and trend reports. A flash report for management. The company relies heavily on statistics like census days and occupancy rates, and there were entire reports (PPD) that were dollars divided by census. Finally, several reports can be run with different trees, enabling management to see different views of the same data.
“Jan is a pleasure to work with and was of great assistance to us. She was always very responsive and did her best to ensure all requirements were clearly outlined and status updates were given on a regular basis. She was responsible for automating some of our financial reports in FRx that had previously required manual intervention. This task alone has not only saved us several hours of work, but has also ensured the accuracy of calculations in our reports. Additionally, with her assistance we now have several different canned reports that quickly meet the needs of various departments within our organization. Jan’s time and expertise was extremely valuable to us, and she will definitely be the one we will call with any future FRx needs!”
—Kris Condrin, Assistant Controller