How long does an implementation typically take?
We have on-boarded agencies as quickly as 6 weeks, but our average go-live timeline is 8 weeks. There are 4 phases to our consultative implementation process:
- Phase I : Workflow and needs assessment
- Phase II : Accountability database set-up and configuration
- Includes master file migration
- Phase III: Hands-on training and user engagement
- Phase IV: Post go-live activities
- Balance transfer
- Advanced training
- Continued hands-on support for your first month-end close on the platform
What is entailed in bringing over historical data from our current system to Accountability?
At minimum, we will need to import opening balance transactions from your current system: GL trial balance, AR opening balances, AP opening balances, active jobs
Our approach for this phase of the implementation will be driven by your reporting and audit requirements. For the general ledger, there are 2 options:
- Bring in trial balance movements for each month off the previous year
- Bring in complete transaction history, i.e. full journal extract from your current system, and import these as individual journal lines into Accountability.
Expertise
The team managing the data migration process for new customers are former agency accountants who have a deep understanding of debits and credits and have built a scalable, repeatable process and tools.
From a technical standpoint, how do you get data out of our current system and into Accountability?
We have built templates for all transactions in the system. These templates are available in Excel format to simplify getting data from your existing system. In the case where data cannot be exported into our standard template, our migration team will translate the Excel output from your system into our import format.
How do you handle adjustments that needed to be made after our audit?
For any month go-live, what our new customers typically do is a "soft close" of the previous month so we bring over the trial balance position as at that point.
It is common practice for a subset of the agency to have access to its legacy system to facilitate audit and other necessary adjustments at a later date. Agencies would normally keep their general ledger open in their previous system for another ~2-3 months while they complete the audit process. Any adjustments to the general ledger are then posted to Accountability to ensure that your opening balance sheet in our platform agree to the final balance sheet in your legacy system.
Do we need to keep our current GL structure to move historical data from our current system to Accountability?
No. We encourage you to use this transition as a catalyst for reviewing your current structure and taking advantage of Accountability's flexible structure, designed to scale with your business.
Our implementation team will work closely with you in defining and setting up your ideal account structure and map it with your current system's to facilitate the data transfer process.
What if we have open jobs in our current system?
We will bring in all related job transaction history for active jobs, including purchase orders.
[Media agency on Advantage] Do you bring in our active media estimates from Strata? How do we make sure we don't double-bill?
One of the many advantages of Accountability is our 2-way API-based integration with the Freewheel Strata platform. As part of the transition, you will get access to Freewheel's media billing module which gives your media accounting team real-time access to the billing status of buys.
The Strata Financial Bridge which facilitates the real-time transfer of billed and cleared data from the Strata platform will not transfer data that has already been marked as billed (i.e. transferred to Advantage as billing). New media bills generated from Strata once you are up on Accountability will automatically appear, approved, and posted in our platform.
Best practice:
Pick an effective date to start all new media client invoices from Strata.
[Media agency on Advantage] How do we reconcile media activity that we pre-billed in our old system?
Media pending balances are brought into Accountability and as vendor invoices are cleared against the Estimate, the amount is reconciled against the pre-billed amount.
Do you have training services to help train end users?
We create a training plan as part of the implementation process, which breaks down training sessions into specific workflow phases and/or user groups within the agency.
We have a phased approach for onboarding a new agency customer:
- Self-service learning: All Accountability users have access to "How To" tutorial videos to gain a base knowledge of the different functionalities within the platform. Users get access to our tutorial video library as soon as they get their Accountability login credentials and learn at their own pace.
- Hands-on training: Instructor-led sessions are scheduled to reinforce a user's knowledge gained from self-service learning. Sessions are scheduled "just-in-time" so that end users are learning while they're creating/managing real transactions in the system.
In addition to formal trainings, user engagement includes Q&A sessions and virtual office hours. Implementation user engagement continues 2-3 months after the go-live date.
Post go-live, end users have access to our searchable Knowledgebase with help videos and articles. Support requests can be made through our support portal within the platform or by emailing support@counta.com.