Best Software, Nonprofit & Government Solutions Division ' MIP Fund Accounting

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Since its acquisition of Micro Information Products (MIP), Best Software has offered a couple of version upgrades to the MIP Fund Accounting (formerly MIP Nonprofit Series) product. Following a major product upgrade (version 5.0) in August 2003, version 6.0 brings another list of enhancements including a new budget worksheet, a new grant administration module, the ability to add custom calculations in reports, new billing options, the ability to attach scanned documents and pictures, and more.

EASE OF USE/FLEXIBILITY - 5 stars The main application window consists of a standard Windows drop-down menu that is organized by function (View, Maintain, Transactions, Activities, Reports, etc.) and allows direct access to all data-entry screens, processing options and reports for all modules. The remainder of the workspace is used as an information dashboard and graphical navigation screen. Introduced in version 5.0, this 'One-click Navigator' is a customizable workspace that provides task-related navigation panes for quick and consistent access to each module's activities and functions. The opening (or home) page presents key business information with customizable charts and graphs. You can also create links to related applications and documents. For each module, there's a workflow diagram with icons for each specific task. For example, the GL Transactions module has icons such as Enter Budget Transactions, Enter Manual Disbursement Checks, Write Disbursement Checks, Enter Journal Vouchers and Post Transactions. Within the screen work area, a Report Manager pane has a tree view of all the reports available for that module. Another pane contains links to relevant help topics.

Once a particular function is selected from either the drop-down menu or the navigator screen, the data-entry screen opens in this same workspace. Data-entry screens are nicely designed and easy to use, but must be used with a screen resolution of at least 1024x768. At lower resolutions, the input screens are wider than the visible window and must be accessed by utilizing scroll bars, making screen navigation difficult. For quick data entry, spreadsheet-style entry forms are used throughout the program. Lookups are provided for key data fields, and Windows user interface conventions are carefully followed.

MODULES/SCALABILITY - 5 Stars Three MIP Fund Accounting product editions address organizations of various sizes and needs: Intro, Pro and Advantage. The Intro edition supports up to three users, and modules include GL, AP, AR, Bank Reconciliation, Budget, Data Import/Export, Forms Designer, Grant Administration and Payroll. With support for up to 10 users, the Pro edition adds Advanced Security, Allocations Management, Direct Deposit, Electronic Funds Transfer, Electronic Requisitions, Encumbrances, Fixed Assets, NightShift Scheduler and Purchase Orders. The Advantage edition utilizes Microsoft SQL Server for a nearly unlimited number of concurrent users and adds the Data Consolidation module.

MIP Fund Accounting supports both MSDE (Intro and Pro editions) and Microsoft SQL Server (Advantage edition), providing high scalability for small, growing or large organizations. MSDE is included with the product and supports up to 10 users. For organizations needing the added muscle of Microsoft SQL Server, a separate purchase and installation of the database engine is necessary. All editions have a pretty hefty hardware requirement. The server will need to have a Pentium 500MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 2GB of free disk space, and Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional. Workstations can get by with 256MB of RAM and 500MB of free hard disk space. Notably missing from this list are Windows 98 and Windows ME, so the organization will need to carefully consider whether it has the requisite hardware and network environment for the installation.

FEATURES/FUNCTIONALITY - 5 Stars At the heart of the MIP system, the GL features a table-driven chart of accounts structure that allows you to record funds, grants, programs and funding sources with an unlimited number of segments, user-defined character types and account lengths. MIP also includes some powerful management analysis tools. A dynamic Drill-down Analyzer lets you use a multilevel grid system to review the individual transactions that make up the balances within your financial statements. The analyzer initially presents a screen that looks similar to a financial statement; however, each line has a '+' symbol to expand that line to show details about that number. At that level, you can click another '+' symbol to expand the detail even further.

The new budget worksheet introduced in version 6.0 uses a columnar budget template that allows you to spread annual budgets into monthly amounts, utilize spreadsheet formulas, include budget justifications, generate current year budget amounts based on actual transaction history, and budget any time frame. You can create and maintain an unlimited number of budgets simultaneously. The new grant administration module lets you maintain profiles of the organization's grants from application through closeout. You can monitor grant-related expenditures and budget position, and scan and file grant-related documents.

REPORTING - 5 Stars With all modules installed, nearly 100 reports are available, each with a wide variety of setup options for date ranges, layout, content and filters. Reports can be previewed, printed or exported to many different formats, including *.CSV, HTML, *.MDB, *.DOC, *.XLS, *.PRN, *.TXT and *.XML file types. Reports can also be printed or e-mailed in *.PDF format. Many reports can also be used to create charts.