University of the Pacific Streamlines Financial Posting with PostOmatic, Makes Funding Available on Campus in Record Time

Organization Background

University of the Pacific is a private university in Stockton, California. The oldest university in California, the University of the Pacific has been delivering liberal arts and professional educational experiences since 1851. We spoke with Zac Spurlin, Executive Director of Advancement Services, about his team’s use of Omatic software.

Challenges

• Onboarding Raiser’s Edge NXT as the New Development and Alumni Relations CRM: By switching from the Ellucian Banner advancement CRM to Raiser’s Edge NXT, the University of the Pacific was excited for a new suite of development, engagement, and reporting features. At the same time, this significant change to its tech stack involved re-thinking data processes including daily gift transaction reports, posting to the general ledger, and properly coding donations for the correct fund. The advancement services team needed a method for transferring data from Raisers Edge NXT to Ellucian Banner, the campus accounting system.
• A Tight Deadline for Finding an Integration Solution: When University of the Pacific decided to implement a new development CRM, the university initially decided to build its own custom integration solution for moving data between Raiser’s Edge NXT and third-party systems for accounting and reporting. But after months of deliberation, the small team realized they didn’t have the bandwidth for such an ambitious project. With the calendar year closing and the year-end uptick in donations looming, the advancement services team urgently needed a solution in place that would be ready in time for the launch of Raiser’s Edge NXT, without interrupting daily operations.

“The implementation was so smooth and painless that I don’t see myself going with another product over PostOmatic.” – Zac Spurlin

• Cumbersome Manual Process for Posting to the General Ledger: Processing gifts at the University of the Pacific was time-consuming. Any adjustment to a gift including common updates like changing a gift’s destination from a general operating fund to a more specific fund required debiting from one account and crediting the other. In addition, a member of the development office staff needed to notify the finance team about this change so it could be logged into the campus accounting system. This time-consuming and manual process was also prone to human error. The university sought a more efficient way to make adjustments to gifts.

Solution

To meet the university’s tight deadline for having Raiser’s Edge NXT and Ellucian Banner fully integrated by the time the new CRM was scheduled to launch on campus, the team at Omatic expedited the University of the Pacific’s onboarding process. Read on for other ways that the PostOmatic solution from Omatic addresses the challenges for gift administration and financial posting.

• More Control Over Data Imports and Daily Reconciliations: At 4:00 PM on every standard business day, Zac or a member of his team runs a report in Raiser’s Edge NXT with a full list of the gifts made in the previous 24 hours. From there, he quickly checks for any anomalies before sending the report to Ellucian to post to the general ledger. The whole process takes an average of 10 minutes—much less time than it would take to manually post the dozens of gifts that come in each day. Despite the short processing time, Zac and his colleagues have full control over the information that goes into the campus accounting system.

“I know exactly what’s being sent from Raiser’s Edge NXT to (Ellucian) Banner. If there’s a problem I can spot it immediately.”

• Streamlined Gift Adjustments: Making edits to gifts is no longer the time-consuming process it used to be, especially common changes like moving a gift fund to a new destination. Previously, moving a gift from a general account to a specific designation required two entries: one to debit the general account and another to credit the correct one, a process that involved both the advancement services team and the campus finance department. Now, with PostOmatic, those changes can be made automatically: credits, debits, and record changes in both Raiser’s Edge NXT and Ellucian Banner in one step, without the help of another department.

Results

• More Confidence in Gift Transaction Data Across Campus: Since implementing PostOmatic for financial posting, the University of the Pacific has seen improved accuracy in gift transaction data. Fund codes are now applied automatically, so gifts in kind are coded correctly from the start, instead of temporarily sitting in a general holding account. The simplified posting process also reduces human error, with gifts posted to the general ledger daily, giving campus units confidence in their totals.
• Gifts Available for Use on Campus in Record Time: The time between a donor making a gift and it being available for use on campus is shorter than ever at the university. When the development office implemented Raiser’s Edge NXT and PostOmatic, it had several hundred thousand dollars in its holding account. Now, that account has less than $10,000. The decreased lag time between when a donor makes a gift and that funding moving to the appropriate account on campus means that fewer gifts accrue in the holding account, and campus units receive their funding faster than before. This decreased lag time has a major impact: students receive aid, campus units can plan events, buy supplies, and carry out other mission-critical work without delay.
• 2-5 Hours Saved Each Day: Without PostOmatic, Advancement Services would have to spend hours editing spreadsheets each day for their eventual import to Ellucian Banner—an untenable task for a small team. The smooth transfer of gift transaction data between Raiser’s Edge NXT and Ellucian Banner saves team members hours each day. On a typical day, Zac or his colleagues only spend 10 minutes or so reviewing gift transaction reports from Raiser’s Edge NXT before transferring it to Ellucian Banner, the campus accounting system. Even on the past year’s Giving Day, when the campus had an influx of 6,000 gifts in a single 24-hour period, the team only had to spend 30 minutes on its daily review before posting.