Readiness, the Key to Sage Intacct Success

Asking the right questions before the Implementation even begins

You’ve decided to make the switch to Sage Intacct, but your internal teams are already stressed and stretched thin. A good project sponsor will identify this at the outset and plan accordingly. 

All too often implementation missteps, poor preparation, and no assessment of a company’s readiness prior to engaging with the Sage Intacct implementation consultant, can leave you and your company with a new system that mimics the outdated processes of the old, costs more, and doesn’t take advantage of the unique time saving features that Sage Intacct is ready to offer. 

To ensure a successful launch to Sage Intacct, start by assessing your internal team’s experience, availability and ability to think creatively when it comes to systems and processes. Ask yourself these questions well before the implementation kickoff meeting: 

• Who on my team has the strong technical accounting skills paired with an interest in technology and how things work?

• Who are my subject matter experts that already have a broad understanding of our end-to-end accounting processes?

• Can workload be shifted to other team members in order to create ample space for our internal project lead to be successful in delivering a quality Sage Intacct implementation?

• Should we hire temporary or permanent accounting staff to balance our accounting and implementation needs?

Once staffing considerations have been reviewed and resolved, it’s time to do the pre-work. Your company will be well served by taking some time prior to implementation kickoff to identify, evaluate, and redesign some or all of the following implementation building blocks:

• Chart of Accounts

• Reporting Dimensions

• Accounting Processes

• GL impact as tied to Operational Processes

• Workflows

• Approval Policies

• Internal Control Requirements

• Third-party Integrations

• Project Phasing

• Change Management

• Communication Plan

• Training Plan

In addition to staffing and design considerations, plan for the Sage Intacct implementation to take place over a three- to six-month period when there are no conflicting accounting or company related deadlines. Some internal time can be saved by cutting over (going live) at year-end to avoid detailed data migration for the partial go-live year. Not all companies will have this luxury. Planning for additional staff time to map historical data is critical to the success and on-time delivery of the Sage Intacct cloud accounting system.

Sounds like a daunting project before the actual implementation even begins? Let Ticktie Consulting assist in the upfront work, including the readiness assessment activities described above.

Aimee Foster is a CPA with experience implementing the Sage Intacct cloud accounting solution, as well as its competitor products. Time and again, Sage Intacct has won her heart. As such, Aimee has made it her mission to instill confidence and ownership to users and administrators of the Sage Intacct Platform.