Among the many advantages of using the top-rated fund accounting solution in terms of user satisfaction is the fact that just about everything in the software just works.  Unexpected error messages and bugs are rare.  The features are mature, intuitive and designed around how nonprofit and local government agencies do accounting.  Considering these factors, many users may feel content that things are going well and just go about their business without exploring ways to get better connected to the community of over 6,000 organizations that use MIP.

Even if you feel like you have a pretty good grip on how the applications work, it is very likely that there are dozens if not hundreds of features, capabilities, techniques, approaches and other valuable things that can be increasing the value of the system you have already paid for that you simply haven’t found.

One of the best and most cost-effective ways to start whittling away at this list is to join your local user community.  Here are five reasons why doing so is a smart choice for your finance team:

• Professional Networking – Meeting other professionals in your area that share some of the same day-to-day challenges provides a support system both as it relates to your MIP system and more broadly as a finance professional
• Direct Access to Experienced Consultants – Some things are easy to figure out on your own.  Others get learned the hard way.  Our road-tested consulting team facilitates these meetings and are available to help answer questions and solve problems during the meeting
• Best Practices – By definition, best practices are developed collectively through the experience of a broad group of people seeking to accomplish the same ends.  The educational content in these meetings provides an opportunity for you to incorporate these best practices in your day-to-day use of the MIP system.
• Exposure to Options – Few organizations are fully-automated in their finance function.  You may still do some reporting offline in spreadsheets.  You may have a legacy system for managing procurement.  Regardless of the specifics of your situation, user group meetings are great venue to learn how other organizations manage these processes and learn about products in the marketplace that can make your team more efficient.
• Provide Candid Feedback – User Group meetings are a venue where your ideas and suggestions for improving MIP can be shared, clarified and documented for presentation to the publisher.  JMT’s consultants work with users to make sure that the ideas are clear and complete and communicated to the designers of MIP promptly after each meeting.

Besides these things, it’s also worth noting that there are usually bagels and coffee served at no cost.  I realize not everyone who uses MIP lives in a geography that can support a local users group, but for those of you that do, I strongly encourage you to check it out.

If you haven’t heard about a User Group in your area, feel free to contact JMT (cam@jmtconsulting.com) about introducing one.  In the meantime, we strongly encourage all MIP users to participate in JMT’s regional events and join us on our webinars!