Muscogee Creek Nation
Tribal Government Improves Efficiency and Enhances Federal Reporting Capabilities
The government of the Muscogee Creek Nation (MCN), the fourth-largest Indian tribe in the United States, serves the citizenship of Muscogee Creek and parallels the U.S. federal government in structure. Even as a separate government, the tribe must still meet federal requirements for financial reporting, audits, and other regulations. Unfortunately, the MCN’s financial reporting system was problematic; every new release created difficulties with data conversion, and reporting capabilities were sluggish and limited. MCN deployed Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV as the tribal government’s financial reporting system. Microsoft Dynamics NAV offers the federal reporting capabilities the MCN needs with the power to perform a higher volume of accounting functions 25 to 30 percent faster and process data inquiries 50 percent faster.
Situation
The Muscogee Creek people are descendents of a remarkable culture that, before AD 1500, spanned the southeastern United States. The Muscogee Creek Nation (MCN) operates on a U.S.$106 million-dollar budget and employs a staff of 2,400. The MCN Treasury bears responsibility for all fiscal matters. It serves as the main repository for all funds, provides financial oversight of federal funds, and performs daily accounting processes and practices. Maintaining the MCN’s financial records requires a reporting system that complies with Generally Accepted Accounting Principals and is capable of conforming to numerous U.S. government regulations, including the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A 87, and the Single Audit Act, as defined by OMB Circular A-133.
Over the past six years, the MCN tribal government has doubled in staff, growing to more than 600 employees, with an additional 400 seasonal employees in the summer months. This growth further taxed an already overburdened FundWare accounting system, which was limited in its federal reporting capabilities, lacked stability, and required outsourcing to external auditors for combined financials. According to James Pratt, Controller for the Muscogee Creek Nation, issues were exacerbated as FundWare changed owners three times during the utilization period. With every new release, MCN experienced problems with data conversion, and problems with their legacy system became so routine that MCN turned to a Microsoft® Certified Partner for a solution.
Solution
Based on the size of the MCN accounting system, as well as specific payroll and reporting requirements, a more robust system: Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV was recommended and implemented, offering a powerful yet cost-effective solution to support the MCN’s federal reporting requirements while increasing transaction processing capacity and speed.
With the advanced reporting capabilities available through Microsoft Dynamics NAV, raw data is easily captured in customized reports that reflect the organization’s performance from several viewpoints. Microsoft Dynamics NAV links accounting processes across databases, granting the MCN the ability to create and distribute intercompany transactions with full audit support across all divisions. Microsoft Dynamics NAV provides the MCN with a reliable system capable of processing numerous accounting transactions—purchase orders, invoices, and payroll—with greater speed and agility.
Expedited Accounting Functionality
Purchase orders are immediately available across the entire MCN organization with systemwide updates that reduce data entry and help ensure viewing accuracy—regardless of time or location. Users throughout the organization can simultaneously access transactional details from anywhere in the system, cutting in half the time needed to find data.
Integration with Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft Office Excel
Data from the MCN’s Microsoft Dynamics NAV system is also available to users from within desktop applications, including Microsoft Office Word 2003 and Microsoft Office Excel® 2003. The MCN’s Treasury staff routinely exports data from Microsoft Dynamics NAV into Excel 2003 to easily create unique reports and perform detailed analysis. Letters and reports written in Word 2003 can also be populated with data pulled directly from Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
Fund Accounting
Fund Accounting with Serenic Navigator, powered by Microsoft Dynamics NAV, is a flexible and adaptable financial management solution that delivers unique and sophisticated functionality for governmental agencies, enabling the MCN to meet federal requirements and guidelines. Navigator offers full integration of all accounting activity as well as complete integration with all other functional areas of your organization, alleviating the need for manual fund balancing and disparate systems. Navigator has received five-star ratings by The CPA Technology Advisor for five straight years as one of the most advanced financial management solutions.
Customization Made Easy
Microsoft Dynamics NAV comes complete with its own graphically integrated development environment, C/SIDE, built around a high-performance, customizable relational database management system. C/SIDE provides powerful customization tools that enabled Finley & Cook to set up and define activities that specifically fit the needs of the MCN. Finley & Cook modified the Navigation Pane of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV main menu to provide one-click access to these custom features.
Implementation and Adoption
With technical expertise and a comprehensive knowledge of MCN’s business, The implementation and training was completed in just nine days. The MCN’s entire Treasury department, approximately 20 employees, uses Microsoft Dynamics NAV. According to Pratt, “Once training was complete, we realized that so many functions in Microsoft Dynamics NAV are faster and easier to perform than they were in FundWare. I think the overall acceptance is very good.”
Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Microsoft Dynamics NAV works with Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 Reporting Services to deliver richer business insight without requiring users to switch software applications. In anticipation of incorporating enterprise operations, the MCN chose to upgrade its database server to SQL Server 2005. By combining Microsoft Dynamics NAV with SQL Server 2005, the MCN gains greater insight and better tools to make smarter decisions. Together, they enable the MCN to deliver fast, valuable, and customizable information. In addition to accessing relevant data more quickly and minimizing application hopping, SQL Server 2005 allows the MCN to manage a broader range of business areas as they continue to grow.
“With Muscogee Creek Nation’s dramatic growth over the last six years, as well as additional forecasted growth, they needed a more enterprise-level solution.” The MCN plans to utilize the enterprise functionality as its needs continue to expand.
Benefits
Microsoft Dynamics NAV provides customized reporting abilities that offer the MCN more choices in viewing the needs and performance of the organization—by individual division, by program, or as a unified entity. Information in Microsoft Dynamics NAV can easily be exported to popular programs like Word and Excel for additional manipulation or custom letters.
According to Pratt, “With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, purchase orders, invoices, and payroll processing are completed 25 to 30 percent faster and data inquiries return results 50 percent sooner.” Microsoft Dynamics NAV allows the Treasury department to manage accounting functions faster and with greater ease, giving the MCN the freedom to focus on business. And with SQL Server 2005, the MCN is positioned to increase capacity as forecasted and adapt effectively to market changes without disrupting everyday operations.
Enables Custom Reporting Capabilities
Microsoft Dynamics NAV enables even the MCN’s nontechnical staff to create custom reports using step-by-step wizards. The MCN Treasury can create combined financials within one system, eliminating the need for manual manipulation and GASB formatting, as well as the expensive and time-consuming chore of outsourcing to external auditors.
Gathering data into combined columns is another new capability Microsoft Dynamics NAV makes possible. In the past, the MCN ran individual reports for each program in each MCN division for spreadsheet insertion and calculation across to a total column. Now, the MCN Treasury can run integrated reports that show results for both the organization as a whole and for individual programs and divisions separately.
According to Pratt, “The ability to customize reports has been tremendous. That’s what most impresses us about Microsoft Dynamics NAV: the ability to customize reports in compliance with federal reporting requirements.”
Exports Data to Office Word and Excel
The MCN uses Excel 2003 to create reports with up-to-date figures imported from Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The ease of exporting documents to Excel 2003 is a significant improvement that allows MCN Treasury employees to work with the familiar analytical tools of Excel 2003. The ability to view enterprise resource planning information in a Web browser has helped ensure that the data stored in Microsoft Dynamics NAV is available to employees who need it. According to Pratt, the broad access to information and tight integration between the desktop and enterprise systems are among the reasons the MCN chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
Reduces Purchase Order Processing by 25 to 30 Percent
Entering and processing purchase orders through the Microsoft Dynamics NAV procurement system is 25 to 30 percent faster. Order information is entered immediately across the entire solution, with systemwide updates that reduce data entry and help ensure viewing accuracy, regardless of time or location. With the MCN’s current high volume of transactions (and forecasted increase in volume), expediting the process is essential.
Decreases Time for Data Inquiries by 50 Percent
Finding data within the system has never been easier—or faster—for the MCN. Multiple users can connect to up-to-date transaction information concurrently, eliminating delays from inaccessible data and enhancing productivity and responsiveness. Pratt notes that finding applicable transaction data is 50 percent faster than with the previous system. “Microsoft Dynamics NAV puts the information at your fingertips; all you have to do is hit a button and it’s there. We feel like it’s a system that we will not outgrow easily” says Pratt.