Penquis Accounting says DAPREX + Symtrax = efficiency
The partnership between Symtrax and DAPREX offers companies using the AS/400 and iSeries the very best in financial output management. The DAPREX family of products provides a full range of general accounting and financial applications and services. Compleo and MapForm from Symtrax then manage the output from the sophisticated DAPREX software and allow organizations to automate the creation and distribution of reports and forms. One of the many corporations that have seen success from this collaboration of tools is Penquis CAP, Inc.
Penquis is a nonprofit that works to prevent, reduce and eliminate poverty and engage the community in addressing economic and social needs in the State of Maine. Its programs have been recognized for quality and innovation both regionally and nationally. With a budget over $50 million and hundreds of grants, financial management is a top priority - especially when the resources are being used to improve the lives of less-fortunate individuals and families in the community. Penquis effectively used DAPREX software for over 10 years to manage the financial data from its SystemI when it decided to invest in a powerful reporting solution to compliment the process - Compleo.
Advanced Financial Output Reporting
The DAPREX reports that Penquis run include Balance Sheets, General Ledger Detail, Payroll, Cash Receipts plus several hundred Profit and Loss Reports. But as its highly successful Community Action Programs looked to modernize, the finance and accounting team sought a solution that would save time and money as well as cut the paper waste generated by running so many reports. According to Susan Simpson, Staff Accountant in the Penquis Central Accounting Office, “Our main goal was to reduce printing – we also wanted to eliminate the time it took to format data in Excel”. After considering other solution options like Spoolflex, Penquis agreed with DAPREX’s recommendation of using the Compleo Output Management from Symtrax.
Compleo is a complete output management solution designed to manage, convert and distribute output files from any system including the iSeries, DAPREX applications as well as ERPs like JD Edwards and SAP. The beauty of the solution is that is accomplishes all of this from a Windows-based PC and converts reports into user-friendly programs like Excel and PDF. The Compleo also offers powerful modules that automate electronic form creation and delivery plus fullyfeatured archiving capabilities. For Penquis, Compleo was able to solve several problems.
Office Modernization
“Penquis did a cost analysis prior to purchasing Compleo. We anticipated we would recapture the purchase costs within the first year of use,” recalls Simpson. Prior to installing the Compleo solution, the Finance department was printing lengthy reports when they only needed a few pages. They were also manually re-keying data into Excel which was not only time-consuming but left room for human error as well. Since the initial set-up, Penquis now enjoys the automatic conversion of spool files to PDF and Excel instead of paper printing. DAPREX also provided Penquis with custom Compleo templates to use.
Eliminating the printing and re-typing of data are not the only features that the company has profited from. The solution has been an integral component of its larger business modernization goals. Simpson believes “Compleo has been very helpful for us to move forward with our paperless office initiative”. One of the most valuable contributions Compleo has made to Penquis and its maximization of the DAPREX applications is the ability to save the converted files to its network drive for personnel to access. Because of this, IT does not have a constant barrage of report requests and can focus on other projects.
An Unbeatable Team
Symtrax and DAPREX understand the importance and complexity of financial reporting as well as the challenges faced by accounting departments in nonprofit organizations. Every dollar allocated must be accounted for and broken down into reporting units for government compliance and essential tax breaks. The scope of financial tracking in such organizations is on a large and detailed scale. But with DAPREX solutions and the Compleo, companies get a head start – predefined custom templates and reports, automation to run and fill these reports, plus automation of electronic distribution and online archiving. Symtrax is proud to have Penquis CAP Inc rely on Compleo, so that the people of Maine can rely on Penquis.
About Penquis CAP, Inc.
Penquis is a nonprofit that works to prevent, reduce and eliminate poverty and engage the community in addressing economic and social needs in the State of Maine.