Serenic Navigator Improves Financial Control for Archdioceses and Dioceses
Diocese of Fargo
The Diocese of Fargo was founded in 1897 and includes 13 schools, 136
parishes in the eastern half of North Dakota, with 102 priests serving a
Catholic population of 85,570. Prior to implementing Serenic Navigator,
the organization struggled to find an accounting software product that
could handle both the routine and specific requirements needed in the
three different types of entities it serves: a traditional diocesan multiple
funds and multiple department structure, a foundation structure, and a
deposit and loan structure.
“As a result, we had to bandage products or elements of products together,
duplicate entry efforts, and manually track and/or enter routine
items,” said Scott A. Hoselton, the finance officer at the Diocese of Fargo.
“Serenic Navigator has the flexibility and functionality to handle all of our
needs in one program, with the underlying power to meet everyday and
unexpected needs as they arise.”
Prior to implementation, the diocese hoped to save about one week’s time
per year. Hoselton estimates the organization is actually saving four weeks
per year on the Investment Management (Deposit and Loan) portion of
Serenic Navigator alone, with additional savings in other areas.
Archdiocese of Detroit
Although not formally established as a diocese until 1833, Detroit’s
Catholic history dates back to 1701 when a group of French traders,
accompanied by two priests, settled on the banks of the Detroit River.
Today, the diocese serves six counties in the Detroit Metropolitan area
with a total population of nearly 4.5 million. Of that total, some 1.5
million, or 33 percent, are practicing Catholics. The diocese, which has
a workforce of more than 200 at its administrative headquarters, is
comprised of 304 parishes and 722 priests.
Since early in 2006, the diocese has been taking advantage of the core
fund accounting functionality built into the Serenic Navigator system,
including: a general ledger that is fully integrated, offering complete
drill around navigation with all other modules such as accounts payable,
accounts receivable, advanced allocations, advanced budgeting, cash
management, purchase orders, reimbursement billing, and workflows
with approvals. The diocese also implemented the Serenic Investment
Management and DonorVision modules.
“After reviewing several software packages and making corresponding
reference checks, Serenic Navigator came highly recommended. Hence,
the Archdiocese of Detroit chose to go with Navigator for our financial and
operational applications,” said Daniel R. Oliver, the diocese’s associate
director of finance and administration.
The organization’s primary reason for choosing Navigator was its wide
range of applications, which fit the various business activities carried
out by the diocese. In addition, it noted that Navigator’s functionality
appeared to be the most user-friendly, and Serenic Software had a
good support team.
Diocese of Great Falls-Billings
Founded in 1904, this diocese serves more than 100,000 Catholics
throughout the eastern two-thirds of Montana. The Diocese has 85 priests
and is comprised of 65 parishes, 45 missions and 10 parochial schools.
The diocese business office needed a fund accounting solution that was
as broad and all encompassing as its responsibilities. It was looking for
a flexible solution that could be customized for its five differently-structured
financial organizations, each with its own set of policies and procedures.
With limited personnel, it also needed to produce more results
with fewer resources.
Joe Loncki, diocese business manager and finance officer, cited
Serenic Navigator's strengths
as the software’s navigation, or drill down capabilities,
screen consistency throughout all modules, and standard report writing
options.
Loncki said using Serenic Navigator, the organization can complete all of
its payroll activities in about two hours – a time savings of at least 50
percent. “The productivity increase in our office (from the implementation
of Serenic Navigator) allowed us to consolidate all bookkeeping responsibilities
into two positions – converting a third position into a critically
needed administrative support position without incurring any increase
in staffing costs,” Loncki said. “Perhaps the most tangible measure of
Serenic Navigator’s return on investment is that I will recoup the cost of
implementation in a mere 25 months.”
Catholic Diocese of Orlando
The Diocese of Orlando was established in 1968, and originally included 50
parishes and served 128,000 Catholics. Because of the explosive growth
of the Orlando metropolitan area, engendered by the opening of Walt
Disney World and other tourist destinations, the diocese became one
of the fastest growing in the nation. Today, it includes 80 parishes, 10
missions, and 37 schools spread over nine counties of Central Florida.
It serves a population of approximately 800,000 Catholics.
In early 2008, the diocese needed to replace its existing AS400 system
with software that would provide the advanced budgeting capabilities,
automated workflow processing, and investment management capabilities
required to effectively manage the fund accounting needs of the diocese.
“We were impressed by Serenic’s focus and commitment to the diocesan
community” said Jack Paige, director of IS and technology for the Diocese
of Orlando. “Serenic’s Investment Management product, for example, is
a fully integrated component of the Navigator financials solution and is
a great fit for our Diocesan Savings and Loan program. This was not
something we could find in other products. And since Navigator is based
on the powerful Microsoft Dynamics NAV system, we will also have full
integration with Microsoft Office. After talking to other Serenic clients and
completing an intensive review of the product, we are confident that
Navigator will empower us to provide the level of accountability and transparency
our constituents deserve.”
Catholic Diocese of Green Bay
St. Therese of the Little Flower, Inc. provides accounting and communications
services for the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., its agencies
and parishes. The diocese is composed of 350,000 Catholics who carry
out the mission of its 160 parishes and 62 schools. The diocese employs
180, while its parishes and schools employee approximately 3,000 in its
16-county area.
In 2008, St. Theses of the Little Flower selected Serenic Navigator to
centralize and standardize accounting for all parishes and schools in the
Diocese, replacing the 15 types of software acquired independently by
the parishes and schools.
Serenic Navigator
was chosen to ease communications challenges the
diocese had been experiencing and to help it overcome the problems
of compiling multiple reports from parishes and schools with different
accounting capacities. Moreover, pastors and other leaders are now
taking on more parishes and schools and need a common accounting
system to manage them. In addition, access to technological expertise
may not be readily available in many parishes. To resolve these issues,
St. Therese plans to use Serenic Navigator to deliver its accounting
capabilities through the Web, so that all parishes will communicate via
the Internet, with a common database accessible online.
“Much like any other business, the day-to-day operation of a parish has
grown in complexity over the years,” said Deacon Tim Reilly, director of
administration for the diocese. “Through the collaboration of our parish,
school and diocesan leaders, we are adopting solutions such as Serenic
Navigator to help us streamline important business functions and use
technology to our advantage.”