References and Testimonials - Accounting Library Software Selection Tool

"The Accounting Libraryi> has been invaluable in helping me assist numerous clients with their ERP selections. By incorporating ratings on thousands of features across more than 100 systems, TAL provides a research tool for thoroughly evaluating a specific product or comparing a group of products. Just as important, TAL allows users to assign values to features on a scale of 0 to 9 so that weighted rankings can be generated. Products are eliminated from rankings if they do not meet critical requirements. With this decision support tool, I can help clients prepare a short list without being distracted by lower end ERP systems that lack the more specialized or sophisticated requirements. On the other side, I also use TAL to identify "right fit" solutions that meet the company's needs at less cost than their higher end counterparts. Help text and printed system documentation make it easy to get started and become proficient. The Certified Product Reports are also very helpful in performing the evaluation."

"The Accounting Library was a key tool in our recent search for a new accounting system. It provided a means for us to clearly identify our needs and then match those with products available on the market. We were able to use the comparative analysis tools to identify a short list of leading competitors whose products were most compatible with our needs. After contacting those companies and receiving information and demonstrations from their resellers, we made a selection that we feel confident was based on analysis and critical evaluation rather than guesswork. There are so many products on the market today that it can be overwhelming to undertake such a selection process without the assistance of a tool such as the Accounting Library. We feel it was money well spent."

"Your product (The Accounting Library) was very helpful in focusing on only a few requirements that mattered to us – knowing that so many of the suppliers could perform the majority of the functions that we needed."

"A new software package needs to both fit an organization's business model or approach at a high level, and work at the lowest detailed level from a business process perspective. The Accounting Software Library can support investigation into both the high level and detailed perspective. Of particular value is the ability to extract the exceptions - those areas at the detailed level that don't match requirements - to help weed out the packages that won't work. Although not a substitute for detailed examination of the final candidates, it clearly helps narrow down a field of companies that continue to look more and more alike."

"We really have appreciated and benefited from using The Accounting Library in our search for a new accounting system. It has provided lots of insight into functionality and capabilities that are available in different systems today. It also has saved us hundreds of hours in trying to identify our functional requirements. I have also appreciated your availability to answers questions and provide guidance to us in our search. Without a system like this it is nearly impossible for someone to narrow down the search and determine which system truly meet your needs. I highly recommend The Accounting Library to anyone in search for a new system."

"The Accounting Library is an extremely thorough program in asking extensive questions as to what a company will want their software to accomplish. The program then assesses the company's detailed needs and ranks accounting software products accordingly. It was a great help to us in confirming our independent research on various accounting software solutions, and ultimately in making our decision. I would highly recommend it."

"I highly recommend The Accounting Library. The Accounting Library helped me eliminate about 90% of the available accounting software options in the market. Then I could concentrate on the details of the remaining products to find the best fit for our Company. The Accounting Library gave me the information and direction to make my final decision."

"I highly recommend The Accounting Library to anyone evaluating new accounting software. We have been extremely happy with the product it ranked highest based on our criteria. It takes the guesswork out of the daunting software selection process by boiling it down to simple questions that end users can easily answer. Another great benefit is that it allows the user to assess the multitude of packages on the merits of technology as well as price."

"I was pleased with The Accounting Library because it demonstrated to the client that we could recommend a true best fit off-the-shelf solution for their needs, which is exactly what the client wanted. I was impressed with the number of reports the system generated and the depth of the features. It is clearly a differentiator and we plan on using it on future projects. As a resource for doing competitive analysis and preparing proposals, this would be a knockout."

"Meaden & Moore has been very pleased with The Accounting Library as a requirements building and research tool for our clients in the distribution, retail, and industrial service industries. The Accounting Library has allowed us to be more efficient and cost-effective when delivering software recommendations to these clients."

"The Accounting Library (TAL) is a tool that should be used for all significant accounting software selection processes. TAL has extensive questions about features that keep you from overlooking key issues. The feature list alone is worth the price of the product, particularly when used in building a comprehensive needs definition. Beyond that, however, once you have invested time in defining your needs by feature, TAL can then report on products that fit your need the best, show you the relative strength by accounting function, and provide an initial ranking of fit by product. For the time and money, TAL is some of the best consulting advice you can buy."

"The Accounting Library is the number one tool for helping companies select the right accounting software product. This is because details about the missing features, modules and functionality in accounting systems are typically hidden from prospective customers. You can't count on brochures, web sites, resellers, or vendors to tell you what's missing, instead you need to rely on The Accounting Library. Charles Chewning, author of The Accounting Library has already done all the tough work of compiling detailed lists of all of the features - missing and present - in more than 100 of today's top accounting systems. His information comes directly from the product managers themselves and is highly accurate and updated constantly. The resulting information helps companies better understand the differences from one accounting software solution to the next, and especially helps company officials avoid purchasing the wrong product. Your accounting system is the life blood of your organization and the selection of an appropriate accounting system is one of the most important decisions you will make regarding your company. Don't tackle this tough decision without the right information - purchase The Accounting Library today and produce lists and comparison reports revealing the missing features and functionality in your prospective solutions. "

"Kanbay's client, NISH (www.nish.org) recently went through a detailed composition of a Back Office Automation Request for Proposal. Since we did not have Business Analyst resources, we used The Accounting Library to assist the Business Stakeholders in determining their requirements and the scope of the project. The Accounting Library simplified that effort in days versus months."

"The Accounting Library program asked detailed questions regarding functionality that were helpful in evaluating the software programs which would meet our needs. Had we not used it, our selection process would have taken longer because of the amount of research we would have had to do. Additionally, we may have missed researching key functionality issues just because we would have assumed the program could do it or because we did not think about it."

"The Accounting Library is a valuable tool for matching a company's critical requirements against available software package features. Its well-organized feature questionnaires and tools for ranking the importance of each requirement enable a better decision while making the process more efficient and cost-effective. By using it, most software packages can be eliminated early in the process so that you can focus on a few highly compatible products. I plan on using The Accounting Library on every accounting software search and selection project and I highly recommend it."

"The Accounting Library helped each of our departments identify their needs in a financial system. Additionally, we were able to compare product features across several vendors including our current provider. The quantitative analysis gave us numeric percentages that we could present to our executives showing our current vendor met less than 65% of our company's financial system needs while other vendors could meet up to 98%. Using the feature analysis from the Accounting Library, we were able to identify those features not available in our current system and communicate the results with our current provider, so those missing features might be included in future upgrades as we begin negotiations for a system that The Accounting Library determined will better meet our needs."