Financial management professionals are given job titles such as “Controller” – yet when I talk to these people – their #1 complaint is that things are “out of control” in their organizations.
Control is about having the power to influence or direct peoples’ behaviors.
Usually when someone does something that isn’t desirable, the reactive organizational response goes something like this:
- An emergency meeting is convened to discuss the matter. The goal is to determine “what went wrong”.
- After the determination has been made, options are discussed as to what can be done to insure that the situation doesn’t repeat itself in the future.
- New process “rules” are put into place to prevent the situation from happening again – and these new rules are communicated to the appropriate personnel.
- The situation happens again because people aren’t following the rules.
One thing that I notice consistently is that many of our clients are trying to develop processes that control events that have already taken place. For example, once an Accounts Payable invoice is received from a vendor, it is given to a Department Manager for approval. After this, it goes along with the check to a higher ranking employee for final review – and check signature. The problem is that when it is determined that the order should have never been placed with that vendor, there is very little that can be done about it – because the event took place 30 days ago.
In effect, we are trying to control something that has already taken place.
Process definition is very important to the life of a Controller. Requisitions should be approved PRIOR to the order being placed with the vendor. More time should be spent controlling things BEFORE THEY HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACE – RATHER THAN AFTER! So once a good process has been developed, how do you implement it – and make sure the rules are being followed? Microsoft Dynamics GP and CRM – combined with SharePoint – provide the platform and tools to accommodate and enforce the process. Let us show you how it works!