How to Integrate Your CRM & GL Systems
General Ledger Integration on Salesforce, Part 9
Hello! My name is Alexandra. I am a Solution Engineer for Salesforce.org. Welcome to my blog series about GL integration!
In Part 8, we wrapped up the gift cycle by reviewing the crucial process of managing adjustments in your CRM to ensure reliable, synchronous general ledger data.
INTEGRATION AS A WELL-OILED MACHINE
Up to this point, we have broken down the business processes that support general ledger reporting and the respective roles that the development and finance teams play in connecting front office fundraising efforts with back office accounting. Now, let’s get into the technology that powers modern GL integration. This article explains some common methods for integrating your Salesforce CRM and general ledger systems. IT folks — this article is for you!
The Nuts and Bolts
Back in the day, managing the general ledger was done on big leather-bound books using pen and paper. Today, organizations use nonprofit accounting software. It’s more efficient, more reliable, and more auditable.
Recall that in order to translate your incoming donations into the language of financial transactions, Accounting Subledger is the bridge between the two worlds. Ledger Entries allow transactional data to be stored in your CRM, then exported from Salesforce in the form of a Ledger Entry Report, and finally imported (or otherwise integrated) into your accounting system. Salesforce Accounting Subledger includes template mappings for 18 of the most common nonprofit accounting systems, making any of these approaches to GL integration easier with quicker time to value.
The fun part is, you have choices for the approach your organization takes to actually get that transactional data from your CRM and into your GL. There are pro’s and con’s about each approach, and there is no one right way of doing it. In the end, it’s about finding the approach that strikes the right balance of automation and control to match your organization’s donation volumes, reporting needs, and technical resources.
Here are the common technology approaches nonprofits take to integrate Salesforce with their general ledger systems:
CSV Import/Export
The simplest approach, and the one that gives you the most control over the integration, is to export your Ledger Entry Report from Salesforce and import it into your accounting system. This approach is commonly used by small-to-mid-sized organizations and ones with relatively low volumes of revenue transactions to process. That is because the CSV Import/Export process is more manual and less “real time” than an automated method. However, it is a very common approach across the nonprofit sector and works very well for many organizations that either don’t derive much benefit from an automated process or prefer the control offered by manual intervention.
You can accomplish an import/export either manually and on demand, or via a scheduled process.
Manual
All the tools you need for a manual export are already built into Salesforce. Simply open your Ledger Entry Report and from the drop down menu select ‘Export.’ Then you’ll choose the View and Format of how you want the file to be exported. These choices will be determined by how your accounting system accepts import files. Many accounting systems will want a Details Only view in a Comma Delimited .csv format. The file will download to your local device, where you can then make any additional tweaks to finalize it for import.
Once you are ready, use the import function built into (or a third party import app that works with) your financial management software to load the file for import. Most data import tools give you the option to create a data mapping template. The first time you do the import, you will need to spend time mapping the fields in Salesforce to their corresponding fields in your accounting system. If you save the mapping as a template, every time you do an import after that first time you simply choose the template and go. Quite efficient!
Scheduled
If the pace and technology of an import/export method suits your needs, but you would like a more hands-off approach then you can schedule your posting file export and import. Using the Data Loader in Salesforce, you can schedule the export of your Ledger Entry report as a CSV file to your PC on a specified schedule (daily, weekly, etc). There are also third party tools that can do the export to an FTP site. Similarly, many accounting systems allow you to schedule an import of the CSV file into your accounting system.
Automated API Integration
Some nonprofits will find a lot of value in automating their GL integration. Does your organization take in a high volume of revenue transactions each day? Do your stakeholders demand real-time reporting? Is your programs team constantly asking for updated budget versus spend reports in order to make critical decisions on program execution? These are a few examples of business needs that are best met through an automated, API-level integration with your accounting system. Because Salesforce offers a variety of integration tools and services, customers have a great deal of flexibility available to integrate your CRM with whatever financial management system you use.
There are three common API-level integration strategies our nonprofit customers typically leverage to automate the process of syncing revenue transactions to their GL system. If you are considering an automated integration, it is best to consult with your development team and/or a trusted Salesforce consultant to determine which approach will best meet your technical and business criteria.
Custom API Integration
Salesforce takes an API-first approach to building on the platform. This means that as long as the Financial Management System (FMS) you are connecting to can support API integration, you will find a Salesforce API to use for transmitting GL data. Here are a few reasons you might consider building a custom API integration between Salesforce and your FMS: Your organization does not have many other use cases for API integration besides GL integration; you have developers on staff with the expertise to build and maintain the custom integration or you can engage with a Salesforce partner to do so; and you do not anticipate much change in your subledger-to-GL reporting processes and therefore your custom integration will not need much maintenance or updating over the years. Keep in mind that a custom API will require more developer maintenance over time and is less flexible because you must take a programmatic (code-based) approach to building the integration. Unless you have a plan and the resources for minimizing the technical debt associated with a custom build, the following two strategies are recommended for most organizations.
Pre-Built API Connections
A number of third party vendors in the Salesforce ecosystem offer pre-built integrations between Salesforce and common accounting systems. These pre-built connectors might be either free or paid, depending on the vendor. This solution offers great potential value because so much of the build work is already done. My advice is to search the Salesforce AppExchange for the name of the accounting system or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendor your organization uses. You can also search for “Salesforce” in your ERP system’s app marketplace. If there are pre-built connectors available, they will often be listed in the app marketplace. Additionally, tap into the collective knowledge of the Power of Us — an awesome community of nonprofits like you using Salesforce to fuel their missions!
Middleware & Integration Platform Solutions
The most advanced and transformational approach to automated integration is through technology that is purpose-built to connect multiple systems at scale. The technology stack at mid-sized and large nonprofits will often include multiple internal and external systems. The more systems you have, the more complex it becomes to get those systems to talk to each other. Middleware and integration platforms provide a variety of functions that help large organizations build, connect, and run applications in a seamless, scalable way.
When it comes to integrating Salesforce with your accounting system or ERP, middleware and integration platforms offer an API-led approach to flowing your revenue transactions into your general ledger. The real value to your mission, however, goes beyond a point-to-point integration. Integration platforms open up a world of possibility to transform your business processes — including comprehensive integration across multiple systems, data streaming across systems in real time, and intelligent business automation that reduces manual intervention. If your organization would benefit from these capabilities, then going down the path of middleware or an integration platform is a powerful and often cost-effective approach to building that connective tissue between systems and databases.
Going Beyond Just CRM to GL Integration
How do these capabilities translate into better return on mission for your nonprofit? Imagine being able to not only push incoming donations one-way into your GL, but to bring budget and actual spend data into Salesforce as well. This results in a simple, integrated, and holistic look at your mission, in real time, within the CRM.
For one, you can deliver a single, powerful dashboard to your executives that they can rely on to make strategic, timely decisions about the business that grow the mission. Streamline the data flow to executives so they can lead from a position of efficiency, insightful analytics, and trustworthy data.
Second, holistic and real-time visibility into your funds helps keep your budget in sync to effectively fuel your mission all year long. Now, program leaders can always answer the question, “Where do we have dollars to spend?” Most program folks are used to being so careful with their budget all year. Then right before the end of year they rush to spend the budget before they lose it. What if your teams can be making more informed spending decisions throughout the year, and have the confidence to spend the money when and where your mission really needs it?
Now, your fundraising teams on the front lines are equipped with real-time visibility into actionable information such as; pledge funds actually received, write-offs or over-spending on a program that need to be covered with new donations, and program spend. They can answer the questions that donors are asking — exactly how will my money be spent and what outcomes will be achieved?
All this connected data can empower your fundraisers to tell a story of impact. Telling compelling impact stories in the contemporary fundraising landscape is critical for nonprofits who, in the age of social media and information overload, are finding themselves having to compete for donor attention more than ever before. It’s no longer enough to claim, “We do good work, please support us!” Modern donors expect responsible, efficient spending that produces maximum impact. Said another way, nonprofits need to prove “ROM” — Return on Mission. A seamless, robust, bi-directional integration between your Fundraising and Finance systems is the foundation on which telling your Return on Mission story is built.
