CASE STUDY
FOTENN Planning & Urban Design uses QuickBooks
QuickBooks primarily handles accounting and financial tasks. While lacking built-in CRM functionalities, it can integrate with third-party CRM solutions, it is not designed as a CRM system, focusing instead on managing finances and bookkeeping for businesses.
Business Challenge:
FOTENN Planning & Urban Design, a leading urban planning firm based in Ottawa with a second office in Kingston, is an integrated team of planners, urban designers, and landscape architects with thirty years of experience. Despite their expertise and history of leading innovative, award-winning projects, and providing successful planning and design services for a range of long-time clients, FOTENN faced challenges generating meaningful financial reports. Their previous software, QuickBooks Pro, was insufficient in meeting the company’s complex accounting needs.
The Need for an Upgrade:
Chris Greenwood, the finance and operations manager at FOTENN, realized the limitations of QuickBooks Pro when he encountered barriers in handling specific accounting functions and reports. As the firm grew, it became increasingly clear that they needed a more robust solution. The decision was made to upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions to access the full suite of functionalities essential for managing the firm’s expanding financial and operational demands.
The Solution:
QuickBooks Enterprise provided the advanced tools FOTENN needed. Greenwood highlights the enhanced capabilities of the software, particularly in managing finances across FOTENN’s five related companies. The ability to remain logged in to the primary operating entity while simultaneously creating offsetting inter-company entries was a game-changer for the firm. This feature significantly reduced data-entry errors and streamlined the process, allowing for more efficient data management.
Results:
After quickly familiarizing himself with QuickBooks Enterprise, Greenwood developed a suite of reports that he now runs every month. The report generation process, which previously took hours using manual methods, now takes just minutes with QuickBooks Enterprise. Once configured correctly, the reports are automated, allowing Greenwood to “set it and forget it.” This efficiency gives him more time to focus on higher-level tasks such as managing and analyzing financial data.
QuickBooks Enterprise has effectively eliminated the barriers that once hindered FOTENN’s financial operations, providing the firm with a robust and reliable accounting solution that keeps pace with its complex needs.