Centralize Accounting Information in a Portal

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Centralize Accounting Information in a Portal

The typical accounting department deals with far more than a single database – there maybe multiple accounting systems for different divisions, as well as separate files for payroll, human resources, 401k plans, several timekeeping systems, and so on. A significant efficiency barrier is having people constantly looking up access links, logging in and out of databases, and sometimes even changing to a different computer to access information.

There are varying degrees of centralization that resolve this problem. On the simplest level, it is relatively easy to provide the accounting staff with a set of bookmarks for their Web browsers that take them to a variety of the more common web sites. However, users may not update these links, and they will still not have access to any internal databases or application software.

A better approach is to cluster a number of links on a single web page, which allows the company to more easily update links. Our company uses this approach, and has made the following information (including several on-line databases) available to the accounting staff on one page:

Customer electronic invoicing sites
Employee database
Employee manual
Forms in pdf format
Link to 401k database
Link to credit card processor
Link to credit reporting bureau
Link to electronic payroll remittance advices
Link to flexible spending account records
Link to timekeeping system
Links to bank account records
Month-end close checklist

Though these alternatives are certainly an efficiency improvement, users must still log in and out of the various databases, and they probably will not have access to application software, unless these systems are accessible over the Internet.

A more integrated approach that resolves these problems is to purchase a portal platform that not only provides for the creation of the site just described, but also provides a single point of entry for in-house software applications, and requires only a single user log-in for multiple in-house systems.