Accounting
2019 Review of Serenic Navigator
Apr. 16, 2019
From the 2019 reviews of nonprofit accounting systems.
Serenic Navigator from Serenic Software is a robust financial software application designed for mid-sized to large nonprofit organizations, NGO’s, and government entities. Serenic Navigator is powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, offering users scalability and product flexibility. Serenic Navigator offers two deployment options: Hosted/Saas and through Microsoft Cloud Services.
Serenic Navigator offers users a completely customizable chart of accounts structure that can utilize up to 110 alphanumeric characters and up to 10 segments or dimensions, which can also be utilized to create sub-ledger reports.
With a strong core product, Serenic Navigator easily handles multiple transaction types including standard financial transactions such as AP and AR transactions as well as fixed asset management, inventory and warehouse entries and adjustments, estimates, subawards, intercompany transactions, and expense and reimbursement entries.
Serenic Navigator offers excellent budgeting capability, with users able to create regular budgets and sub-budgets that can roll up into the main budget. What-if scenarios can also be created, with all scenarios available to view until one is chosen. Users can also monitor all budgets in real time, comparing current expenses to budgeted amounts. The product also offers excellent budget administration capability, with managers able to prevent unnecessary access to prepared budgets. Managers can also set up budget approval rules including a budget approval process, and users can choose to receive email alerts for any budget changes.
For organizations that handle multiple grants, Serenic offers excellent grant management capability from the pre-award stage to managing any awarded funds. During the pre-award stage, users can track any proposal revisions, and centralize all grant-related documents for easy access. Once a grant is awarded, users can manage the entire life of the grant from start date to end date, with the ability to create separate budgets for each grant managed. Users can also create progress or compliance reports for each funder.
Serenic Navigator allows users to easily allocate funds to multiple companies or programs, and line allocations can be based on percentages, fixed amounts, or a combination, with both direct and indirect allocations supported. The product also handles intercompany transactions and utilizes automatic fund balancing so funds remain in balance at all times.
Serenic Navigator uses role centers, so each user will only have access to the features and functionality that their role needs, with each role fully customizable.
Serenic Navigator contains excellent reporting capability, offering a variety of financial and analytical reports, with users able to run organization-wide reports, or customize a report for a specific department, award, or fund. All Serenic Navigator reports offer drill-down capability, so users can easily view originating documents when necessary. Pre-configured dashboards are available in Serenic Navigator for easy access to financial data from desktop systems as well as mobile devices. Good budget reporting capability is available in Serenic Navigator, with users able to track budget versus actual totals in real time. The product also offers nonprofit specific reporting options such as Statement of Cash Flows, Statement of Activities, and Statement of Financial Position with FASB 117 and 990 reporting available in the application as well. All reports can be exported to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, saved as an HTML file or as a PDF.
Serenic Navigator for Nonprofit Organizations core application includes Accounting and Financial Management, Award Management, Budgeting and Expense Tracking, Payroll and Human Resources, and Analytics and Reporting. Optional add-on modules include Deposits and Loans, Field Connect, and Donor Management with DonorDirect. All modules and add-ons are designed to integrate seamlessly, and as an embedded Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central solution, seamless integration with Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, is available as well.
Serenic Navigator offers a variety of help and support options that are available in the Customer Care Centre. Users can contact support via telephone, email, or online through the Client Access option during regular business hours. Users can also download system updates and enhancements from the support center as well. The Serenic Resources page provides access to product brochures, videos, case studies and whitepapers, as well as the option to register for a product webinar. There are also a variety of training options available for product users.
Serenic Navigator for Nonprofits is best suited for mid-sized to large nonprofit organizations that require extensive budgeting, reporting, and grant management capability. Serenic Navigator also offers solutions for K-12 Education, Public Sector, and Non-Government Organizations also with additional payroll, and manufacturing and distribution applications. Those interested in Serenic Navigator can contact the vendor directly for a custom quote or to view a web demo.