2020 Review of Serenic Navigator for NPO

www.serenic.com

From the April 2020 reviews of nonprofit accounting systems.

Serenic Navigator for NPO is a robust financial management application designed for nonprofit organizations. Serenic also offers versions for NGO’s, K-12 educational institutions, and public entities. Powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Serenic Navigator for NPO is designed to meet the accounting, management, and administrative needs of nonprofits, all from a single application. Serenic Navigator NPO can currently be deployed as a hosted/SaaS solution or via Microsoft Cloud Services. 

Serenic Navigator for NPO allows users to create a completely customizable chart of accounts that supports up to 110 alphanumeric characters and can contain up to 10 segments or dimensions, ideal for creating custom reports with complete drill-down capability. 

Serenic Navigator for NPO handles a variety of transaction types including all standard accounting transactions along with complete A/P and purchasing capability. In addition, users can easily manage fixed assets, and they can track and manage inventory including the option to manage multiple warehouses. Intercompany entries are supported in the application, as is both expense and reimbursement entries.

Serenic Navigator for NPO offers excellent budgeting capability, with users able to create sub-budgets that can easily roll up to the main budget. Users can also create a series of “what-if” budgets that can be used simultaneously until one is chosen. All created budgets are easily monitored, with users able to compare budget totals to view both under and over-spending. System admins can easily restrict budget access to eliminate unauthorized changes, with an option to set up alerts when any budget is edited.

Serenic Navigator for NPO includes a Grant Management feature that offers both pre-award and award management, allowing users to track any grant proposal revision, post estimates to a budget, and create a central location for all grant-related documents, while post-award management capability includes the ability to manage any related sub-awards, track real-time expenses tied to a specific grant, and monitor expenses against grant estimates. In addition, users can quickly create progress or compliance reports for any grant funder.

Serenic Navigator for NPO includes allocation capability, with users able to allocate funds to multiple companies or programs, while line allocations can be based on fixed amounts, percentages or a combination of the two. Intercompany transactions are also supported with automatic fund balancing in place to ensure that all funds remain in balance.

Serenic Navigator for NPO uses role centers, so employees will only have access to the features and functions necessary for their job, with system admins able to customize each role to better suit business needs. 

The Analytics and Reporting feature in Serenic Navigator for NPO offers an excellent selection of reporting options, with drill-down capability available in all reports. Serenic Navigator for NPO also includes pre-configured dashboards for G/L, awards, and payroll data. Users can easily track budget vs. actuals for any account, and users can run reports by funder, date range, award, or department. Nonprofit specific reports are also available in Serenic Navigator for NPO including Statement of Cash Flows, Statement of Activities, and Statement of Financial Position.  The application also includes FASB 117 and 990 reporting options. Along with excellent report customization capability in the application, all reports can be exported to Microsoft Excel for additional customization if desired. Users can also save any report as an HTML file or as a PDF.

The Serenic Navigator for NPO includes Accounting and Financial Management, Award Management, Budgeting and Expense Tracking, Payroll & Human Resources, and Analytics and Reporting. Optional modules including Deposits and Loans, Field Connect, and Donor Management with DonorDirect are also available. In addition, as an embedded Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central solution, complete integration with Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, is available as well.

Serenic Navigator NPO offers excellent help and support options from the Customer Care Centre. The password-protected Centre offers users access to product downloads and documentation. Users can open a support ticket via the Centre or follow up on a previously submitted support ticket. In addition, the resources area offers access to a variety of videos, brochures, case studies, and whitepapers. Toll-free product support is available during regular business hours, with a support portal available as well. A variety of product training options are also available to choose from.

Serenic Navigator for NPO is best suited for larger nonprofits that desire an all-in-one application that includes complete accounting, budgeting, and grant management capability. Along with the core application, Serenic Navigator also offers add-on modules such as Deposits & Loans, Field Connect, and Donor Management with Donor Direct. Those interested in Serenic applications should contact the vendor directly to request additional information.

2020 Rating – 5 Stars

Strengths:

·        Complete all-on-one functionality

·         Offers complete award/grant management

·         Excellent analytical reporting options

Potential Limitations

·         Complex system setup

·         Pricing can be prohibitive for smaller organizations