Last year was a pip, wasn’t it?

Mary Aquino

Now that we’re four months into the “new” year, there’s a lot of discussion everywhere about everything we’ve learned … based on 2020. Rather than add to all the “what last year taught us” chatter, I’m going to start by asking you, based on what you’ve learned, when was the last time you updated your organization’s policies & procedures guide?

Be honest. If you can’t answer that question, or can’t even pinpoint where the guide is, I recommend you continue reading.


An up-to-date policies & procedures guide is your organization’s best foundation to weathering any storm that hits. How so?

• Your most experienced data entry staff member has a family emergency and needs to be out for a month. You need to train a replacement quickly. What are your data entry standards? Do you know the guidelines for entering new records?
• Your office building is closed due to a local crisis and your staff needs to work remotely. What are your separation-of-duties procedures regarding paying bills? How will you ensure those standards are met?

If your policies & procedures guide is up-to-date, neither of those scenarios will faze you. Operations will continue at your organization as if nothing has changed.

Let’s get specific here. Do you have a documented process for entering, approving, paying, posting, and reconciling your payables? Does that process include security settings that set up separation of duties? Workflows that involve cash intake and output present the most opportunity for... ahem... “shenanigans”. And in this world-gone-mad environment, it is probably best to minimize the temptation of shenanigans of any sort.

Maybe you’re wondering how to map out a payables process. Maybe you’re thinking you need to learn how to align your existing process with the controls available in Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT. You could be somewhere in between those two. Whether you are new to Financial Edge NXT, new to Payables, or new to detailing out a payables process, Blackbaud University’s first Financial Edge NXT Feature Focus course of 2021 can help.

Feature Focus - Defining Your Payables Process is a combination of best practices discussion and product functionality synchronization. In this 90-minute instructor-led class, you’ll share with your peers and learn from a Blackbaud University expert about aligning the software and your process.

This course is included with your Learn More and Learn Everything subscription. Not a subscriber? Chat with us now to find out how you can become one.


You may look back at last year as a learning experience, but isn’t it high time we put that learning into practice? And create a best practice (wink wink)?