Friday, May 27, 2011

Making a Financial ConneXion

Imagine for a moment that your boss announces to you that a serious problem has occurred with the company’s computer systems. Important accounting data has been lost, and it will take some time for them to recover it. Not only that, but he tells you that the paycheck you were expecting that day will be delayed for days, maybe weeks, until the problem is resolved! Scenarios just like this have been all too common in many of our international offices around the globe due to a lack of reliable systems.

For instance, in 2008, one of our ministries in South America was broken into and all the office computers were stolen. There were no reliable backups of their financial data. It took three weeks to piece their accounting system back together!

There are so many things that can take out a computer system: theft, floods, fires, disgruntled employees, Windows updates, and the pervasive red dust in Mali! And, sadly, all of these things have happened to a local CCC ministry somewhere in the world within the past few years.

When these critical financial systems are stolen or not working, it doesn’t just hurt just the accountants. It hurts the entire ministry.

Thankfully, things are changing. Through a special partnership between the financial and technology teams at Campus Crusade for Christ’s world headquarters, a web-based system called “Financial ConneXion” was developed to address these needs. Troy has been part of this partnership by helping to ensure his donation processing software runs well on this new platform, and has consulted them on other technology issues related to the project.

Back in the day: Helping a local CCC ministry setup
automatic backups of their financial data (in 2007).
 How has this helped? This system allows our financial managers and accountants to do what they do best, and to not worry about backups, software installations and theft. It also allows them to login over the internet and to do their work remotely (even from home), something they couldn’t do before. This means that our staff are more productive, and the entire ministry runs more smoothly and securely. This project went live last year, but the demand has been great. Just this month, we added our 50th national ministry to this system. More are waiting!

Thank you again for your part in serving the body of Christ through us! Through your prayers and support you help to enable the gospel to be spread around the world!