Multi-entity, nonprofit uses Center to streamline complex expense submission and reconciliation process
The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) is an international nonprofit trade association representing all segments of the hardwood flooring industry, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, contractors, importers/exporters, inspectors, and consultants.
Before Center: Three separate platforms with minimal support
For Controller Dana Rogers, her enthusiasm for the trade association and the people and organizations encompassed by it did not align with the “incredibly cumbersome and time-consuming” employee expense process that was originally in place.
Between a complicated Concur system without dedicated support and the time-consuming task of reconciling multiple American Express accounts (plus entering everything into QuickBooks manually), NWFA needed a solution that could streamline expensing and deliver dedicated assistance.
Previously, Rogers manually entered information from paper expense reports into QuickBooks. She shared, “In a busy month with upwards of 400 transactions, that meant spending anywhere from 25–30 hours to sort through every single one.”
“The SAP Concur system implemented by my predecessor didn’t sync with the AMEX cards, requiring 25+ hours a month reconciling to QuickBooks — it was a bit inefficient.” —Dana Rogers, Controller, National Wood Flooring Association
NWFA chooses Center for visibility and an all-in-one solution
Rogers knew a more effective expense option had to exist, leading her to Center. On top of no licensing fees, Rogers appreciated how the platform, card, and mobile app solution streamlined the entire expense process while granting her real-time visibility into employee spend. “With Center, we’d improve time spent on our expense process by at least 50% while gaining real-time visibility into employee spend.”
A fully-customized, multi-entity implementation in less than 8 weeks
As a multi-entity organization, Rogers was excited for the ease of use promised by Center. She was also pleasantly surprised by the “very seamless and painless” setup. The deployment team easily configured the system to manage the four different entities, 10 classifications, and anywhere from 70+ job codes needed.
“Rollout was seamless and quick; we were up and running in 8 weeks, including a month for testing. Our cycle now runs from the first through the end of the month. With AMEX, it was always varied and unpredictable.”—Dana Rogers, Controller, National Wood Flooring Association
Now, Center streamlines multi-layer expensing
Almost immediately, Rogers saw improvement. The CenterCard mobile app enables employees to easily navigate job costing and attribute charges correctly—even with multiple entities, classes, and job codes. And, with everyone using CenterCard, there is less work for Rogers. “Having cards that sync through a centralized platform is a game-changer,” adding, “Now, it’s easy for everyone to log expenses in the app.”
“I get notified about unsubmitted expenses or ones that need approval. But since the CenterCard mobile app automatically prompts users to submit expenses and makes coding easy, by the end of the month, it’s already 95% taken care of.” —Dana Rogers, Controller, National Wood Flooring Association
First class support is icing on the cake
Rogers is a self-proclaimed evangelist of the Center solution, sharing, “if anyone is on the fence about Center, send them my way.” On top of the hours back, a process employees use and enjoy, and the elimination of unnecessarily tedious tasks, Rogers is grateful for her dedicated account manager.
“I love Center support, and having a dedicated point of contact is really helpful. [My account manager] is constantly in touch or easily available within hours. ” —Dana Rogers, Controller, National Wood Flooring Association
Center provides control, insights, and comprehensive support
NFWA chose Center and hasn’t looked back. From reducing time spent on reconciliation by more than 60% to support at every step of the way, Rogers now easily manages employee expensing. Since adopting Center, NFWA has realized benefits including:
- Capability to manage cards with the touch of a button. For Rogers, Center enables her to “easily go in and change limits and add or deactivate a card if needed.”
- Simplification of the multi-entities complex job-coding structure. Using Center, correctly allocating expenses is straightforward thanks to the dropdown menu—even with four entities, 10 classes, and 70+ unique job codes.
- Insights into profitability tracking. As an organization that hosts and attends events, Center makes it easy to determine how each one affects the bottom line.
- High-quality support invested in NWFA’s future. Whether it’s an answer to a simple inquiry to communications about new features or opportunities, having a dedicated account manager means NFWA always has support.
Better expensing for all with Center’s “one-stop-shop”
After upgrading to Center’s all-in-one solution, Rogers appreciates how the Center mobile app acts as a “one-stop-shop” for users while giving her the control she needs as an administrator on the desktop platform, especially as travel ramps up for NWFA.
“We have a lot of employee travel. Center makes managing around 30 cards straightforward for me, while being simple and user-friendly for employees. And, support continues to be outstanding—for users or myself. At the end of the day, everything about Center just makes it so much easier.” —Dana Rogers, Controller, National Wood Flooring Association