Applause for Sage 500 ERP at San Francisco Opera
Company Size
200-1,000
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Sage 500 ERP
Tech Stack
- Business management software
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
San Francisco Opera is one of the world’s most acclaimed and best-loved opera companies, located in San Francisco, California. The organization prides itself on a rich and varied repertoire, with 10 to 11 different productions and over 80 performances on its main stage every season. Each performance requires meticulous organization and coordination of various elements such as star singers, orchestra, chorus, dancers, lighting, scenery, costumes, publicity, and ticket sales. The company employs 125 full-time, year-round staff and 1,000 seasonal workers. The finance department within the San Francisco Opera faces a monumental task every season, tracking and reporting revenues and costs of main stage productions, documenting costs of educational and other programs, and accounting for ticket sales, contributions, and other sources of revenue.
The Challenge
San Francisco Opera, a renowned arts organization, was facing a significant challenge in managing its complex financial operations. The finance department had to track and report revenues and costs of main stage productions, document costs of educational and other programs, and account for ticket sales, contributions, and other sources of revenue. Forecasting was a crucial task, as individual line items for each of 18 departments, 82 subdepartments, and 11 productions had to be budgeted at least three years in advance. The opera’s accounting structure was diverse and complex, with different requirements for each department and hundreds of separate accounts for specialized needs. The existing accounting package was outdated and lacked the sophistication to manage this tremendous volume of complex information.
The Solution
To address the challenge, the San Francisco Opera decided to replace its outdated accounting package with a sophisticated business solution. After investigating several business management systems, they selected Sage 500 ERP for its overall flexibility and comprehensive reporting features. The design of Sage 500 ERP accounting structure was one of the key features that distinguished it from many other software packages in its price range. The system allowed the opera to define various segments for their departments, subdepartments, accounts, and productions, and combine values from each segment to create individual accounts. This table-driven structure greatly reduced the likelihood of creating erroneous accounts. The system was able to accurately maintain more than 20,000 active accounts. Using this large and highly organized account structure, the opera was able to develop a wide variety of financial reporting models.
Operational Impact
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