April 13, 2023
How to Choose Your Service Level
We’ve recently done a little revamping inside of our services, and are very excited for how that will benefits our clients. This post will point to the benefits of outsourcing, what that initial process will look like, and we also go into detail about our service levels. A question we receive often.
If this is your first exposure to Miller Management, you may want to start with our Outsourcing series. These eight articles will walk you through the benefits of outsourcing in a variety of areas.
Benefits of Outsourcing
Now you know the benefits of outsourcing, the next place to go would be learning about transaction counts. Knowing this information, plus accounting for the budget of your organization, you are ready to proceed with a conversation with our team.
Chat with our Sales Team
Next, you will select a time to talk to our VP of Operations. During this call, she goes over the details of what MM does vs. what you do. She describes our levels of service. And gives you time to ask specific questions regarding your organization.
If you by-passed the first two steps of looking into the MM process, and just called because of a friend recommendation, that’s okay, too. Jennifer can go over all those details you missed in the phone or video call.
Level Up
During this initial meeting, our levels of service are presented to you. The most common question we receive is regarding our two different “levels” of service. So let’s describe those differences now.
MM Service Level One
Our Level 1 service is mostly based on the number of transactions you perform in a given month. We’ve also found that the number of transactions usually lines up with the timing of completing those transactions.
For instance, if you have 50 transactions in a week, you wouldn’t want to wait until the end of the month to process all that information. Whereas, if your total number of payroll, accounts payable, and contribution transactions were equal to 50 for the whole month, that is easier to manage all at one time.
Those on our Level 1 service submit their accounting information to us all at once, once a month. Of course there are some exceptions and you can still continue to process things weekly to not get behind, but your big information dump to MM occurs monthly.
MM Service Level Two
When you have many transactions each week, it makes more sense to keep up with those on a weekly basis, vs. monthly. The same is true with our level 2 clients – we pass financial information back and forth each week. Financial statements are done only once a month, but accounts payable checks are cut each week. Journal entries – or financial corrections – can be made each week as well; since you are likely given a weekly snapshot of where your ministry currently stands.
Again there are some exceptions, and one of those exceptions can be Payroll. A weekly payroll run is not required with this level of service. In most cases, your current cadence can remain the same.
Together we find the best fit for your size, budget, and what services you are looking for. But, with either level, this whole operation is dependent on a partnership between your ministry and Miller Management.
The Extras
If you’ve looked at our Accounting page, you know there are many more words to describe the services we can offer. And for today’s conversation, we will just refer to them as “the extras.” These are some of the bells and whistles that many organizations are asking for to make their lives even easier. But that may not be true for your organization, and that’s okay, too. For now, just know that we can grow with you and some things are included in your level, and some things are just plan extra.
Conversion Training
After options have been presented, decisions made, board approvals happen, and contracts have been signed; then we start the conversion process. This training is done in person or on a video call. This meeting is a very tactile and informative meeting. How to fill out our forms. When to submit your information. Who to submit your information to. Who your MM representatives will be.
Depending on the time of year and your fiscal year-end, we recommend giving your organization up to six months to process the transition of outsourcing your financial data. For our level one clients, that may only be six times of submitting information. For our level two clients, that is many more times, but you will encounter different financial seasons during that time and know how to better work in our system. Given that, the first year on the MM services would give you the best picture of how each time of year will be handled.
Plus, this gives time for your board and finance team to learn to read your new financial statements. And in turn make better financial decisions for your organization. Which is our ultimate goal over here: to provide Expertise that brings Clarity to finances enabling leadership to have Confidence in decision making.
Let’s Recap
To summarize, here is how to level up with MM:
- Know the benefits of outsourcing to know if that is the right next step for you.
- Count up your monthly transactions to see where you might fall – under or over the 50 transactions mark.
- Look at the list of Accounting services; and the extras.
- Contact our sales team to get specific answers for your organization.
- Review and approve your partnership agreement with Miller Management.
- Attend the conversion training.
- Walk the MM way for the next several months.
- Attend financial meetings with your cool new reports.
- Enjoy your new life as a financially savvy organization.
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