OU Foundation creates software to improve gift processing speed and efficiency

OU Foundation Vice President and Treasurer Trent Wells

New fund accounting software developed by the University of Oklahoma Foundation’s information technology staff is proving to be a game-changer that makes gift processing and reporting to donors simpler, faster and less prone to errors.

The software success means that the Foundation can close its monthly books five to 10 days earlier than before, which helps colleges across OU’s three campuses to reconcile their own accounts more quickly and efficiently, said OU Foundation Vice President and Treasurer Trent Wells.

Fund accounting is crucial to everything that the Foundation does. "At the end of the day, we want to make sure that donor gifts are booked as quickly as possible while minimizing data entry errors," Wells explained. "In addition, we want to make sure that gift receipts are sent out in a timely manner, that the funds are used as intended by the donor and that they are invested prudently while here at the Foundation — whether that is in perpetuity or for a short time period.

"The new fund accounting system allows us to check all of those boxes much more efficiently and accurately through implementation of new business controls and the automation of manual tasks that existed in the old system," he said.

For two decades, the Foundation used fund-accounting software that was owned by its developer, an out-of-state consultant. As the software aged, it was less and less compatible with industry standards. Its language also became archaic.

Wells credited OU Foundation staff members Lawrence Mantin, director of application development and infrastructure, and Dewey Wallace, senior software engineer, for heading up the process to completely rewrite the fund accounting program and tailor it for the Foundation’s specific needs. He said they customized the software far beyond what could have been purchased from a vendor.

"To take on the added responsibility of rewriting in an entirely new software language was really daunting," Wells said.

The true test of the software came when the Foundation closed out its fiscal year, he said, adding that the Foundation processed nearly a half-million entries in a fraction of the time it took previously.

"It has been a real success story," Wells said.