Case Study on Human Appeal

About Human Appeal

Human Appeal is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to combating poverty, social injustice, and natural disasters worldwide. Its mission is to provide immediate relief and establish sustainable development programs. Human Appeal focuses on healthcare, education, and livelihood initiatives, reaching some of the most vulnerable communities worldwide.

The Challenges

Human Appeal faced certain challenges with the management of its finances and operations:

• Budgetary Control: Ensuring adherence to budgetary limits across diverse projects and locations was crucial for maintaining financial transparency and accountability.
• Cost Management: With a vast network of operations, managing costs, especially licensing expenses, posed a significant challenge.
• International Operations: Conducting financial transactions across multiple countries while handling diverse currencies and regulatory frameworks required a simplified approach.
• Process Efficiency: Simplifying and integrating financial processes such as purchase requisitions and employee expenses across geographically dispersed teams was essential for operational efficiency.

The Solution

Human Appeal partnered with Mercurius IT to implement an integrated financial solution, addressing their unique challenges:

• SharePoint-based Requisition System: A SharePoint-based platform was developed to create purchase requisitions, manage employee advances, optimise licensing costs, and improve process efficiency.
• Budgetary Control and Commitment Accounting: Human Appeal leveraged Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to establish robust budgetary control mechanisms and simplify commitment accounting processes.
• Multicurrency and Intercompany Transactions: Business Central flawlessly handled multicurrency transactions and intercompany transfers, ensuring accurate financial reporting across different entities.
• Power BI Reporting: Customised Power BI reports were developed to monitor budget versus actual spending and track donation flows, providing real-time insights for informed decision-making.
• Importing Data: Salesforce is the primary CRM platform for customer registration and donation collection. The Bridge, Business Central, functions as the financial system responsible for importing this data into the customer master and sales order forms, facilitating further processing.

The Benefits

The implementation of the integrated financial solution resulted in several benefits for Human Appeal:

• Cost Savings: Using SharePoint for purchase requisitions and leveraging Business Central’s capabilities, Human Appeal achieved significant cost savings.
• Improved Financial Control: Enhanced budgetary control and commitment accounting mechanisms enabled better financial oversight, ensuring adherence to budgetary limits and regulatory compliance.
• Workflows: Implementation of workflow mechanisms for approvals ensures that requisitions exceeding available project budgets undergo appropriate approval processes.
  
• Simplified Operations: The simplified financial processes and integrated systems improved operational efficiency and reduced manual efforts, allowing teams to focus more on mission-critical activities.
  
• Global Visibility: The centralised system provides real-time visibility into financial transactions across countries and entities, enabling better decision-making and resource allocation.
  
• Report Capabilities: Enhanced reporting capabilities provide insights into various dimensions, such as donors, projects, themes, and budget lines, offering comprehensive visibility into Human Appeal’s operations.

Future Outlook

With the integrated financial solution successfully deployed, Human Appeal plans to expand its implementation to additional countries, leveraging the centralised system’s scalability and flexibility. Human Appeal is committed to using technology to further its humanitarian mission and drive positive impact worldwide.