Financial Systems Expert Consultant

 

Description:

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in more than 20 countries and programs in more than 70 countries, the Solidarity Center (SC) partners with 900+ organizations, including 500 trade unions, worker associations and community groups, to equip workers with the tools they need to organize, negotiate and build a better future. SC programs focus on worker rights and freedoms, union skills, workplace safety, economic security, combating forced labor and supporting workers in a rapidly changing economy. The SC believes that when workers have the knowledge and support to advocate for themselves, communities thrive and nations grow stronger and more stable

II. Background

In 2024, the SC conducted a Systems Assessment to assess the organization’s integrated systems and knowledge management systems needs, particularly with regard to its grants management and financial reporting and tracking mechanisms. The assessment included assessing learning and evaluation platforms, grants management, financial accounting, knowledge sharing, internal communications, and digital security and providing actionable recommendations. The recommendations were well suited to lead to the organization's operations and infrastructure improvements. However, given the different operating environment, the SC has assessed and organized the recommendations into short term and long term priorities. The SC will share the Systems Assessment report with the successful applicant.

Improving the SC’s financial systems has been identified as the biggest priority to enhance organizational efficiency, budget oversight, and compliance across domestic and international operations. As a long term Deltek Costpoint user, the SC requires expert support to evaluate and maximize use of this platform, particularly for budgeting, expense forecasting, expense commitments/obligations, expense management, and assessing viability for global deployment.

In addition, evaluating the current workflow approval tool for procurement and commitments is necessary. Currently, the SC uses a document management system to assist with internal procurement and compliance procedures. The organization is interested in evaluating if CostPoint has a dedicated module and/or functionality that can better serve organizational needs related to workflow approval.

III. Objective Engage a Financial Systems Expert Consultant with deep expertise in Deltek Costpoint to assess the SC’s current configuration and usage, identify gaps and opportunities, and provide strategic and actionable recommendations to strengthen financial planning, tracking, reporting, and operational processes. This engagement also includes evaluating the overall viability of Deltek Costpoint for the organization and recommending alternative solutions if appropriate.

IV. Scope of Services

The Consultant will perform the following tasks:

A. System Assessment & Optimization

• Review the Systems Assessment report to understand identified needs and requirements and system recommendations.

• Conduct a comprehensive review of the current Deltek Costpoint use and implementation.

• Identify all Deltek Costpoint modules and tools and introduce and demonstrate advanced Costpoint capabilities relevant to the organization’s needs.

• Identify viability of additional financial modules within Deltek Costpoint including:

i. Expense reconciliation and management (travel expense reports and credit card reconciliations)

ii. Budget actual tracking

iii. Budget projections and forecasting

iv. Procurement workflow approval

v. Expense commitments/obligations

vi. Grants management

• Advise on potential integrations with other tools or automation opportunities to streamline financial operations.

• Recommend system ownership and/or workflow changes to enhance efficiency and internal controls.

B. Global Deployment Viability

• Evaluate the feasibility, requirements, and implications of deploying Costpoint to field offices. Currently, field offices rely on QuickBooks as accounting software. The evaluation should assess whether a module within Costpoint can eliminate the need for QuickBooks.

• Provide guidance on system access and bandwidth, localization needs, data security, and compliance considerations for global implementation.

C. Final Deliverables

• Inception report that includes draft consultancy goals, assumptions, areas of inquiry, stakeholder engagement plan, and a summary timeline to complete the work.

• A comprehensive report summarizing findings, recommendations, and prioritized next steps based on the above tasks. At a minimum, the report must include:

i. A utilization score of Costpoint and its current use, with an explanation of the score.

ii. An evaluation of Costpoint’s viability for continued use, with alternative system recommendations and/or recommendations for integration of other tools if needed.

iii. Field office deployment: Evaluation of Costpoint roll out to the field offices and analysis of the potential to replace the current use of QuickBooks and the process for getting all field offices integrated into Costpoint

iv. A roadmap for implementation of recommendations, including adding new functionalities, modules, and providing estimated timelines and resource needs. The roadmap should also demonstrate the current state and future/ideal state. The current state should include optimization and short-term wins.

• Discussion of findings and recommendations with Systems Core Team (Director of Finance, Controller, Director of Program Quality, Learning and Compliance, Director of IT, and Senior Advisor)

• Final presentation meeting of the deliverables to the Executive Team and Systems Core Team. The presentation format and content will be agreed upon by the successful applicant and the SC.

• Final Report that incorporates feedback from the Systems Core Team and Executive Team.