The Seventh-day Adventist Church has configured the software to meet the unique requirements of the majority of its organizations. The reconfigured SunSystems software combined with Query & Analysis Reporting Tool and Adventist Payroll System software is what we refer to as SunPlus.
SunPlus is a mission driven denominational network providing, and continuously improving a sound, globally applicable, financial management system.
The focus is not hierarchical but puts emphasis of everyone, everywhere helping everyone.
Everyone in the network is responsible for working towards improvement. This includes discovering better ways to do things and documenting them for the rest of the network.
The financial management tool needs to work as well in Korea, Russia, Japan, Thailand and the Middle East as it does in Africa and Europe. This includes languages and unique regional accounting requirements.
Globally applicable also includes working well in the various types of organizations within the denomination: Administrative, Educational, Hospitals, Publishing, Media, Etc.
This global applicability is the most important benefit of the network. For example, it enables a worker to seamlessly move between different countries as they move into increasingly greater responsibility in the denomination, (e.g. Accountant, Comptroller, Mission Treasurer, Union Treasurer, Division Treasurer.) It enables workers to seamlessly move to various international mission assignments and encounter a similar financial management system.In addition it enables a worker to more easily move from working at one type of organization, say a school, to another say a Division. For an example of both dramatic geographic moves and organizational type moves, consider the recent appointment of the VP for Finance at AIIAS moving him to be the NSD treasurer. He would, even in those dramatically different environments, encounter familiar software and chart of accounts.
While good financial statements are fundamentally important there are several other very important aspects of a Financial Management System. In particular there is budgeting and cost control, donor relationships and accountability, and financial planning.
This Financial Management System does include software, but it also includes business processes such as the Church’s Debit and Credit Memo system, policy management etc.