NetSuite Success Story: Center City Public Charter Schools (CCPCS)

"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Washington, DC

Center City Public Charter Schools (CCPCS) is a nonprofit organization that consists of a collection of seven campuses serving Pre-K to 8th grade students throughout Washington, DC. Known for small schools, small classrooms, and big successes, Center City creates a community of constant learners that are dedicated to professional development. In addition, Center City offers high quality facilities and equipment, and competitive salaries and benefits to its employees.

When the multi-campus school system outgrew QuickBooks, and needed
a business accounting software that provided the necessary functions and accessibility required across Center City’s remote locations, NetSuite was the obvious solution.

Within a matter of six months, Daston seamlessly implemented the NetSuite software, which is quick to deploy, flexible, and easy to use. Now, the public school system harnesses a customizable coding to easily collect and disseminate data across multiple sites, jobs, and class.

“Daston supported our organization by defining our program requirements and setting up NetSuite to best suit our needs,” said Lauran Greene, executive assistant at Center City. “They adhered to our project implementation schedule and helped us stay focused. Daston used survey tools that were especially useful in helping us think through the system set-up; and also provided on-site training that was critical to the success of the implementation.”

Daston helped the organization realize the full benefits of NetSuite by providing services around implementation, data migration, system integration, training and application support. Thanks to NetSuite, IT costs will be reduced along with concerns associated with maintaining and upgrading separate applications. Not only that, the software will help Center City increase collaboration and improve internal relationships despite the nonprofit’s numerous locations.

With NetSuite, Center City users will make better, faster decisions through real-time business intelligence. Additionally, Center City can avoid hassles involving procurement approvals, and unresolved issues related to invoices and outstanding payments, Greene explained. NetSuite's dashboard feature is key to these organizational functions, because, for example, the software is designed to alert personnel to certain tasks, she added.

"We are better able to demonstrate our compliance with stated internal controls through the electronic records stored in the system,” Greene said. “Regarding accounting, Center City can now more easily track receipts and spending based on location, in addition to using other tracking criteria. NetSuite also has the potential for improving our cash collection process through credit card payments via NetSuite's web functionality. Would CCPCS recommend NetSuite to other public school systems? Yes!”