Company overview
United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York (“UJA”) is New York’s central Jewish philanthropic organization, and is recognized as the world’s largest local nonprofit. A registered 501(c)(3), UJA brings together donors, volunteers, and community partners to respond quickly to emerging needs, from antisemitism and global crises to local social service challenges. You can learn more about UJA’s mission here.
UJA manages billions of dollars of assets across more than 7,000 funds. Each fund is governed by donor intent and internal usage rules, making compliant fund accounting a mission-critical capability and a core driver of the organization’s system requirements.
Situation
The UJA team had been working toward a NetSuite go-live starting in 2021, but missed multiple deadlines and lost confidence in the implementation approach. The incumbent partner followed the instructions they were given, and attempted to replicate the legacy accounting system on NetSuite, creating a design that required constant maintenance, was difficult to explain to users, and replaced basic NetSuite functionality with complex customizations. The project team progressively lost confidence in the system itself, and their partner’s ability to deliver it.
By the end of 2023, UJA still was not live on NetSuite and needed immediate intervention to stabilize delivery, reset solution design, and reach the finish line.
Challenges
Legacy constraints and messy data
UJA’s legacy accounting platform had been in place for more than 20 years. Its limitations contributed to inconsistent master data and constrained reporting scalability. The legacy model also shaped rigid processes and user expectations, making change management as important as system configuration. The legacy system was deeply connected to other internal and third-party tools, including payroll, fundraising, and expense processes, increasing implementation risk.
Complex fund accounting and compliance requirements
With 7,000+ active funds, UJA required fund-level reporting and controls that reflected donor restrictions and internal governance. Their accounting model needed the ledger to balance not only by subsidiary but also by fund, and required strong system guardrails to enforce valid relationships between funds, GL accounts, cost centers, and fundraising events. These controls needed to be system-driven, not dependent on manual review.
Intercompany processing and multi-step allocations
UJA operates multiple legal entities while using a centralized bank account to disburse funds. Expenses often required allocation across entities in varying percentages, sometimes with carve-outs and secondary reallocations. In certain scenarios, a portion of allocated costs needed to be billed to external customers and recorded as receivables. UJA needed a repeatable, automated intercompany framework that maintained accuracy at both the entity and fund level.
Repeated delays and an unsustainable design
Project delays become their own problem: with each delay, the team becomes more comfortable delaying the project while at the same time losing confidence in the project’s ultimate success. Cycles of rework and redesign only added complexity to the system. Frustration levels were at a breaking point.
Procurement modernization running in parallel
Procurement is a critical business process at UJA and UJA was operating a heavily customized, aging system with no clear upgrade path. The leadership and procurement teams decided to undertake a procurement modernization project in parallel with the NetSuite re-implementation to upgrade to an enterprise best in class platform and ensure that the two mission critical systems would work well together. That introduced a software selection effort, a new integration requirement, and additional coordination risk—all while the core finance program still wasn’t live.
Opal Creek’s approach
Opal Creek Consulting engaged as a project rescue partner with a disciplined delivery model. We analyzed everything that had been done and assessed what might be salvaged, from a technical and relationship standpoint. We did a lot of asking “why?” and saying “no. Not that way.” Focused on scope control, data cleanliness, and a native-NetSuite-first design, we worked across three parallel tracks:
- Future-state solution design aligned to UJA’s fund accounting and compliance requirements
- Cleanup of the prior configuration to retire unsustainable components and reduce complexity
- Targeted re-configuration to deliver a stable, maintainable system that could go live on a predictable timeline
Solution
General ledger redesign and guardrails
We assessed the existing NetSuite environment to determine what could be reused safely and what needed to be retired. We then redesigned UJA’s general ledger structure around essential segments—Cost Center, Account, Fund, and Event—and implemented guardrails to prevent invalid code combinations. This ensured that fund usage rules and reporting needs were supported through system controls rather than manual enforcement.
Fund balancing strategy
We performed a detailed evaluation of NetSuite’s native balancing functionality and the incumbent Pyango SuiteApp. UJA required fund balancing visibility at the transaction level, with immediate general ledger impact. Based on that requirement, we selected Pyango for fund balancing and worked closely with the vendor to provide feedback that led to enhancements and improved performance for UJA’s specific use cases.
Master data cleanup and controlled cutover
Opal Creek partnered with UJA to rationalize and cleanse master data, establishing a controlled foundation for open transaction imports and cutover execution. This reduced risk at go-live and improved downstream reporting reliability.
Boundary system integration strategy
UJA’s financial reporting depends on multiple boundary systems, including fundraising (FR101), grants, payroll (UltiPro), employee expenses, and other tools. We designed an integration approach that met two critical goals:
- preserve existing external file formats to avoid disruptions in upstream systems
- create a scalable path toward future automation
In the initial phase, the strategy relied on disciplined CSV import processes to ensure consistent data flow while establishing standards that could later be automated.
Intercompany and allocation automation
We implemented an automated intercompany allocation framework using native NetSuite Bill and Invoice transactions to manage the creation and settlement of intercompany AP and AR end-to-end. When procurement expenses flow into NetSuite (via the procurement system integration), the automation generates intercompany bills and invoices in the appropriate legal entities. At month-end, an allocation schedule distributes expenses across entities by percentage and category, supporting multi-step allocation requirements while preserving accuracy at both the entity and fund level.
As a Phase 2 enhancement, we planned automatic elimination: when AP settles intercompany bills in one entity, the solution clears corresponding intercompany receivables in the paired entity, eliminating residual balances without manual intervention.
Reporting for finance and FP&A
We used NetSuite Analytics Workbook to deliver financial reporting that extended native capabilities, including budget-to-actual reporting by custom segments and analysis of posting vs. non-posting activity. This improved visibility for both accounting and FP&A stakeholders and supported UJA’s heavy reporting commitments.
Testing, training, and adoption support
We partnered with UJA to design realistic UAT scenarios reflecting day-to-day processes and ran role-based training sessions that emphasized how the new design supports fund accounting, compliance, and simpler daily execution. At go-live, Opal Creek was onsite with the UJA team to rapidly respond to user confusion, preventing “new system unease” from turning to a loss of confidence. We also provided job aids and reference materials to accelerate adoption and reduce reliance on institutional knowledge from the legacy system.
Program and project management
Opal Creek provided program leadership to keep the rescue effort moving with clarity and momentum, including stakeholder alignment, decision discipline, and a structured sprint cadence. We also facilitated the procurement software selection and coordinated with third-party vendors to ensure the procurement roadmap aligned with the finance system timeline and integration requirements.
Results
Opal Creek helped UJA stabilize a stalled NetSuite program and transition to a maintainable, native-first design that supports complex fund accounting and multi-entity operations. With cleaner data, enforced accounting guardrails, dependable integrations, and automated intercompany processing, UJA was positioned to operate and report with greater accuracy and confidence.
Following go-live, Opal Creek continued supporting UJA as the program transitioned from rescue to sustainment and growth—assisting with business process transformation, reporting package preparation for audit, and month-end/year-end close. Over time, manual effort decreased and staff efficiency increased as users became more confident and independent in a modern cloud ERP environment.