MIP claims world-first with Astra Reconciliation Module

Software house MIP Holdings has completed development of the Astra Reconciliation Module, believed to be the first of its kind in the local market and, possibly, worldwide.

The Astra Reconciliation Module is a plug-and-play, Web-enabled, e-commerce interface that automates, simplifies and speeds up the entire month-end reconciliation of funds between the accounting departments of any two parties. The application is aimed at any organisation that needs to conduct month-end reconciliation between itself and its debtors or itself and its creditors.

"Every month, thousands of organisations struggle to conduct month-end reconciliation using time-consuming manual methods due to the differences between business partners` financial systems, the cost of developing an interface and the lack of a standard approach to this age-old accounting problem," says Don Elliott, financial director of MIP Holdings. "Month-ends are a paper chase with business partners exchanging computer print-outs that require a huge amount of human interaction and data input, exposing accounting systems to error, faults, hold-ups and frustration that are also costly and impact the bottomline."

The Astra Reconciliation Module eradicates reconciliation problems by automatically predicting and pre-empting these problems. For example, errors such as that when a medical aid fund continues to bill employers for members who have resigned or died cannot occur, as the application forces individualised, itemised reconciliation on a per-member or per-account-holder basis. This means incoming funds have to be split and credited to individual accounts for specific items.

The system also automatically registers new account-holders and queries unpaid accounts. This means an end to over- or under-payment by debtors.

The Astra Reconciliation System has been developed on MIP`s Astra2 framework, which now forms part of the Progress Open Source Software Exchange (POSSE) Internet Component Framework (ICF). Astra2 is based on WebClient and WebSpeed, Progress Software`s Web enablement tools. As a result, Astra Reconciliation can plug into any legacy financial system.

"This is why the Astra Reconciliation Module is such an effective financial tool," says Elliott. "It enables different systems to speak to each other over the Internet, much as a portal would do, but specifically aimed at the reconciliation process."

MIP offers Astra Reconciliation in an application service provider (ASP) model whereby the buyer is not required to pay for the use of the system up-front, but can pay for it on a monthly basis.

"We were one of the earliest adopters of the ASP model and see it as a key way to lower the barrier to entry for companies seeking world-class systems at affordable prices," says Elliott.