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  • 1.  Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Posted 08-02-2022 19:30
    Hello everyone! As a new Vena user still going through the growing pains of how to best utilize our Vena platform, I am hoping that we can help each other grow.

    I'd like this thread to be a place that we can share our Vena implementation and use strategies. Be it sharing our own tips, workarounds, best practices, templates or thoughts, I'd love to hear about your Vena wins and the research/training/steps that got you to that moment. Maybe we can make your win, a win for others' teams too!

    I'll start off with my thoughts in the replies. :)

    #VenaTip #VenaTemplate #GiveAndGetHelp #LetsGrow

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    Tasha Orange
    Accounting & Finance Manager
    US Assure
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  • 2.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Posted 08-02-2022 19:46
    My first thought to share is related to steps I should have followed prior to going through the Vena implementation process.

    I did the required Vena training and loved every moment of it. I wish that I had given more thought during that training process to how the Vena language and format would best be set up for my organization. I would have loved to have a better understanding of how all the different areas worked and flowed together. From something as simple as how workflow naming conventions or reports and notifications, would be be available and/or appear to an end user. That knowledge would have assisted me to better relay pertinent details to my implementation team and in the most effective manner. Things can get lost in translation and once you've started down one road, it can be hard to get back on the track that you want to be on for the finish.

    Given what I know now, I would have taken time to whiteboard everything and begin again. I'd take the time to pull out pieces of the training that were in line with what I wanted to achieve or see in my organization's setup. I'd also do more intensive training in the areas of most importance, not just the requirements. Then I'd look at Vena with fresh eyes (not starry eyes, lol) and have a fully outlined plan of my own to share with my Vena implementation team. Vena is such a great platform that thinking these things through can give you an edge on reporting and analytics that is second to none.

    Well those are my thoughts on what to think about prior to implementation. If this thought process helps one of you, then I've achieved what I set out to do. Thanks!! :)

    #Implementation #GiveAndGetHelp #LetsGrow

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    Tasha Orange
    Accounting & Finance Manager
    US Assure
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Posted 08-04-2022 14:41
    Tasha! This is such a great idea for a thread, thanks for posting :)

    Looping in some other customers who I'm sure will be able to share and gain insight!

    @Megan Gonyea @Wendy Teh @Brendan Eger @Gabe Denny @Michelle Hefner

    Looking forward to the great conversation!

    Cheers,
    Glen
    ​​​​​​​​​

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    Glen Camden Camden
    Vena Solutions
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Founding Member
    Posted 08-04-2022 17:43

    Thanks for sharing @Tasha Orange!

    Hindsight is such a good tool πŸ˜‰. Having initially built our templates to mirror our pre-Vena Excel templates (which was a major selling point for us at the time), we're now thinking through how to incorporate more industry best practices and streamlining our templates and data models. Our initial build was so focused on replicating what we had, that we didn't spend much time considering how we could simplify things. We've grown our use case organically since we started 5 years ago and after building additional templates and reports each year, we're now pressing pause on further development​ to reflect on what we really need in hopes that we can align all of our stakeholders on a shared vision of what data and processes are most important and then we'll aim to simplify everything, from back-end data structure and integrations to front end user experience. Vena provides so much flexibility to build whatever you want, but pausing to ask whether you should build something is an important exercise.

    I ran our initial implementation solo (with help from a Vena implementation consultant), which proved difficult as there wasn't someone else within the organization who I could bounce ideas around with. After a year or two, we got another member of the team up to speed and he leveraged the Vena Academy training modules as well as plenty of calls between the two of us. After his first year spent building a template, documenting end user training, and troubleshooting any errors, he was able to fully run with things in year 3, preparing for our annual budgeting process with little input from me. I think the lesson here is to get multiple people within your organization trained on the manager/admin side of the platform so that you've got more expertise and capacity to make improvements and guide end users.



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    Brendan Eger
    Assoc. Dir. of Information Systems and Analytics
    Partners In Health
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Posted 02-27-2023 13:47

    Tasha, thank you for this thread. I know I'm getting on the train late, but we are just beginning our Vena implementation and I'm coming up with questions and looking for best practice ideas.

    One thing I am finding unusual about Vena, as compared to similar applications, is the absence of aliases for Parent members. Our implementation partners said we can use aliases for all members if we wish, but it seems to not be the standard.

    May I ask how your organization is handling that?



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    Kathy Pethers
    Financial Plus Credit Union
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Posted 03-01-2023 13:28

    Hi Kathy! Never too late to the party, glad you found this thread and bringing it back to life 🌱 

    I might not be able to share my thoughts directly, but I wanted to share the response a Venanite shared with me (and I've been told this was also shared with you πŸ˜‰) with the rest of the community!

    Changing the names and (or) aliases of the members (at any level) are done directly in the Vena cube. All the reports and templates automatically update to the new name once member name/alias is updated.
    I would only caution you on the bottom level member names since data is loaded to that level.

    But, I'd love to tag some awesome community members to share their insights on their implementation journey and any best practices that they've learned along the way!Β 

    @Brandon Combs @Devendra Kalwani @Garrett Litwin @Clement Marlin @Kevin ShivnauthΒ 

    Thanks y'all! 🌱



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    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Posted 03-06-2023 09:21

    Thank you Irene, and @Clement Marlin Β and @Brendan Eger as well. I neglected to reply back on this last week. Yes, I did get my answer and this was helpful.



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    Kathy Pethers
    Financial Plus Credit Union
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Founding Member
    Posted 03-01-2023 13:38

    Hi Kathy,

    I would agree with your implementation partner as I don't feel like I would need aliases for Parent members as they are usually already a named group of bottom level dimension members:

    ie for the account dimension, I would typically have bottom level members being numbered GL accounts (let's say 600001 and 600002 for permanent and contractual salaries) grouped into a "Salaries" group of accounts that I can retrieve directly.

    ...

    Not sure if that makes sense in writing so don't hesitate to reach out if you want to share best practices!

    Clement



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    Clement Marlin
    Senior Financial Analyst
    TFO Groupe Media
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Help Each Other Grow | Vena Uses, Tips, Best Practices, Templates and Thoughts

    Founding Member
    Posted 03-01-2023 13:53

    Hi Kathy. I think it's entirely up to you whether to enter Aliases for your parent members or not. See below a couple of examples where we have and have not entered Aliases. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide whether including Aliases is helpful for your templates and reports.

    For our GL Accounts, we did enter them:

    For one of our dimensions (Budget code), we didn't add Aliases, but instead named the parent Member Name itself (like Clement mentioned):



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    Brendan Eger
    Assoc. Dir. of Information Systems and Analytics
    Partners In Health
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    Original Message