SAP’s library of pre-defined reviews for Finance and Controlling (FICO) is nice for addressing a few of the core duties related to finance and accounting. These reviews align effectively with accounting requirements below GAAP and IFRS. Sadly, they not often do a superb job of addressing the sort of reporting wanted to make knowledgeable managerial selections.
Inventory reviews usually lack flexibility. In useful areas equivalent to Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, for instance, customary reviews are pre-configured to show fastened ageing buckets that don’t all the time include the element wanted to carry out efficient evaluation. Pre-defined SAP reviews are rigid when working with hierarchies, and so they require assist from IT for any modifications. That consumes precious IT time, and it usually means ready days or perhaps weeks to get the report you want.
Knowledge required for administration reviews are usually pulled from many alternative SAP modules to create a consolidated evaluation. SAP gives numerous out-of-the-box reviews for varied useful areas equivalent to Value Middle Reporting. Nevertheless, discovering a single report with the proper content material and structure in your wants could be troublesome or inconceivable. This creates challenges for anybody who desires to create a holistic view of a selected administration inquiry or enterprise course of.
Managers are usually on the lookout for the pliability to carry out complicated ad hoc evaluation, and that’s simply not one thing that the inventory reviews from SAP can present. It’s widespread observe, subsequently, to extract info from SAP, transfer it into Excel, then reformat the information and carry out some evaluation there. That solves the primary downside, but it surely additionally creates a brand new one. By transferring knowledge from SAP to Excel with out a stay connection between the 2 functions, you create a copy that may’t be refreshed, which poses some important dangers to your knowledge integrity. This observe not solely introduces pointless threat on account of guide manipulation of the information, but it surely additionally successfully negates the principle purpose many organizations implement their ERP methods—a single supply of fact.
Lastly, there’s the query of drill-down functionality. SAP customers usually have to discover the element behind a selected quantity in a report. Sadly, this can imply exporting a number of reviews to Excel, manipulating the information with superior formulation utilizing VLOOKUP and related Excel capabilities, or constructing pivot tables that may current info in a significant means.
A number of the most typical instruments equivalent to SAP Evaluation for Microsoft Workplace are rigid. They supply pivot desk performance, for instance, however little else, and utilizing them requires important IT help.
The present unsure enterprise setting provides additional to the problem, as managers are asking for extra frequent updates to remain present with altering circumstances. Sadly, the tedious guide strategy of copying and pasting knowledge into Excel consumes a big period of time, so it isn’t all the time sensible to replace these reviews on a every day or weekly foundation.
Excel to the Rescue?
There is no such thing as a query that Excel is an exceptional device for ad hoc evaluation. Nearly everybody within the enterprise world is aware of it, and a complicated consumer can carry out subtle knowledge manipulation and evaluation with it. It requires no programming abilities or configuration, it’s versatile and dynamic, and it adapts to virtually any necessities. Excel recordsdata are simply shareable, making it simple to collaborate with others all through the group.
Excel comes with a big caveat, nonetheless, particularly when guide copy and paste processes are concerned. Spreadsheet errors may end up from a minor change to the format of supply knowledge, the unintended omission of up to date info, or pasting knowledge into the unsuitable location.
Sadly, Excel doesn’t inform you when there’s a bug or error; it simply provides you an incorrect quantity.
Excel Reporting the Secure Means
How can corporations scale back the dangers of Excel-based reporting? The reply lies in eliminating guide copy/paste or export/import processes. With the best instruments, it’s simpler than it sounds.
The secret’s to construct stay hyperlinks from Excel on to your SAP knowledge. When the data in your Excel spreadsheet comes from a direct, real-time question of the SAP database, it means by no means having to repeat/paste or export/import knowledge. It means no extra unintended modifications to codecs, unintended transposition of cells, or inconsistent or incomplete updates from SAP to Excel.
The tedious and error-prone strategy of transferring knowledge from SAP to Excel is changed by an automatic course of that’s correct and constant each time. As an alternative of spending a variety of time transferring knowledge round, you may merely refresh the information with real-time info from SAP.
This additionally permits organizations to ascertain a rigorous assessment course of for Excel-based reviews and fashions earlier than utilizing them to make selections. It permits for high quality management and the appliance of a transparent set of requirements round reporting.
Refreshing knowledge straight from SAP can also be a way more safe course of as a result of it leverages the safety mechanisms you may have already outlined inside SAP. In Excel, you may allow licensed customers to make modifications the place acceptable, whereas utilizing managed templates and safety to forestall modifications to formulation. Lastly, reviews could be distributed securely based mostly on a need-to-know listing of recipients.
High quality and Flexibility: Wands for SAP
Wands for SAP is a product that permits direct, stay hyperlinks to your SAP knowledge from Excel. With Wands, you may remove the dangerous and time-consuming duties related to transferring knowledge from SAP or different methods into Microsoft Excel. In doing so, you may set up a quality-assurance course of that leads to correct and constant reviews, offering your group with a single model of the reality.
By empowering end-users to work straight in Excel, with stay hyperlinks to SAP knowledge, it can save you time and scale back your workers’s dependence on the IT division (or costly outdoors consultants). The tip consequence is that your finance group can spend time analyzing knowledge quite than capturing and manipulating them.
If you need to be taught extra about streamlining, automating, and enhancing your SAP reporting, we’d love to speak with you. Contact us at the moment to debate your challenge, or to request a free demo.
