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Using Accounting Intelligence Today. Antonio Elinon Caratrel Consultants Pty Ltd. Agenda. Enterprise Architecture (EA) to Business Intelligence (BI) to Accounting Intelligence (AI) Accounting Intelligence versus Business Intelligence Why Datamart4Excel Questions/Break
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Using Accounting Intelligence Today Antonio Elinon Caratrel Consultants Pty Ltd
Agenda • Enterprise Architecture (EA) to Business Intelligence (BI) to Accounting Intelligence (AI) • Accounting Intelligence versus Business Intelligence • Why Datamart4Excel • Questions/Break • Datamart4Excel Demonstration
Is Business Intelligence Part of Enterprise Architecture? • Enterprise Architecture considers all systems that leverage the resources of EA • BI, ERP, end-users, and accountants all interconnect through their usage of enterprise data • Without architectural planning, these interconnections could easily fail – reflecting as a failure of EA itself • There are ways to architecturally plan the interconnection between BI, accountants, and enterprise data
Business Intelligence is Here • Has been around since DSS (decision support systems) and MIS (management information systems) • Commonly used for competitive intelligence • Uses data gathered from a data warehouse or a data mart via ETL (extract-transform-load) • ETL cost is typically 75%-80% of BI development
What is Accounting Intelligence • A specialist form of business intelligence • The general name for the set of technologies used to extract, analyse and present information from accounting and ERP applications Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_intelligence
Accounting Intelligence vs Business Intelligence • AI - specifically designed to analyse data from specific ERP systems • BI - more general tool that can be applied to any application that uses a database
Accounting Intelligence vs Business Intelligence • AI - no staggering of data in a data warehouse or OLAP cube • AI - extracted directly from the ERP at the time that a query is run (real-time) • BI - typically involves a batch process to extract data from live source, and stored as denormalised via ETL (extract-transform-load)
Accounting Intelligence vs Business Intelligence • AI – leverages the structure of the chart of accounts • AI - dimension structures can be automatically created based on business unit hierarchies or any part of account code as stored in COA
Accounting Intelligence vs Business Intelligence • AI – query means information returned is up to the second real time data • AI - accounts can be corrected and a fresh trial balance viewed immediately • AI – uses aggregation in accounting systems performed by the ERP when new journal entries are posted (no need for cube rebuild)
Accounting Intelligence vs Business Intelligence • AI – no ETL therefore much simpler to install, implement and maintain • AI - inquiries and reports typically created by end users rather than software developers
Accounting Intelligence vs Business Intelligence • AI - no need to separately audit both the accounts themselves and separate data warehouse and ETL process • AI – compliance easier for many companies – SOX, IFRS
Advantages of AI • Ensures that an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is the single source of all operational reporting and analysis • Can be relied upon to give accurate and secure information • Out of the box solution, much quicker to implement than BI
Advantages of AI • No data warehouse, no staged data to audit • Data returned in real time • Data is not a snapshot of yesterday or last month
Some Disadvantages of AI • Applied only to specific ERP systems, such as JDE, Oracle E-Business and SAP • Cannot integrate data from outside the ERP system Datamart4Excel does not have these disadvantages!
Why Datamart4Excel • The Problem of the Accountant • Implications of the Problem • The Solution
The Problem of the Accountant • Under-powered data analysis capabilities in tool of choice • Excel versus web-based solution • Proliferation of tools for accountants • Locking proprietary objects (formulas/buttons) in spreadsheets • Difficult to transport and reuse reports • Extending work flow process
Implications of the Problem • Unable to use the full potential of Excel • Excel and non-Excel toolsets • Proliferation of Excel objects with proprietary links • ROI on ERP spend • Decrease in productivity • Impact on functional work and ability to guide the business
The D4E Solution • End-user tool that uses only options and menus already in Excel • Providing data mart capabilities with unlimited filtering and unlimited combinations for data retrieval • Workflow process unchanged
The D4E Solution • Simplify access to data sources • Provide easy-to-use but powerful parameter prompts • Translate Excel actions to SQL commands to access data
Get GL Transactions with selected columns for Pivot reporting
Summary • Full Data Mart capability for Accounting Intelligence • Full use of Excel – high fidelity formatting possible • Reports and spreadsheets are transportable with no proprietary formulas • Only tool used is Excel • Can be used to generate countless reports simultaneously