Americas' SAP Users' Group

Transcription

1 Americas' SAP Users' Group Big Bang for the Bucks! Improving Finance Processes with Excel, an SME Controller's Perspective Bob Oldrati, Controller & IT Director, Powell Electronics (retired) Tim Curtin, Solution Specialist, Z Option Mark Pockl, SAP Solution Specialist, Excel4apps FIND YOUR EDGE

2 Learning Points Listen to a Controller s perspective on specific challenges faced by SME finance departments Discover how Powell Electronics explored solutions to these challenges using Excel-based tools Hear Powell s selection process to solve these challenges Experience the functionality and capabilities of the chosen solutions Understand the results and benefits Powell gained from these solutions

3 Agenda About Powell Electronics Financial process challenges at Powell Solution options Decision process About Z Option, Excel4apps Results and benefits Q&A

4 Powell Electronics A 68 year old, privately owned distributor of electronic components and value added services Main Office in Swedesboro, NJ people, average tenure 20+ years 10 locations in North America & 1 in Europe $120+ million in revenue

5 Powell and SAP Legacy system was not Y2K compliant so implemented SAP v4.0, live on Jan. 1 st, 2000 Installed SD, MM, PP, FI, CO, and some QC Upgraded to v4.5, now on v6.0 EP5, w/classic GL Due to Y2K, quality consulting help in high demand and very expensive - lots of consultants with very little experience Small IT staff, not SAP trained - training was O.J.T. (many were former main-framers) Change Management was a real challenge In some areas, portions of a legacy system ran inside SAP

6 Powell I was hired as Controller just after go-live Two years later I became Controller & IT Director Very active in ASUG, with the Wholesale Distribution SIG and the Small, Medium, Enterprise SIG Retired in June 2013 and reside in the Cape May area of New Jersey

7 Powell Financial Process Challenges The closing process took 2 plus weeks Tremendous amount of monthly close financial documentation Mainly with journal entries and their support Accounts Payable was burdened with manually entering and verifying expense reports Financial reporting was done with Report Writer and Report Painter, were difficult to use & make changes

8 Solution & Decision Process Solutions were needed where to go??? ASUG Annual Meeting and Vendor Fair Find what products were available Cost?? Ease of use?? Installation?? How do other SAP users solve same problem?

9 Needs & Solution: GLSU by Z Option Method for mass journal uploads Built-in pre-validation of data before loading Excel-based tool reduces learning curve and leverages existing Excel skills Can attach source workbook to posted document in SAP Can post more than 1,000 line items Quick and easy to install GLSU up and running in about an hour Uses all standard Excel functionality to calculate values Minimize chance of errors Flexible and adaptable

10 Needs & Solution: GLSU by Z Option Powell expense report process was cumbersome; time from completion of form by sales employee to employee receiving payment was almost three weeks An Accounting Department employee using GLSU and her Excel skills derived a new Excel expense report to take two weeks out of the process By using a series of Excel look-up tables, she created an expense report approved by the outside auditors

11 Streamline Employee Expense Reimbursement Process The Problem: Why did we do this? Fill out paper form in triplicate 1 Hour Attach receipts using stapler Send Expense report & receipts to Bob for approval (via snail mail 2-3 days) Bob misplaces expense report for several days (2-3 days) Raechal nags Bob (Did you get it? Did you approve it? Did you send it to Corp) Bob approves and sends to Accounts Payable (via snail mail 2-3 days) 11

12 Streamline Employee Expense Reimbursement Process The Problem: Why did we do this? Bob approves and sends to Accounts Payable (via snail mail 2-3 days) Accounts Payable makes manual entry Accounts Payable files paper and receipts Checks are processed Check is snail mailed (2-3 days snail mail) Estimated time of processing was 2 + weeks plus costs of snail mail 12

13 Streamline Employee Expense Reimbursement Process The Solution Expenses Worksheet Receipts Worksheet 13

14 About Z Option Located in Lewisville, Texas (Near Dallas, TX U.S.) Formed in 1998 by accountants and programmers SAP software solution partner Customers of all sizes and industries, worldwide

15 Solution & Decision Process Solutions for Reporting & Analysis needs where to go?? ASUG Annual Meeting and Vendor Fair Find what products were available Cost?? Ease of use?? Installation?? How do other SAP users solve same problem?

16 Needs & Decision What Excel-based products exist that would empower the end user to manage their company s financial reports? Report Writer & Report Painter not easy for average user to manage & change Enter Excel4apps - prior to retiring, was testing their Excelbased product, GL Wand Vision was for my senior accounting staff to confirm the ease of use and how it could benefit the company Retirement preceded the implementation of this plan Mark Pockl will explain more about GL Wand and Excel-based reporting

17 About Excel4apps Founded in 2005, Financial Reporting Focus Used by over 600 of the world s leading Oracle & SAP companies with over 15,000 users in 62 countries worldwide

18 About GL Wand Real time reporting in Excel Quick to install, easy to use High performance,.net architecture No implementation needed Full drill down to detail Real-time data refreshes

19 GL Wand Capabilities Report account balances from SAP FI in either New GL or Classic GL, OR SAP CO balances from different areas including Cost Center Accounting, Profit Center Accounting, Internal Orders, etc. All with the ease of Excel. Generate Dashboards, management, statutory, monthly reconciliation, audit compliance and other reports complete with ad-hoc inquiries and full drill-downs to line item and document details in Excel. Mass distribution of reports all through a secure SMTP server connection. Report structure can be easily adjusted by business users thru ad-hoc creation. Solution fully leverages all SAP user authorizations. Snap-shot functionality within GL Wand makes report sharing with non-licensed GL Wand users feasible.

20 About Reports Wand Empowers end users Excel front end to SAP data Create reports from SAP Queries and apply Excel formatting, formulae & charts Easily refresh final formatted reports, browse data and drill to detail for further analysis Pre-integrated with SAP, leverage existing security Extends GL Wand drilldowns to other modules Little IT Support needed

21 Summary What was learned? Final outcome at Powell! Why Excel? Challenges faced by Powell Electronics and other SME finance departments Powell s evaluation process for solutions to solve those challenges The functionality and capabilities of the chosen solutions The results and benefits Powell gained from these solutions

22 Q & A

23 THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING Bob Oldrati Tim Curtin Solution Specialist, Z Option [email protected] Mark Pockl SAP Solution Specialist, Excel4apps [email protected]

24 Stay in Touch Join ASUG or Learn About Your Membership Benefits Stay in the Know, Subscribe to ASUG Newsletters Visit asug.com/newsletters Visit ASUGNews.com for independent, unbiased, and customer-focused coverage of SAP. TWITTER: FACEBOOK: LINKEDIN: ASUG /about