System Software Associates (SSA) has moved to close the gap between enterprise resource planning (ERP) and data warehousing systems by permitting detailed analysis of financial data held in BPCS Client/Server 6.
Craig Astfalck, business consulting manager, SSA South Africa, says: "Financial managers can obtain information from BPCS Client/Server`s financial software modules in a format they would previously have thought they needed a data warehouse for. The key is BPCS Client/Server version 6`s configurability, in particular its Configurable Enterprise Accounting Modules."
Sharon Walsh, of Walsh Green & Associates, one of South Africa`s most experienced ERP implementation consultancies, concurs: "The core architecture of BPCS Client/Server version 6 has an underlying financial repository that allows users to access information in any form they wish."
Walsh, who has been involved in BPCS implementations for 12 years, says the BPCS Client/Server Configurable Ledger provides a base repository for all ledger information. Once it has collected and processed information from the rest of BPCS Client/Server, the system enables in-depth analysis of the financial and statistical information for critical management decisions.
"The user can customise the financial systems in such a way that extraction of data and information for making business decisions relating to brand, supply chain, and the channel becomes easy," she says.
In Configurable Ledger, the user defines the ledgers, books, periods, currencies and segments which include accounts used in the ledger. Configurable models facilitate posting of meaningful data to the financials.
Four options for reporting are available - standard and user-defined reports using BPCS USERVision Report Writer, user-defined financial reports using CEA Financial Report Writer, and online user-defined Account and Structured Inquiries.
In addition, enhanced functionality allows financial managers to perform the calculations needed to determine allocations and budgets. The system provides an unlimited number of budget entities for variance comparison purposes. It also provides all of the necessary functionality to replace spreadsheets for determining allocations and the necessary audit trail to analyse these allocations.
"Financial systems are perfect repositories for accurate, verifiable data," concludes Astfalck. "By providing this level of configurability, the financial managers can obtain virtually the same type of information from the financial software modules that they previously believed they needed a data warehouse to provide."
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