The SABC has slashed financial report writing times to assist in the financial realignment of the organisation as it moves towards privatisation. The time taken to generate reports has been reduced from up to two days to as little as 15 minutes since the implementation of Analyst Financials from Comparex Africa Mainstream.
"Analyst Financials has automated the entire process of generating reports," says Gerhard Botha, manager, decision support for group finance at the SABC. "Prior to implementing the software, technical staff drew information from the mainframe environment, delivered it to us on paper and we re-entered it into Excel spreadsheets to manipulate the data and generate the reports."
Analyst Financials, connected to a Microsoft SQL Server database, now draws information on a daily basis directly from the general ledger in the Millennium financial package in the mainframe environment and delivers it to Excel spreadsheet templates. Reports generated include budget, projections and actuals.
By removing human intervention, the SABC has eliminated the potential for error in reports and accelerated report generation and delivery. Speeding up the process was essential to the transformation that is seeing the SABC recreate itself as a private organisation. Unique, monthly financial reports must be generated for each division, covering both the commercial and public aspects of the business.
"Financial management information packs would take us up to two days to create because we had to retype all the information from the mainframe printouts. It was a lengthy exercise every month with seven regions and nine reports per region," says Botha. "The exercise would not have been possible without the time savings the SABC has enjoyed."
The implementation of Analyst Financials has had the knock-on effect of more staff making use of reports from the SABC`s system. In the past, between 20 and 30 staff would regularly request reports - that number has now risen to over 100.
In the early 1990s the SABC decided to standardise on Microsoft desktop applications and users are, therefore, familiar with PowerPoint and Excel, two report presentation applications used at the broadcaster.
"Although we had found ways and means of extracting data in a flatfile format in the old system, it was a cumbersome task and few people were prepared to work that way. All duplication of data has been removed and the system can deliver information directly into Excel and from there into PowerPoint," says Botha.
The SABC regional offices now also make use of the reporting capabilities of Analyst Financials in order to deliver financial reports.
Analyst Web Reporting, a module of Analyst Financials, provides access to financial information to anyone with a PC, Web browser and access to the intranet. Using Web Reporting, Analyst reports can be run without Analyst or Excel on the PC, without the requirement of learning complicated software, and without compromising security.
"A template has been automatically generated for regions including Polokwane, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Nelspruit. It has alleviated the need for us to post monthly financial reports because the regions now draw them as and when they are needed," says Botha.
The SABC is looking at third-party analytical tools that hook into Analyst Financials and is evaluating Intelligent Apps and ProClarity.
These tools allow organisations to connect directly to the data with graphically intensive interfaces, allowing users to drill down into the data to the depth of analysis required.
"These tools allow you to build a cube of data allowing multidimensional data analysis," says Botha.
"Analyst Financials has automated the SABC`s entire financial reporting system enabling it to drive its move to becoming a corporate entity," says Clive van Rooyen, executive business developer at Comparex Africa Mainstream.
"Because Analyst is Excel-based it maximises Excel`s potential. This, in turn, makes it easier for accountants who are used to using Excel," says Van Rooyen.
"The Analyst interface operates against any ledger, and its scope encapsulates the reporting process as well as reporting functionality," he adds. This means it can reduce reporting time scales by automating complex reporting processes from data capture, right through to delivery on the end-user`s desktop.
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