With the launch of Softline Pastel`s 2005 range of accounting applications aimed at the SME market, the country`s leading accounting software provider has made good on its promise to deliver a technology that goes way beyond accounting.
"Customers are used to Pastel providing them with accounting solutions targeted at the specific needs of SMEs, but often we find that businesses don`t truly maximise their accounting data beyond the usual trial balance, income statement, age analysis reports and so on," says Steven Cohen, MD of Softline Pastel.
"In the Pastel 2005 range we have provided users with the means to handle their accounts in the most efficient manner possible, as well as additional functionality in the Business Intelligence Centre to slice and dice their financial data without a degree in business analytics.
"In the past, only large companies could afford the business intelligence (BI) software and skills to effectively analyse their data. Smaller companies were left to sort out their own information needs while vendors concentrated on serving the enterprise market. Pastel 2005`s Business Intelligence Centre changes all that."
Using an application most users are familiar with, Microsoft Excel, Pastel has made the add-on Business Intelligence Centre module available to users of Pastel Partner 2005 and Pastel Evolution. Instead of having to manipulate accounting reports by cutting and pasting or importing data into costly third-party applications, financial information can be viewed directly in Excel.
This functionality allows users to examine their data from any angle and drill down to any specific information they choose without needing any technical skills.
Some of the standard BI reports users can call up include:
* Management Pack: Income Statements, Balance Sheets, etc
* Sales Information: Manipulate your sales data to highlight patterns and trends
* Inventory: Top 10 sales items among many other reports
* Graphical analysis of sales and financial data
The Business Intelligence Centre module does not just allow customers to use Excel as an information analysis tool; it offers complete integration between Pastel and Excel. This makes it easy for users to write automated Excel reports and analyse their live accounting data. In addition, it allows users to save the steps they take in selecting the data for their reports as well as the final format they choose.
The benefits users of the Business Intelligence Centre will experience include:
* Enhanced business information: up-to-date, advanced and professional looking reports in the format you want.
* Saves man days of time every month: with a click of a button, it`s quick and easy.
* Monthly financials with drill down to ledger detail: the monthly management pack can be automated with drill down to transaction level.
* Business Intelligence Centre Online Community: Pastel Cover customers who purchase this add-on module can download a growing collection of Standard Report templates.
* End-user empowerment: reduce your dependency on IT personnel to deliver on the company`s reporting requirements. Simply enhance the Excel skills already in place.
"Pastel, with its in-depth knowledge of its customers, was well positioned to deliver a product designed specifically for use in the SME market," adds Cohen. "It took a lot of research to develop a product that could provide such in-depth intelligence without a complex user interface, but providing the benefits of BI to the SME market was a task Pastel was determined to do right and to do BI first."
Softline Pastel, a member of the Sage Group, is SA`s leading developer of accounting, payroll and related software applications. Pastel has over 160 000 users worldwide and is currently sold in 50 countries. The software is available in six different languages including English, Afrikaans, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and French.
For more information, please visit the Softline Pastel Web site on www.pastel.co.za.
Share
Editorial contacts