How the finance team uses analytics to automate reporting

To monitor the performance of its business, Whiting Holdings, an Australian steel distributor, consolidated all its financial, sales and inventory data into one platform. By harnessing technology and implementing data analytics, the finance team automates its month end and statutory reporting which helps get to the source of the data faster and make clear decisions.

Finance Project Manager, Ingrid Vanlangenberg works across finance and IT and is always looking for ways to drive efficiency within the business. By harnessing technology and implementing data analytics, the finance team automates reporting which saves on administration tasks so they can dig into things that make a difference - like margins.

Phocas data analytics allows the Whiting team to report and dashboard key performance indicators across the organization.

“We have implemented multiple modules of our data into Phocas. This includes accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, sales and most recently inventory from the ERP. The general ledger database implementation is probably the most successful in our organization because we have structured the database interface to be a reflection of our actual Profit and Loss Statement,” says Ingrid.

Whiting use Phocas to create the statutory accounts and monthly reporting.

“Phocas has created a lot of efficiency in our finance team and we've actually reduced the number of days it's taken to roll out those reports from about ten days to about five,”explains Ingrid.

Ingrid really likes the Phocas dashboard tool.

“Dashboards are a great way to visualize the data and they're fantastic in that you can actually drill down further into that graph and go right into the database and obtain further information. Phocas gives us those pricing trends. And the analysis enables us to make key decisions to manage our inventory levels and slow moving stock,” says Ingrid.

The price of steel fluctuates, and margins are tightening. Demand is dependent on the health of the construction industry, and in the current market, distributors don’t want slow-moving stock.