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FIND YOUR EDGE
Americas' SAP Users' Group
Big Bang for the Bucks! Improving Finance Processes with Excel, an SME Controller's PerspectiveBob Oldrati, Controller & IT Director, Powell Electronics (retired)Tim Curtin, Solution Specialist, Z OptionMark Pockl, SAP Solution Specialist, Excel4apps
Learning Points
Listen to a Controller’s perspective on specificchallenges faced by SME finance departments
Discover how Powell Electronics exploredsolutions to these challenges using Excel-basedtools
Hear Powell’s selection process to solve thesechallenges
Experience the functionality and capabilities ofthe chosen solutions
Understand the results and benefits Powellgained from these solutions
Agenda
About Powell Electronics
Financial process challenges at Powell
Solution options
Decision process
About Z Option, Excel4apps
Results and benefits
Q&A
Powell Electronics
A 68 year old, privately owned distributor ofelectronic components and value added services
Main Office in Swedesboro, NJ
220 + people, average tenure 20+ years
10 locations in North America & 1 in Europe
$120+ million in revenue
Powell and SAP
Legacy system was not Y2K compliant so implemented SAP v4.0,live on Jan. 1st, 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 veryexpensive - 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
Powell
I was hired as Controller just after “go-live”
Two years later I became Controller & ITDirector
Very active in ASUG, with the WholesaleDistribution SIG and the Small, Medium,Enterprise SIG
Retired in June 2013 and reside in the CapeMay area of New Jersey
Powell Financial Process Challenges
The closing process took 2 plus weeks
Tremendous amount of monthly close financialdocumentation
Mainly with journal entries and their support
Accounts Payable was burdened with manuallyentering and verifying expense reports
Financial reporting was done with ReportWriter and Report Painter, were difficult to use& make changes
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 sameproblem?
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
Needs & Solution: GLSU by Z Option
Powell expense report process was cumbersome; timefrom completion of form by sales employee toemployee receiving payment was almost three weeks
An Accounting Department employee using GLSU andher Excel skills derived a new Excel expense report totake 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
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)
Streamline Employee Expense Reimbursement Process
12
Bob approves and sends to
Accounts Payable (via
snail mail 2-3 days)
Accounts
Payable
makes
manual entry
Accounts
Payable files
paper and
receipts
Check is snail
mailed (2-3
days snail
mail)
Checks are
processed
Estimated time of processing was 2 + weeks plus costs of snail mail
Streamline Employee Expense Reimbursement Process
The Problem: Why did we do this?
13
Expenses Worksheet
Streamline Employee Expense Reimbursement Process
The Solution
Receipts Worksheet
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
About Z Option
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 sameproblem?
Needs & Decision
What Excel-based products exist that would empower the enduser to manage their company’s financial reports?
Report Writer & Report Painter not easy for average user tomanage & change
Enter Excel4apps - prior to retiring, was testing their Excel-based 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
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
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
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.
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
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
Q & A
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING
Bob Oldrati
609-332-5570
Tim Curtin
Solution Specialist, Z Option
Mark Pockl
SAP Solution Specialist, Excel4apps
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