Narrative Reporting

To produce any number of these required reports in different departments across the organisation, contributors commonly work in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, manually copying and pasting data from source systems or disparate spreadsheets, and then pass these files back and forth over insecure channels, such as email, until the report is complete.

Clearly, that is not ideal. What is ideal, though, is automating this process to cut down the risk of errors in the reports, all the while reducing the bottlenecks related to data access that prevent highly paid finance professionals from working efficiently and effectively. The result is that instead of collating data, the automated process gives these professionals more time to analyse data and make the strategic decisions that are vital to the health of your business.

Our tool of choice is Certent’s CDM, and to pinpoint if it will take the blood, sweat, and tears out of your reporting processes, ask yourself if you really know how many spreadsheets and word processing documents you rely on, and how much time your teams spend copying, pasting, and re-keying. Also, can you confidently say you know how many embarrassing and costly errors have been caught just before they made it out the door?

We’ve surveyed our clients to find out what some of the CDM wins were in their reporting processes, and this is what they say:

Minimal training is required as they use the same office tools familiar to finance users, but in an integrated and secure solution.
Their risk, cost, and data inaccuracies are reduced, providing an integrated solution with one version of the truth.
CDM drives process consistency and automates manual “copy and paste” processes.
The tool enhances security, control, and governance.
It generates high-value documents in various output formats, including management books, KPI reports, and regulatory reports with XBRL tags.

These comments came from both large and small businesses – from multinationals to midsize companies – that automated the collection of data in a single, dynamic reporting and analysis solution.