Many businesses suffer from the absence of a centralised information reporting system. In fact most businesses often have lots of information captured across a range of different systems without appropriate integration.
In order to refine the reporting platform for businesses it is best to design a system whereby the information is stored in 3 layers:
The first layer represents the various databases used to capture the data.
The middle layer should then be set up in the form of a data warehouse. This essentially extracts the required data from the underlying databases and ensures that all of the information is stored in one place. The data warehouse is often set up as a web based portal which has the benefit that it can be accessed by any employee or other end user over the internet. This is useful for corporate groups whereby the management at head office are able to extract the required data remotely from the respective sites.
A top layer is then required for analytics, or to provide business insight. The top layer is effectively the reporting tool that can be set up to run system reports and analytical information required to manage your business.
An effective IT platform is essential to providing information to management. If structured well management can easily extract the required reports and information they require and can save a significant amount of expensive management time. A strong reporting platform can also help businesses to automate their month end processes and reduce the time taken to report their financial results.
We hope that you have found our overview useful. If you require any advice and assistance regarding the information requirements of your business, please contact Belsize Accountancy for more details.