Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software refers to a software that organizations use to manage day to day business activities from finance, accounting, procurement, project management, risk management to compliance, supply chain operations within a single suite. It helps to eliminate manual processes and support business in planning, budgeting and reporting of financial results. This is highly achievable by collating organization shared transactional data from multiple sources and eradicating data duplication and manipulation. Providing one single source of truth through an ERP software.
ERP software such as Microsoft Business Central, formally known as Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Navision is able to integrate various business processes and functions into a single unified system. Microsoft Business Central, formally known as NAV is able to streamline finance ops, accounting, human resources, supply chain and many more which can be accessed by designated users across various business process units. This single suite ERP system helps in business achieve goal with efficiency and reporting.
Implementing Microsoft Business Central ERP
Implementing a Microsoft Business Central ERP solution for finance operations can help companies streamline workflows, gain real-time visibility into financial data, improve compliance, enhance forecasting, reduce costs, and accelerate period-end close processes. Apart from transactional workload by accounting and finance department, ERP helps to automate and consolidate key finance functions under a single ERP system within a single entity. Thus, eliminating tedious manual processes, errors, and provides secure access to timely and accurate information for reporting and decision-making for management and stake holders.
Overall, Microsoft Business Central ERP system creates a more connected, agile, and data-driven finance department within an organization. Thus, allowing organizations to better manage finances, track revenue and expenses, support audits, guide strategic plans, and drive growth. With finance integration with an ERP system, we are able to quantify and deliver benefits never before, such as faster invoice processing, reduced days sales outstanding (DSO), lower compliance risk, predictable forecasts, and significant savings from consolidating legacy systems.
Challenges of Manual Processes Without An ERP
In the past, finance teams would require to generate manual laborious spreadsheet based processes to manage data reporting. These increase human error and creating a ripple effect within an organization. Imagine having to retract past financial reports due to a human error such as additional error lines. These legacy systems come with major drawbacks:
Data silos
With information scattered across different spreadsheets and systems, it’s difficult to get a consolidated view of performance. Added complexity of source of truth and last updated information. Finance must manually combine data, which is time-consuming and prone to errors.
Duplicate data entry
Data is frequently re-entered into multiple spreadsheets and systems. This duplication of effort wastes time and increases the likelihood of data entry mistakes without highlighting last edited user or options in case of any fall back.
Difficulty consolidating data
Disparate systems make it extremely tedious to consolidate data for unified reporting and analytics. Finance spends excessive time on data reconciliation efforts and manual intensive labour which can be streamlined by the system to do the heavy lifting of manual transactional work.
Higher risk of errors
Manual data entry and manipulation across fragmented systems leads to errors that impact the accuracy of financial statements. It’s easy to make mistakes with error-prone manual processes.
Limited visibility
With data scattered in silos, it’s challenging to get real-time visibility across financial and operational processes. Lack of visibility prevents finance from making quick, informed decisions.
Benefits of Microsoft Business Central ERP Automation
Implementing a Microsoft Business Central, formerly known as Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP system delivers significant benefits by automating manual finance processes and reporting. Microsoft Business Central software connects data across the organization, eliminating duplicative data entry and disparate systems. Users would not need to loop back on last edited users or scramble to find the main source of truth and accuracy. This provides a unified source of truth for financial data.
With Microsoft Business Central Finance Operation ERP, it provides key automation benefits:
Eliminates data silos
Microsoft ERP consolidates data into a single system rather than siloed spreadsheets and applications. This provides visibility into financial performance or any performance top level management would love to drill down. It also provides a holistic view for business units team members for better work synchronisations.
Reduces duplicate entries
Data is entered once into the ERP rather than manual re-entry into multiple systems. This saves significant time and enhances accuracy throughout. With time stamps and cusztomization configured, you team and organizations would enjoy a seamless error free system.
Standardizes processes
The ERP system enforces standardized financial workflows for order to cash, procure to pay, etc. This minimizes manual errors and double workload.
Improves accuracy
Automated calculations, validations and controls boost the accuracy of financial data and reporting. Errors are reduced.
Enhances reporting
Real-time ERP data enables dynamic reporting across multiple dimensions. Finance gains timely insights versus static reports and multiple sheets without a main source of truth. Say no to multiple files and unorganized spreadsheets.
By automating redundant manual processes, finance teams can focus on delivering strategic insights rather than compiling data. These help in handover and onboarding of new finance users a breeze. Microsoft Business Central ERP enhances financial controls while providing real-time visibility. This is a key benefit versus legacy systems out in the market. With highly customizable and configurable key component, as an integrator, I-Net Dynamics would be able to provide value added solutions to suit your business process and organization goals without hindering any fallbacks and highlight any pitfalls an organization would face beforehand.
Microsoft Business Central Key ERP Modules for Finance
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software such as SAGE, Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, Microsoft GP, Microsoft NAV includes a suite of integrated modules that automate key finance operations. Some of the most essential ERP modules for finance teams include:
General Ledger
The general ledger module records and categorizes all transactions, functioning as the system of record for financial data. It generates real-time balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow reports. The general ledger eliminates tedious manual calculations and reconciliation.
Accounts Payable
The accounts payable module manages vendor invoices and payments. It automates invoice matching, approval workflows, payment runs, and check printing. The system provides visibility into outstanding payables, cash requirements, and payment histories.
Accounts Receivable
The accounts receivable module records customer invoices and receipts. It assists with billing, collections, credit terms, and customer account management. The module generates aging reports to monitor past due accounts. It streamlines billing, invoicing, and receipt processing.
Fixed Assets
The fixed asset module tracks depreciation of physical assets over time. It calculates and posts scheduled depreciation automatically based on asset costs and depreciation methods. The system maintains an up-to-date fixed asset register.
Cash Management
Advanced ERP systems offer treasury and cash management modules. These tools forecast cash positions, optimize short-term investment strategies, and automate daily bank reconciliation. The cash management module improves visibility and control over cash flow.
By integrating these modules, ERP systems enable seamless financial operations. Automation provides unified data and processes, eliminating the need for manual reconciliation across disparate systems. ERP improves compliance, controls, forecasting, and decisions through integrated financial data.
Real-Time Insights
ERP systems provide finance teams with real-time visibility into data through automated dashboards and reports. Rather than waiting for month end to analyse results, ERP enables continuous monitoring of KPIs.
With an ERP dashboard, CFOs can view cash flow, profit and loss, receivables, payables, and inventory levels on demand. Drilling down into reports provides greater insight into performance by business unit, product line, customer segment etc.
Built-in financial reports can be scheduled to run automatically at regular intervals, eliminating manual efforts. Management can receive key reports via email without any requests.
ERP also facilitates a continuous close, rather than waiting until the end of each period. With constant visibility, issues can be identified early and addressed proactively. Waiting until month-end often delays action.
Automated, real-time reporting provides finance leaders with the timely data they need to guide strategic decisions. Rather than operating by rear-view mirror, they have access to a real-time view of the road ahead.
Improved Compliance
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software enhances compliance by automating controls, restrictions, and audit trails. This removes reliance on manual processes, which are prone to human error or oversight.
ERP systems provide detailed audit trails to track all transactions, data edits, and access. This ensures transparency over who changed what and when. Audit trails facilitate both internal and external audits.
Configurable access controls restrict user permissions and data access. Sensitive functions can be limited to certain roles. Automated controls then enforce those permissions, such as preventing unauthorized invoice approvals.
ERP also enforces segregation of duties. Different people must perform different stages of a process. For example, an employee who requests a purchase order cannot approve their own order. The system automatically routes the approval task to their manager.
Built-in alarms and notifications trigger when internal controls are overridden, or compliance violations occur. The centralized nature of ERP creates a single source of truth for compliance data versus scattered systems.
In summary, ERP allows organizations to take a preventive approach to compliance versus reactive. Automated controls eliminate reliance on after-the-fact audits and checks to uncover issues. This results in lower compliance costs and risks.
Enhanced Forecasting
ERP systems provide finance teams with powerful forecasting capabilities that are a major step up from spreadsheet models and manual processes. By centralizing data from across the business, ERP enables robust trend analysis based on historical performance across multiple dimensions.
Rather than periodic forecasting, ERP enables continuous planning with real-time updates as business conditions change. Teams can run what-if scenario models to project the potential impact of strategic decisions or changes in the market environment. This allows for more agile responses and proactive risk management.
With embedded analytics and modelling tools, forecasts become dynamic. As new data comes in, forecasts automatically update and alert finance leaders to trajectory changes. Automated variance reporting highlights when projections deviate from targets, enabling drill-down analysis to understand root causes.
Overall, the shift from periodic and manual forecasts to continuous, data-driven predictions is a gamechanger. Finance gains the visibility and analytical power to truly provide strategic guidance to the business.
Reduced Operating Costs
An ERP system consolidates multiple legacy systems and eliminates redundant software applications. This significantly reduces the costs of maintaining numerous systems and interfaces.
By streamlining workflows and automating manual processes, ERP systems require less manual labour. This improves workforce productivity and lowers headcount costs associated with finance operations. Employees can focus on higher value analysis and planning rather than routine data entry.
ERP systems provide a centralized source for financial data. This eliminates the need for duplicate data entry and reconciliation across different systems. Automated controls and workflows also help reduce errors and rework.
Overall, the automation and integration capabilities of ERP lead to significant reductions in the operating costs associated with finance and accounting activities. Organizations can realize hard cost savings in software, IT support, headcount, and avoid the unnecessary costs of errors and duplicative work. The optimized workflows and straightforward access to information in ERP systems directly translate to improved productivity and lower costs.
Faster Period Close
ERP systems enable faster period closes through automation and standardization of finance processes. Rather than relying on spreadsheets and manual reconciliations, an ERP centralizes accounting on a single platform. This eliminates siloed data and redundancies.
Real-time consolidation is a key feature of ERP systems. As soon as source data is entered into the system, it automatically aggregates, and updates reports and financial statements. There is no delay waiting for consolidation tasks. This continuous accounting shortens period close.
Moreover, automated controls and reconciliations in ERP systems improve period close accuracy. Automated matching and reconciliation of accounts replaces manual processes prone to errors. Automation and standardization drive faster period close.
Implementing Microsoft Business Central Finance Module in ERP
Implementing an ERP system can provide tremendous value for finance teams looking to modernize and streamline their operations. With years of implementation of Microsoft ERP system in automating manual processes, I-Net Dynamics is able to provide the best used case ERP systems for any organization and give finance leaders real-time visibility into financial data and performance. This allows for more accurate forecasting, faster period closes, and better compliance with accounting standards.
For finance executives and managers looking to transform their functions, ERP systems emerge as a leading solution. The integrated nature of ERP consolidates all financial information into a single source of truth. This creates new opportunities for advanced analytics, forecasting, and strategic decision-making.
However, realizing the full benefits of ERP requires careful change management. Leadership must communicate the long-term vision and provide training resources. Gradual system rollouts can help acclimate staff to new processes. With proper planning and support, finance teams can successfully transition to ERP and unlock significant performance improvements. Speak to us today to find out more!
