Your director unexpectedly walks into your office: "Can you give me an overview today of the profitability per project over the past quarter, broken down by cost type?" You know all the data is in Business Central, but getting it into a usable report? That means hours of exporting, cutting, pasting, creating formulas – and next week you'll have to do it all over again if there's an update. Sound familiar? You're not alone. According to the 2024 FP&A Trends Survey[i], financial professionals spend as much as 65% of their time collecting and validating data, leaving little time for valuable analysis. In this blog, Elielma Silva, Senior Consultant Exsion Reporting at Exsion365, explains how you can elevate your reporting with the right Excel add-on.

Why Excel alone is no longer enough 

Excel remains the favorite tool for many financial professionals. The familiar interface, flexible formatting, and extensive formulas make it a powerful instrument for daily analyses. Practically everyone in finance has learned to work with it and feels comfortable using it.

However, Excel reaches its limits when it comes to large amounts of data from ERP systems like Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. Manually exporting, structuring, and processing data becomes a time-consuming task. And if you also need to make regular updates, you know that a large part of your week is spent on repetitive work.

The dilemma is clear: you're attached to Excel and the control it offers, but the way you get data into it is inefficient and error-prone.

The missing link in the reporting process 

The challenge isn't so much with Excel itself, but with how the data gets from your ERP system into Excel. That transition is often a manual process involving a lot of cutting and pasting, where errors easily occur.

An ideal solution should combine the power of your financial system with the flexibility of Excel. You want to continue working in the environment you know, but without the cumbersome process of data extraction and manipulation.

A well-designed Excel add-on forms exactly that connection. It creates a direct line between your database and your worksheet, automates data refreshing, and makes it easy to combine information from different tables – all within the familiar Excel environment.

What you can achieve with the right tool 

With a powerful Excel add-on like Exsion Reporting, you transform your reporting process. One of our clients, a medium-sized construction company, struggled with creating project reports. Their controllers spent hours each week exporting data from Business Central, combining tables, and creating reports.

After implementing Exsion Reporting, their way of working changed completely. They now refresh their reports with one mouse click without having to reformat. They combine data from different sources without having to write complex formulas. When management has questions, they have an answer ready immediately. And perhaps most importantly: they finally have time to analyze trends and formulate recommendations.

The time savings were impressive: what used to take a day, they now do in a few minutes.

Excel with superpowers 

As a consultant, I see daily how controllers struggle with reports. What distinguishes Exsion Reporting from other solutions is the combination of power and simplicity.

You simply work in Excel, but with superpowers. You can:

• Retrieve data directly from Business Central, without IT intervention
• Combine tables that are separate in Business Central
• Refresh reports with one click
• Drill down to underlying details if you have questions about certain figures
• Share reports with colleagues who have no knowledge of the underlying technology

The best part is that you don't need to be an IT expert. After a short training, you can get started yourself. One of our clients, a controller at a manufacturing company, told me: "For the first time, I feel like I really have control over my data. I no longer have to wait for IT or external consultants."

The future of financial reporting 

As a controller, you're at a crossroads. You can continue to struggle with manual processes, or you can take the step towards automated reports that free you from repetitive work.

With tools that seamlessly integrate with both Business Central and Excel, you have everything you need to develop into a real data expert within your organization.

Controllers who take this step become more valuable to their organization and have more impact on strategic decisions. You don't just save time, you also deliver better insights.

Want to know more?

Want to learn how you as a controller can build powerful reports without depending on IT? Contact us for a free demo and discover how simple it can be.

PS: Are you attending Directions in Poznan (November 3-6)? Visit us there for a live demonstration and exclusive attendee benefits!

[i] https://fpa-trends.com/article/2024-fpa-trends-survey-results-unveiled