72% of organizations surveyed by the Institute of Management & Administration stated that expanding and enhancing reporting to management was their biggest challenge. Accenture, a global management organization, found that over 60% of surveyed companies desired a better, and more integrated, approach to accessing and analyzing data to achieve a true competitive differentiation. Chances are your company’s management would probably respond similarly to these surveys. So, let’s explore two reporting tools you currently have at your fingertips that can help you better manage your business and get ahead of the competition – FRx Financial Reporter and Crystal Reports.

FINANCIAL REPORTING WITH FRX DESKTOP

We often discover that our clients are not taking full advantage of the features of FRx or even worse, not using it at all. This powerful financial reporting and analysis application is included as part of your Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 accounting software and seamlessly interfaces with your general ledger module. FRx Desktop is an easy-to-use, spreadsheet-like financial reporting tool that will expand your company’s financial report flexibility and improve financial projections, what-if scenarios and trend analyses.

The Building Blocks of FRx

The FRx Desktop software embedded in your MAS 90 or MAS 200 system has three main components. Row formats allow you to select specific general ledger accounts (or a range of accounts) for reporting. Column formats establish the type of financial information to be reported for selected fiscal periods, such as historical and current or actual vs. budget. You can even display unposted transactions for provisional reporting. Columns can be relative to one another so that when you select a time period for reporting in your first column, all related columns automatically update. For example, let’s say you’ve developed a trend report to show account balances over the past 4 quarters. Simply change the reporting date in your base column and the other column values and headings will automatically be updated to reflect the other 3 quarters. Finally, combine Row and Column formats with reporting trees that can be customized to align your chart of accounts structure to your organization’s hierarchy. For instance, one reporting tree might reflect departmental details while another tree displays the same account details, but at a regional level. Row and column formats can be mixed and matched with reporting trees to create a “3 dimensional” report structure, offering extreme financial reporting flexibility.

Beyond The Basics

Excel spreadsheet data, such as statistical information, can be linked into FRx, providing even more reporting power. Let’s say, for instance, you maintain departmental square footage statistics in a spreadsheet. Using an FRx column format, the report can be set up to retrieve the Excel data and automatically report departmental expense amounts allocated by square foot. And with a variety of formatting options at your fingertips, you have complete control over how your reports look and how the data is organized which results in “presentation style” reporting.

FRx functionality doesn’t stop there. Conduct powerful “what-if” analysis using the “Cleaver” tool to restructure cost centers or even add new account segments. For example, how would things look if your reorganized a department or sold-off a division? Use the Cleaver tool to find out … a task that would be nearly impossible using your general ledger (without destroying your chart of accounts!).

Using the DrillDown Viewer, managers and others can use this handy tool to receive and review reports as well as drill-down to underlying source transactions. The DrillDown Viewer can be used on an office PC or securely run over the Web, when out of the office. DrillDown Viewer is a fantastic alternative to purchasing and installing the full FRx Desktop software for users who only need to review and analyze reports and not necessarily build them or modify the report structure.

Finally, you can use the FRx Report Server to schedule all your reports to run during off-peak hours, resulting in minimal impact on your server resources and maximum productivity for your staff. If you need to distribute a group of reports as one comprehensive report book, then the FRx Report Manager is for you. Include both FRx and non-FRx reports into a report book and distribute it via e-mail, hard copy or over the Web through secure access. For maximum benefit, report books can be scheduled to run and distribute automatically to a pre-determined list of recipients.

It’s All About Leverage

Fully leveraging the FRx reporting tool that’s already available to you will result in tremendous benefit. Hard cost savings can include reducing paper and printing costs and possibly eliminating the need for new servers, as report generation and distribution can occur electronically to anyone and anywhere. Soft cost savings involve reallocating time saved to focus on other critical tasks. Decision makers receive information sooner and the data in the reports is better organized and more meaningful. New general ledger accounts added in MAS 90 or MAS 200 are automatically included in your FRx reports, thereby reducing time spent to resolve out-of-balance issues and reconciling accounts. Lastly, the efficiencies gained through FRx typically result in significantly quicker period-end closes.

While FRx solves the problem of thoroughly analyzing and reviewing financial data, there is also an abundance of nonfinancial information residing in other MAS 90 or MAS 200 modules that is worthy of your attention. Examples include inventory data, customer account information, and so on. The standard reports delivered “out of the box” might not provide all the detailed information you desire. Crystal Reports is the perfect management information tool for gathering and reporting this non-financial, yet equally important, operational data.

Flexibility For Your “Viewing” Pleasure

Once again, Crystal Reports is embedded in your MAS 90 or MAS 200 system, waiting for you to unleash its power. Since Crystal uses ODBC (open database connectivity) to access your system, you can connect to just about any other database, even combining multiple databases into the same report. This is perfect for companies running custom software or an industry-specific application and want to combine that data with your MAS 90 or MAS 200 system into a single report. Crystal also delivers report design flexibility and presentation-quality layout options, not to mention its ability to vividly display graphs and charts.

Sage MAS 90/200 already includes several Crystal report templates that span various modules including Payables, Receivables, Inventory Management, Job Cost, Purchase Order, Sales Order and more. If you’re not totally satisfied with these report templates, we can very easily and quickly modify them (or create entirely new reports) to fit your business like a glove!