Replacing Management Reporter: What Financial Pros Need from Dynamics 365 Business Central

This article is sponsored by FYIsoft.

ERP modernization brings change to an organization and to individual employees. For financial professionals, a new ERP can create disruptions and undue stress if it interrupts their ability to create and distribute reports. 

At Andretti Indoor Karting & Games, an entertainment company with multiple customer locations, the move from Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central was going to also include a move away from their tried-and-true financial reporting tool, Management Reporter. Instead, they planned to use a new package recommended by their Microsoft partner. 

But when it came time for the finance team to try out the new reporting tools, they struggled. 

“From an environment of being with Management Reporter and trying to move over to the system that they were putting us on, it was very difficult,” recalled CFO Tammy Koehler in a recent presentation. “We were not able to create reports or update the reports that they actually created for us.”

Faced with this unexpected risk, Koehler knew her team needed another option. They needed to fulfill their duties to the organization while embracing their modern, cloud-based ERP solution.

Reporting that works for financial professionals

Finance teams understand their duties to the organization. At the top of that list is closing the books and delivering financial statements. Those reports must be turned around quickly, and they must be accurate.

Report authoring interfaces and processes can vary widely between software packages. When finance professionals have expertise in one reporting tool, learning a new tool has the potential to require significant re-training. If the finance team is not fully trained when the new ERP goes live, it can impact their ability to deliver on mission-critical finance tasks. 

For users of Microsoft’s Management Reporter, there are some key capabilities that a new reporting package should support to minimize risk and improve user adoption:

• Software that makes it easy for finance teams to create and edit reports, without burdening IT staff and resources 
• A report design structure focused on rows, columns, and organizations to avoid disruptive learning curves and maximize report flexibility 
• Migration tools that can use settings in Management Reporter as the starting point so reports do not have to be re-created from scratch

Addressing core needs 

Migrating legacy financial reporting to a new ERP environment is not enough for most organizations. As part of an ERP project, the finance team should expect to deliver a new level of performance with a modern financial reporting package. In addition to minimizing disruption and maximizing user adoption, consider the possibilities of further efficiency and automation that a new financial reporting system could deliver.

Multi-Company Consolidation & Reporting

Organizations need one system that can bring in disparate data from many departments, different companies, different Charts of Accounts, or even different ledger systems. The technology – rather than the finance team – would consolidate the information and create standardized reporting format. 

Automated Report Distribution 

Complex report distribution structures necessitate the ability to create and deliver any number of report variations quickly and accurately. Modern technology should enable finance teams to effortlessly generate all their reports - for every individual entity, consolidated rollup, and every level of management - in minutes, and without the risk of manual errors.

Suited to end user needs

Users receiving distributed reports need the right kind of drill-down capabilities. At a minimum they will need to view and analyze their reports without bothering finance with questions like “what’s in this line item?”.

Stakeholders also have different preferences for report formats, so finance teams need the ability to accommodate. Reporting software should have the flexibility to auto-format for individual needs or set up delivery in the preferred format like a secure online view, PDF, or XLS. Excel users expect a neat, formatted export already parsed into useful tabs rather than one huge spreadsheet.

Above all, report authors and users must find the tools easy to learn and use. 

A successful transition

For organizations parting ways with Management Reporter as part of an ERP replacement, a new reporting application with strong alignment and an understanding of legacy reports gives the users an advantage from day one. They should have tools to convert report rows and organization details to get their full hierarchy of chart of accounts. And they should be able to immediately add new features that take reporting into the modern era like advanced distribution, collaboration, and analysis. 

As Tammy Koehler of Andretti Indoor Karting & Games explained, finding the right solution for her team, ReportFYI from FYIsoft, solved their problems. 

“We were able to transition and get all our reports up and running within probably 30 days, which was phenomenal,” she told the audience.

When looking for your new financial reporting solution, consider the learning curve for your team, the effort to re-create your reports, how you will manage existing reporting data, and new features that will bring greater efficiencies as your company grows.