Why data matters to the financial professional using Microsoft Dynamics GP

Given the interest (and hype) around Big Data, every organization has contemplated how and why data is so important to their business. Data is no longer just the concern of the IT team; it impacts the roles and responsibilities of nearly everyone throughout the business.

Perhaps no one is more aware of the critical impact data has on the business than finance and accounting professionals. Microsoft Dynamics GP customers use their application on a daily basis to help their organizations make major business decisions. Their handiwork helps the business make tactical and strategic decisions: Do we buy that company? Do we infuse additional dollars into a professional development budget? Do we restrict travel for Q4?

But getting the answers to those questions is often a real challenge. These individuals need the ability to slice and dice data any which way within their Dynamics GP environment because not every question can be easily answered with one forecast or one query.

For example, every CFO needs a high-level budget versus actuals. For financial professionals the process can be a bit of a round robin to bring high level planning information into the Dynamics GP system, build a budget in Excel, and then return the data back into GP to get their "budget card".  This tedious process often happens every month as budgets are reforecast which means financial professionals are often left with 12 versions (one per month) of the same budget. 

Streamlining the process and adding more data manipulation tools helps financial professionals to view the information in more meaningful ways. Ideally, this kind of analysis should be done in budgeting software separate from Dynamics GP. Therefore, when the monthly analysis is performed, the budget can be adjusted. And, more importantly, the ...