Antonio ElinonCaratrel Consultants Pty Ltd

AgendaEnterprise Architecture (EA) to Business

Intelligence (BI) to Accounting Intelligence (AI)

Accounting Intelligence versus Business Intelligence

Why Datamart4ExcelQuestions/BreakDatamart4Excel Demonstration

Is Business Intelligence Part of Enterprise Architecture?Enterprise Architecture considers all systems

that leverage the resources of EABI, ERP, end-users, and accountants all

interconnect through their usage of enterprise data

Without architectural planning, these interconnections could easily fail – reflecting as a failure of EA itself

There are ways to architecturally plan the interconnection between BI, accountants, and enterprise data

Business Intelligence is HereHas been around since DSS (decision support

systems) and MIS (management information systems)

Commonly used for competitive intelligenceUses data gathered from a data warehouse or

a data mart via ETL (extract-transform-load)ETL cost is typically 75%-80% of BI

development

What is Accounting IntelligenceA specialist form of business intelligenceThe general name for the set of technologies

used to extract, analyse and present information from accounting and ERP applications

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_intelligence

Accounting Intelligence vs Business IntelligenceAI - specifically designed to analyse data from

specific ERP systemsBI - more general tool that can be applied to

any application that uses a database

Accounting Intelligence vs Business IntelligenceAI - no staggering of data in a data

warehouse or OLAP cubeAI - extracted directly from the ERP at the

time that a query is run (real-time)BI - typically involves a batch process to

extract data from live source, and stored as denormalised via ETL (extract-transform-load)

Accounting Intelligence vs Business IntelligenceAI – leverages the structure of the chart of

accountsAI - dimension structures can be

automatically created based on business unit hierarchies or any part of account code as stored in COA

Accounting Intelligence vs Business IntelligenceAI – query means information returned is up

to the second real time dataAI - accounts can be corrected and a fresh

trial balance viewed immediatelyAI – uses aggregation in accounting systems

performed by the ERP when new journal entries are posted (no need for cube rebuild)

Accounting Intelligence vs Business IntelligenceAI – no ETL therefore much simpler to install,

implement and maintainAI - inquiries and reports typically created by

end users rather than software developers

Accounting Intelligence vs Business IntelligenceAI - no need to separately audit both the

accounts themselves and separate data warehouse and ETL process

AI – compliance easier for many companies – SOX, IFRS

Advantages of AIEnsures that an enterprise resource planning

(ERP) system is the single source of all operational reporting and analysis

Can be relied upon to give accurate and secure information

Out of the box solution, much quicker to implement than BI

Advantages of AINo data warehouse, no staged data to auditData returned in real time Data is not a snapshot of yesterday or last

month

Some Disadvantages of AIApplied only to specific ERP systems, such as

JDE, Oracle E-Business and SAPCannot integrate data from outside the ERP

system

Datamart4Excel does not have these disadvantages!

Why Datamart4ExcelThe Problem of the AccountantImplications of the ProblemThe Solution

The Problem of the AccountantUnder-powered data analysis capabilities in

tool of choiceExcel versus web-based solutionProliferation of tools for accountantsLocking proprietary objects

(formulas/buttons) in spreadsheetsDifficult to transport and reuse reportsExtending work flow process

Implications of the ProblemUnable to use the full potential of ExcelExcel and non-Excel toolsetsProliferation of Excel objects with proprietary

linksROI on ERP spendDecrease in productivityImpact on functional work and ability to

guide the business

The D4E SolutionEnd-user tool that uses only options and

menus already in ExcelProviding data mart capabilities with

unlimited filtering and unlimited combinations for data retrieval

Workflow process unchanged

The D4E SolutionSimplify access to data sourcesProvide easy-to-use but powerful parameter

promptsTranslate Excel actions to SQL commands to

access data

Questions/Break

DEMONSTRATION

List of GL Transactions - Menu

List of GL Transactions – Parameter Prompts

List of GL Transactions - Results

Get GL Balances – Parameter Prompts

Get GL Balances – Results

Get GL Transactions with selected columns

Get GL Transactions with selected columns for Pivot reporting

Pivot Report of GL Transactions

Get GL Balances using Macro Script

Refresh User-Written Report

Refresh User-Written Reports via Script – multiple reports

SummaryFull Data Mart capability for Accounting

IntelligenceFull use of Excel – high fidelity formatting

possibleReports and spreadsheets are transportable

with no proprietary formulasOnly tool used is ExcelCan be used to generate countless reports

simultaneously

Questions