Proper planning is essential for the creation of financial reports in your Infor CloudSuite implementation. In this blog post, we discuss four tips for planning for the development of your financial statements.
Four Tips for Planning Your Infor CloudSuite Financial Statements
Tip # 1: Analyze Your Organization’s Reporting Needs
To take full advantage of your Infor CloudSuite reporting capabilities, it is essential to do an analysis of your reporting requirements. Ideally, this analysis process should happen at the beginning of an Infor CloudSuite implementation. In this way, reporting structures and dimensions can be configured in your Infor CloudSuite Global Ledger application to support the organization’s reporting needs.
Tip # 2: Use a Report Specification Template
A report specification template is an invaluable tool that can be used to gather the reporting requirements. By using a template, you can capture essential components needed to create and implement your Infor CloudSuite financial statements.
The specification document typically answers the following key questions:
- Whose data will be included in the financial statement?
For example, an organization may wish to create a consolidated income statement across the entire organization as well as departmental income statements. The organizational entity(s) and accounting units should be specified in the report specification document.
- What column and information will be displayed in the financial statement?
Typically, this step includes specifying what information is represented in the columns and rows of the report. The general ledger accounts, reporting time periods, and other reporting dimensions should be specified in the report specification document. A mock-up of the financial report is a helpful tool for visualizing the desired report output.
- When is the financial statement needed?
Typically, preliminary financial statements may be generated as part of the month-end closing process. A final version of the financial statement is typically generated after all transactions have been processed and a final review of the financial statement has been completed. The time frame for generating the report should be specified in the report specification.
- How will the financial statement be received by the recipients?
For example, in many organizations, financial statements are accessible through a business intelligence dashboard. One benefit of this approach is that it provides easier drill down capability into underlying transaction reports and application data. Organizations can also choose to deliver financial reports by email to users who do not typically log into the business intelligence system. The report delivery method should be included in the report specification.
- What security requirements are needed for the financial statement?
For example, an organization may choose to enable security so that departmental managers can only view the data for their departments only to maintain confidentiality. The report security requirements should be included in the report specification.
Tip # 3: Identify a Robust Reporting Tool
It is important to identify a reporting tool that will have robust reporting capabilities. Birst is one example of a reporting tool that that can support reporting features such as dashboard integration, drill down capabilities to underlying reporting details, email capabilities, and the ability to export to other applications such as Excel and PDF files.
Tip # 4: Create a Financial Statement Implementation Plan
It is important to create an implementation plan for your Infor CloudSuite financial statements to ensure that your financial statements will have complete and accurate information. In the plan, you will want to include a breakdown of tasks needed to create the financial statement. This will provide the ability to clearly track the progress of the report building activities.
Your plan should include the following:
- Report Development Tasks
Identifying the report development tasks will help you map out who, what, and when things are needed for the development of the reports. The implementation plan should include financial statement data preparation tasks, the actual report development tasks, the person(s) responsible for completing the tasks, and the expected completion dates for the tasks.
- Report Testing Tasks
Identifying the tasks needed to fully test financial statements is crucial for ensuring that the information in the reports is reliable for end users. The report testing tasks should include who will be doing the testing, how the testers will verify the report, and other essential planning topics.
- Report Enablement Tasks
Identifying the report enablement tasks will help ensure an easier adoption of reports for end users. In the implementation plan, you will want to include the tasks needed to enable the financial statements for use in your organization’s production environment. The tasks should include the report deployment activities, and training activities for end users of the reports.
With proper planning, your organization can take full advantage of your Infor CloudSuite financial reporting capabilities and allow your users to fully reap the benefits of their beautiful new reports.
Does your organization need assistance with financial reporting? We’ve got you covered. We can create and configure a high-quality report for your organization. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
