Focus on the inputs Extracting valuable BI from an accounting system is almost impossible if the captured data is flat. I have had the privileged to work with hundreds of companies financial data over the last 20 years. I can honestly say that you get out what you put in. That may sounds like a simple concept, but as SME businesses we often forget this. We expect amazing reports (outputs), but we are not willing to structure our business and data capturing in a way that enables us to extract valuable BI. To compensate for this SME's often use the time of expensive resources to create BI in spreadsheets. Various sources of data is exported, collated, Excel formulas are created, reports are coloured, headings are put in and sometimes Macros are recorded. And voila there's your report. Although I respect the knowledge and effort needed to follow this approach, there is an easier way. "Focus on your inputs." In other words structure your business and processes in such a way that captured data is rich. If the inputs are of high quality and you have a good accounting system, you automatically have good outputs. It's like cooking. Focus on the ingredients (inputs) and oven (system) and the food (output) will be great.
