Profile-Design-Files

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Oracle E-Business Suite Real-Time Financial Reporting in Excel Oracle is Complex The underlying data structure of Oracle is complex making it difficult for a user like you to self- sufficiently generate your own reports. Add to the mix Oracle reporting tools that are complicated and require special expertise, and you are now hugely dependent on IT. This situation leads to an inefficient, time-destructive process that’s also manual and error-prone. For any dynamic organization, accurate and fast reports from Oracle data are important. Closing month end, performing ad-hoc analysis, reconciling and other reporting tasks are becoming increasingly difficult. Deadlines get shorter, executives are delayed in making critical decisions, working late becomes the norm, and frustration increases. Finance Requires Excel Finance professionals love Excel. In fact, over 73% use it daily to support their reporting activities. It’s revealing that even the most expensive business intelligence solutions have an “export to Excel” function, yet this constant traversal between Oracle and Excel is time-consuming, cumbersome, and error-prone. But it seems like the only way to get your reports in the format you need. Imagine... Overview Accessibility Real-time E-Business Suite data Build reports with Excel wizards, no IT or SQL knowledge required Leverage existing security settings, logon with Oracle username/password Easy-to-Use Excel interface No reliance on IT Little training needed Rapid user acceptance IT Friendly Access from any PC, no software installed Little IT support needed Low cost of ownership GL Wand is an add-in to Excel that allows for real-time financial reporting. GL Wand Leverages Both Platforms GL Wand is an add-in to Microsoft Excel ® that allows for real-time financial reporting on Oracle E-Business Suite data. It is integrated with Oracle Financials which means that it is possible to download the software, install on the Oracle Apps Server and begin reporting all within a few minutes with no lengthy implementation required. Using GL Wand, an Excel-based reporting solution, makes it easy to obtain, analyze, share, and present essential information when and how you need it so you can wave goodbye to those late nights and weekends at the office. Accessibility Easy-to-Use IT Friendly > How it Works Powerful Drill Downs: Access your balance, journal, subledger/SLA data with the click of a button. Function Wizards: Easily build reports and ad hoc queries with Excel Wizards that link directly to the Oracle General Ledger. Access from any PC with your Oracle username and password www.excel4apps.com/glwand A Quick Win for Finance Teams With easy implementation and minimal support required, GL Wand is a quick win for Finance and helps eliminate time-wasting tools and processes while leveraging Excel to streamline reporting and distribution. GL Wand has been designed to leverage the existing security configuration within your E-Business Suite environment, and wizards make it easy for users to quickly build reports and ad-hoc queries. User Benefits Real-time Oracle finance reporting in Excel Share centralized report templates (see Shared Templates Drive) Live data refreshes and fast reporting Drill down to balances, journals, subledger/ SLA data FSG Converter Integrated into Oracle 11i/R12 Effective replacement for client ADI Intuitive with easy-to-use functions and wizards Mass reporting / distribution (see see Report Distribution Manager) IT Benefits Little IT resources needed to install or maintain High performance architecture Quick, Centralized installation Empower end users / self-service reporting Access fields not available in standard Oracle forms/views Launch from your secure EBS environment and auto access the GL Wand ribbon in Excel Watch a Demo: > Product brochures

Transcript of Profile-Design-Files

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Oracle E-Business Suite

Real-Time Financial Reporting in Excel

Oracle is ComplexThe underlying data structure of Oracle is complex making it difficult for a user like you to self-sufficiently generate your own reports. Add to the mix Oracle reporting tools that are complicated and require special expertise, and you are now hugely dependent on IT. This situation leads to an inefficient, time-destructive process that’s also manual and error-prone.

For any dynamic organization, accurate and fast reports from Oracle data are important. Closing month end, performing ad-hoc analysis, reconciling and other reporting tasks are becoming increasingly difficult. Deadlines get shorter, executives are delayed in making critical decisions, working late becomes the norm, and frustration increases.

Finance Requires ExcelFinance professionals love Excel. In fact, over 73% use it daily to support their reporting activities. It’s revealing that even the most expensive business intelligence solutions have an “export to Excel” function, yet this constant traversal between Oracle and Excel is time-consuming, cumbersome, and error-prone. But it seems like the only way to get your reports in the format you need.

Imagine...

Overview

Accessibility• Real-time E-Business Suite data• Build reports with Excel wizards,

no IT or SQL knowledge required• Leverage existing security settings,

logon with Oracle username/password

Easy-to-Use• Excel interface• No reliance on IT• Little training needed• Rapid user acceptance

IT Friendly • Access from any PC,

no software installed• Little IT support needed• Low cost of ownership

GL Wand is an add-in to Excel

that allows for real-time

financial reporting.

GL Wand Leverages Both PlatformsGL Wand is an add-in to Microsoft Excel® that allows for real-time financial reporting on Oracle E-Business Suite data. It is integrated with Oracle Financials which means that it is possible to download the software, install on the Oracle Apps Server and begin reporting all within a few minutes with no lengthy implementation required.

Using GL Wand, an Excel-based reporting solution, makes it easy to obtain, analyze, share, and present essential information when and how you need it so you can wave goodbye to those late nights and weekends at the office.

Acce

ssib

ility

Easy-to-Use

IT Friendly

>

How it Works

Powerful Drill Downs: Access your balance, journal, subledger/SLA data with the click of a button.

Function Wizards: Easily build reports and ad hoc queries with Excel Wizards that link directly to the Oracle General Ledger.

Access from any PC with your

Oracle username and password

www.excel4apps.com/glwand

A Quick Win for Finance Teams With easy implementation and minimal support required, GL Wand is a quick win for Finance and helps eliminate time-wasting tools and processes while leveraging Excel to streamline reporting and distribution.

GL Wand has been designed to leverage the existing security configuration within your E-Business Suite environment, and wizards make it easy for users to quickly build reports and ad-hoc queries.

User Benefits• Real-time Oracle finance reporting in Excel• Share centralized report templates (see

Shared Templates Drive)• Live data refreshes and fast reporting• Drill down to balances, journals, subledger/

SLA data• FSG Converter• Integrated into Oracle 11i/R12• Effective replacement for client ADI• Intuitive with easy-to-use functions and wizards• Mass reporting / distribution (see see Report

Distribution Manager)

IT Benefits• Little IT resources needed to install or maintain• High performance architecture• Quick, Centralized installation• Empower end users / self-service reporting• Access fields not available in standard

Oracle forms/views• Launch from your secure EBS environment

and auto access the GL Wand ribbon in Excel

Watch a Demo:

>

Product brochures

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Les Entreprises Barrette:• Monthly consolidation report

in 3 minutes with GL Wand vs. 4 hours.

• Retrieving historical data is much easier.

• Running faster simulations.Read more: excel4apps.com/barrette

Goldcorp:• Monthly cost center reports

completed in 50 minutes with refreshable GL Wand Excel reports vs. 1-2 days.

• Monthly capital project capex reports completed in 10 minutes with a GL Wand template vs. 1.5 hours.

• Mine department cell cost report with detailed cost, total cost and cash flow for each cell each month for 14 cells is now possible with GL Wand in 2.5 hours; previously was not feasible.

Read more excel4apps.com/goldcorp

Upsher Smith:• Instead of 8 hours to prepare

cost center spend report and another 8 hours to review it - with GLW, 15 minutes to prepare and then 4 hours to review and analyze.

View video: excel4apps.com/dale

• Highly flexible reporting on multiple combinations of cost objects, out of the box.

• Automate the distribution of Cost Center reports as static snapshots or refreshable, drillable reports.

With Excel4apps, easily create and modify live Excel reports such as:• Monthly run reports by cost center, by cost element for actuals vs.

forecast and budget; showing current month and YTD as well as the full year budget and forecast.

• “By month” info for the current year and next year for the same cost center and cost elements.

• Margin Reports to identify high or low margin segments of your business or products / product categories by using profit centers for revenue, combined with costs flowing from cost centers to enable contribution margin reporting.

• Internal Orders - Quickly report on the costs collected for specific events. - Report on the progress of your assets under construction. - Activity Types report on the amount of planned number of hours

per cost center. - Reveal how many hours were used on a specific cost center.

• Profit Center Reports - Performance at product category, product line and product level. - Combine revenue with costs to enable gross or contribution margin

reporting.

• CO-PA - Immediately view profitability at the customer level – remembering

that 80% of profit often comes from 20% of your customers! - Analyze product profitability associated with various characteristics like

region, which can also be rolled up to different product groups and product categories.

• Project Systems - Determine how much revenue was earned on this project vs cost. - See total cost accumulated over a specific period of time. - View costs accumulated at the various levels of the WBS elements

rolling up to the total project level. - Compare actual to budget to committed costs to determine whether

the project is on target or anticipating cost overruns.

REAL RESULTS

www.excel4apps.com/sap

Excel4apps is a best-in-class provider of Microsoft Excel-based reporting and data-loading software for use with SAP. By empowering business professionals with independent and secure access to real-time ERP data via Microsoft Excel, the company’s products expedite accurate and timely business decisions. Founded in 2005, Excel4apps now serves users in 68+ countries.

Excel4apps enables business users to easily report, analyze, plan and post their SAP data real-time in Excel. Our self-service solutions install quickly and integrate seamlessly with SAP, reducing user reliance on IT resources and streamlining Excel-based processes. We help you get more out of the platforms you already own – Microsoft Excel and SAP.

Uploading Solutions Reporting Solutions

Excel-Based Solutions for SAP

EzyScriptExcel-based Scripting Solution

GLSUFinancials Spreadsheet Uploader

Planning WandExcel planning upload tool GL Wand

FICO Reporting Solution

Reports WandExcel T-Code & Query Reporting Solution

Cost Center Reporting

Real-Time SAP Cost Center Reporting in Excel, with Wands for SAP

Common Challenge: SAP Cost Center Reporting LimitationsCost Center reporting is essential for any business using SAP. However many organizations struggle with the limitations of standard CO

reporting, and the cost and complexity of building custom reports that require ABAP, Security, and Functional consultant resources. Native SAP tools such as Report Painter tend to be too inflexible for the needs of business users, who want to lay out information side by side for deep and detailed analysis.

Companies also need to be able to report on their own specific combinations, i.e., Cost Element – combined with Cost Center/WBS/Internal Order/Profit Center and other fields – to get the information they need. This is difficult to achieve with standard SAP reporting. New, ad hoc reports to analyze costs related to specific questions are required as well. Finance and Accounting often depend on IT staff to repeatedly create, maintain and optimize these complicated reports. But IT may have limited time and expertise for these reporting requests.

Therefore, many organizations turn to manual exporting of SAP CO reports into Excel for user self-service to modify the layouts they need for analysis. But downloading and formatting these SAP reports is often time-consuming and painful.

Finally, companies often need real-time information on their costs and actual/budget variances as cost control becomes ever more important to the bottom line. BOBJ/BW reports are usually run off data that is not current, which can affect the timeliness and impact of decisions.

The Solution: GL Wand and Reports Wand for SAPWith Excel4apps, Finance & Accounting business users can create and maintain real-time Cost Center reports without the need for IT involvement. This enables quicker, deeper analysis in the user tool of

choice – Excel.Major benefits include:• Easily create customized reports that pull live actual & budget data directly

into Excel for immediate analysis. • Use for standard cost center reporting or create your

own customized, detailed reports to meet the unique needs of different cost centers – with only Excel skills required.

• Have a clear picture of costs and the breakdown of costs to understand the details, in Excel, in refreshable drill-able reports.

• Provide meaningful self-service reporting for cost center managers and decision makers.

• Refresh and modify reports with just Excel skills. • Drill from balances to FI or CO documents,

with no programming.

SOLUTION BRIEF

Do you use S_ALR_87013611?S_ALR_87013611 is a key cost center report that business users often prefer to analyze in Excel. With GL Wand for SAP, users can stop exporting and reformatting this report over and over again, and instead use Excel functions to retrieve real-time cost center balances and detail directly into a formatted, refreshable Excel report.

Before & After

Solution Brief Flyers

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House of Blues is located inside the Mandalay Bay HotelDate & Time: Tuesday, April 12th

7:30 -9:30 PM

When you arrive, please present your

Collaborate badge to our representative.

Excel4apps, Magnitude Software and Data Intensity welcome you to a reception on Tuesday evening. Come enjoy complimentary cocktails, appetizers and prize drawings at the uniquely upscale House of Blues.

RO kcCOME

WITH US

COCKTAIL RECEPTION

VIP EVENT PASS

Summerfield Commons Office Park2581 Washington Road, Suite 232Pittsburgh, PA 15241

Summerfield Commons Office Park2581 Washington Road, Suite 232Pittsburgh, PA 15241GIF

T!Lo

ok insid

e

for your

Season’s greetings from Excel4apps! Along with the holidays, we are also celebrating our 10th birthday and wanted to take a moment to thank you for being an important part of our journey, so THANK YOU! Check out some photos and our timeline at excel4apps.com/10years.

To join in the celebration, please use the gift card below to pick up some donuts, coffee or other snacks to enjoy with your team or colleagues. If you post a picture of your donuts (or of you eating them) to the Excel4apps Success Community, you’ll be entered to win an Apple watch. Contest details are at excel4apps.com/donut. We hope you enjoy the treat and the holidays!

Sincerely,

excel4apps.com/donut

D NUTKnow What We’d Do Without You!

We

Chris Meyer President, Americas

Todd Herbay Global Head of Support

Tiffany NewkirkSuccess Community Manager

How it Works By January 7th, take a picture of your treat and post to the Excel4apps Success Community. All pictures will be entered into a random drawing for an Apple Watch.

excel4apps.com/donut

Eat ‘em - Enjoy them, share them, have a party. Do whatever makes you happy.

Eat ‘em2Buy ‘em - Use the gift card to pick up some donuts and coffee for yourself or your colleagues.

Buy ‘em1

Share ‘em - Take a selfie, group selfie, or just a pic of your donut and upload to the Excel4apps Success Community and be entered into a drawing for an Apple Watch.

Questions? Joining our Community is easy and quick. See all the details at excel4apps.com/donut.

Share ‘em3

Cocktail postcard distributed at event to prospects.

Holiday greetings card combined with promoting Community contest.

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How it Works By April 1, 2016 upload a Profile Picture, fill in the About Me section in your profile and post #showyourface to the Excel4apps Success Community. All entries will be entered into a random drawing for an Microsoft Surface.

www.excel4apps.com

• Click Overview tab • Click the pencil to edit your

About Me • Add in your About Me info

and Save All

• Go back to Chatter tab• Click Groups • Select the Community Group

• Post using #showyourface and Share *Note, when Tiffany Newkirk “Likes” your post, you know you’re done and entered! * Already have a picture and About Me profile? Simply Post to Chatter with the topic #showyourface to be included in the contest!

• Go to the Chatter tab • Click on your name • Click to Add Photo • Choose photo to upload,

click Save

step

1

step

2

step

3

We’re on a mission to replace all the blue faces in the Excel4apps Success Community with the friendly faces of our awesome users! This month, we’re encouraging everyone to participate in a Getting to Know You initiative with a chance to win a “Microsoft Surface”!

Why Participate?We’re working hard to help build our Success Community into a helpful networking tool for you! By sharing information about your job function or geographic location, you can connect with others who can best support your unique questions. It also makes it a lot more fun to know who we (and you) are talking to. If you find someone that is a good networking fit, you can always choose to “Follow” that person and receive updates when they post or ask questions so that you can stay in the loop.

What You Need to DoIt’s pretty simple actually, we just want you to upload a Profile Picture and fill in the About Me section of your User Profile in the Success Community, then let us know that you did it. It should only take about 5 -10 minutes! Instructions are on the next page.

1. Upload a Profile Picture. It doesn’t need to be a formal headshot, we want to see the real you!

2. Complete the About Me in your User Profile, share a bit about: • Your Job: include your Title, Job Function, day-to-day responsibilities,

what are you currently working on? Where are you located? (State, City) • Your Implementation: Which Excel4apps products do you use? How

long have you been using Excel4apps products? • Yourself: What’s a fun fact about you or a hobby outside of work? What

do you like to do for fun? You’re encouraged to include a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile if you have one!

3. Post in Chatter #showyourface

Excel4apps employees will be participating as well so that while we can get to know you, you can get to know us, too! (Don’t worry, we’re not eligible for the prize!)

Contest Details Dates: Contest starts on Friday March 11, 2016 and ends Friday April 1, 2016 at 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time - US. Entries: Follow the steps on the next page 1.) upload a profile picture, 2.) fill in the About Me section of your profile and 3.) make a post in Chatter using the hashtag #showyourface to be entered in the contest. Winner: One (1) Winner will be notified by Monday, April 4, 2016 via the email used for your Community profile to coordinate receipt of Microsoft Surface prize. Winner will be selected by random drawing of all qualifying participants during the contest dates. (Note: If Tiffany Newkirk “Likes” your Chatter post, you’re entered!)

Follow the step-by-step instructions on the next page!

CommunityHey, why the blue face?

Meet the

#showyourface

blue face

1.

2.

3.

Community Contest Flyer

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FULL NAME

EMAIL ADDRESS

COMPANY NAME

TITLE

Date & Time: Tuesday, October 27th 6:00 - 8:00 PM FANG

660 Howard StreetSan Francisco, CA 94105(415) 777-8568

Please

Bring

Completed Card

or Wear Y

our

Oracle OpenW

orld Ba

dge

Excel4apps, Magnitude Software and More4apps welcome you to a reception on Tuesday evening. Come enjoy complimentary cocktails, appetizers and great company at Fang Restaurant,

just a quick walk from the Moscone West Convention Center.

Cocktail postcard given to propects at the event, scheduled email sent to exiting customers before the event.

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Logo designs for regional events.

STRATEGY

FORGROWTH

South Africa 2016

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a bunch of individuals that would stand out in a crowd

Shirley Riddic

k, Managing Director Middle East & Africa

against anybody else.”“We are a group of people that go above and beyond. We’re

Looking for a new company to run with?

Check out excel4apps culture atexcel4apps.com/aboutus

At Excel4apps, we’re on a mission to eliminate inefficient processes by providing

phenomenal Excel-based software solutions. Our Pittsburgh team is

moving into an awesome new office and looking for passionate individuals to join our team. Check out our current career opportunities online and see how we put the “fun” in work hard have fun.

Work ard ave Fun

PITTSBURGHMARA HON 6120

Work Hard Have Fun@excel4apps

Pittsburg Marathon Company T-Shirt and recruiting card distributed at event tent.

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A Day in the Life of a GL Wand User

Make a coffee and sort through emails.

Run your live TB report in Excel and make sure everything is booked

and completed.

Complete your monthly account reconciliations

easily with GL Wand.Open last month’s financial package in Excel, change

period and refresh the entire workbook with one click.

Creating an ad hoc report for an associate in a matter of 5 minutes with GL Wand.

You save the day!

Analyze the new numbers. Yes, you actually have

time to analyze the data.

Use RDM to easily distribute your financial package to the team and also send to the printer for binding

and internal distribution.

Home time. With GL Wand it’s possible to leave the office by 5 during close .

WHAT IS GL WAND?

Lunch time. Yes, you actually get to take lunch.

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GL Wand is an award-winning, Excel-based reporting solution for E-Business Suite. Discover how users in 68 countries are leveraging the power of Excel for real-time, self-service reporting. Learn more and watch a short demo at go.excel4apps.com/profit-glw.

Running....

“GL Wand has helped drive at least 4-5 days out of our monthly closing process ...”

@ month end

Rodney Tillinghast Corporate Controller Taconic

EXCEL4APPS REPORT FEATURING GARTNER RESEARCH:

Using Financial Analytic Applications to Build an Accessible Enterprise Reporting Infrastructure

Complex underlying data structures in ERP systems make it difficult for users to be self-sufficient and empowered to generate their own content and reports, and standard reporting tools from ERP vendors have also proven complex, requiring special expertise.

3 Years in a RowExcel4apps has been listed again in Gartner’s

latest IT Market Clock for Financial Management Applications1 report as a sample vendor for

Financial Analytical Applications.

Learn how using Financial Analytic Applications can help you build an accessible enterprise reporting infrastructure and how these types of solutions hide complex underlying data models and support self-service analytics in ERP environments like Oracle.

1Gartner Report, “IT Market Clock for Financial Applications, 2014,” Nigel Raynor, August 26, 2014 © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Download Your Complimentary Report: go.excel4apps.com/profit-gartner

Ads for print publications

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Take a fresh look at your data by integrating Excel directly with your Oracle E-Business Suite environment.

Dive Into Real-Time Subledger Reporting

go.excel4apps.com/profit16

Excel4apps recognized in Gartner report: Download now at go.excel4apps.com/profit_gartner

Free up IT resources through self-service reporting

Access a library with pre-built content

Download Gartner report to learn how Fortune 500 Companies have benefited

excel4apps.com/collaborate16 | Booth 1123

Panel Chat Tuesday, April 12th 9:15 – 10:15 AM, Islander E

E-Business Suite + Excel: How Brinks and Arrow are Mastering Financial Reporting Frustrated by losing Client ADI or Discoverer? Looking to report on E-Business Suite data in real time? Listen to real users from Brinks and Arrow in an interactive panel discussion on how they are improving and streamlining theirOracleE-BusinessSuite11iandR12financialreportingby connecting Excel directly to Oracle. You’ll also get ideas on how you can complement your existing data warehouse or business intelligence strategy with a user-friendly tool.

• Hear anecdotes from real customers on their prior reporting processes and challenges

•BenefitsofintegratingExcelandOracleincluding live data refreshes and drilldown to subledger

•Seefirst-handhowExcel-basedreportingworks in a live environment

Case StudyWed. April 13th | 9:15 – 10:15 AM, Islander D

E-Business Suite + Excel = Best-in-Breed Operational Reporting for Merichem Frustrated with your current reporting toolset in E-Business Suite? Seeking a replacement for Oracle Discoverer? Hear from Merichem and how they are leveraging Reports Wand with NoetixViews, a simple, but powerful means to deploy operational reporting in Excel to deliver business information to users without a dependency on IT staff for setup and deployment. Reports Wand solution gives themtheflexibilityofanExcelfrontendthatconnects to real-time E-Business Suite subledger data.

• Empower users with an ad hoc query and analysis tool for all E-Business Suite modules

• Develop highly customizable reports in Excel and refresh real-time data

• Drill to further detail or extend existing GL Wand drill downs

E-Business Suite

@Excel4apps Events

Collaborate16A Refreshing Change: See our Solutions in ActionApril 11-13th | Booth #1123Stop by the Excel4apps booth to see a live demonstration of our Excel-based reporting and uploading solutions and how they are effective replacements for tools like Client or Web ADI, FSGs, and Oracle Discoverer.

Coupon Book Promotion – Win a Pair of Beats HeadsetsApril 11-13th | Booth #1123Bring your completed Excel4apps coupon to our booth for a chance to win a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre headsets.

Solution Spotlights Tues. April 12th | 1:45 – 2:15 PM | Exhibit Hall Booth 1501

R12 Upgrade Challenges: What To Do About E-Business Suite Reporting? •HowExcel4appsisfillingthegapsleft

with loss of Client ADI in R12 environment •BenefitsofleveragingExceland

Oracle including live data refreshes and drilldown to subledger

•Seefirst-handhowExcel-based reporting works

Wed. April 13th | 1:00 – 1:30 PM | Exhibit Hall Booth 1501

Reports Wand for E-Business Suite — More Than Just a Discoverer Replacement • Reports Wand with NoetixViews: a simple

but powerful means to deploy real-time operational reporting in Excel

• Empower users with an ad hoc query and analysis tool for all E-Business Suite modules

Event collateral for Collaborate 2016. Above: print ad, right: session card, below: logo

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Collaborate 2016 Landing Page

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You Love Excel…but Hate the Risks

Finance teams are often equipped with Business Intelligence (BI) solutions and ERP reporting tools, yet they rely on Microsoft Excel for reporting and analysis due to its ease of use and flexibility. However, everyone is aware of the inherent risks associated with standalone spreadsheets and managing static data within them. So, is there a way to remove these risks while still leveraging the power of Excel?

Who Will Benefit from This eBook?

Senior finance teams of organisations using Oracle E-Business Suite or SAP.

Now There’s a Simple Way to Minimize Them

eBook

With more than 750 million users around the globe, Microsoft Excel is the undisputed tool of choice for presenting and analysing data. First launched in 1985, it’s used by bankers, accountants, analysts, managers and others for budget planning, data analysis, financial reporting, accounting, managing data records and, ultimately, decision making. Users rely heavily on Excel and are highly skilled in its uses and functionality. There are very few software applications that can boast over 30 years of enhancements by one of the largest and most skilled development teams in the world.

Why this love affair with Excel? Because there’s no better way to manipulate and view financial information than in the columns and rows of a spreadsheet.

Today, Excel is regularly used as a programme into which users can export, cut and paste, or even manually re-key data from a company’s ERP system. Once in Excel the data can be used to create the reports they need, how and when they need them.

Why Accountants & Finance Professionals LOVE Excel

Features That Make Spreadsheets Indispensable

• Finance professionals are highly experienced and very comfortable working with spreadsheets

• They’re flexible and easy to use

• They provide real-time answers/results

• They can be configured to the unique requirements of the user

• They’re accessible to any user as part of the ubiquitous Microsoft Office suite

• They support the download and analysis of data from core systems

As much as we value Excel, using it to store volumes of data from an ERP system introduces a significant level of risk. In fact, every time data is taken from the core system into Excel it becomes a potential liability. But this is exactly how Excel is being used, due to limitations inherent in native ERP reporting environments.

So, despite the ease of use for the people using Excel, it creates an audit risk. That risk can be costly to both your balance sheet and your reputation. That’s why many auditors, when they see Excel spreadsheets being used to capture and analyse data, will recommend you find a more effective way of managing spreadsheets and/or the process that is associated with them.

The counter balance here is that by removing a core tool, such as Excel from a Finance department, an organisation has to go through significant change management and training. All of this needs to be done while the company continues to run ‘business-as-usual.’ Downtime or missed deadlines as teams are retrained is not an option. So can organisations achieve the best of both worlds?

Did You Know?More than 90% of spreadsheets contain serious errors…yet more than 90% of users believe theirs are error-free. This kind of complacency can be very costly to a company1.The Very Real

Risks of Using Excel Research Says…

Here are some documented cases of spreadsheet errors and their consequences, from a report by the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group (EuSpRIG), an organisation whose sole purpose is to promote research regarding the extent and nature of spreadsheet risks and the problems they cause2:

• $11 million severance error at Kodak due to a faulty spreadsheet

• Credit Swiss fined £5.6M by the FSA for over-reliance on large spreadsheets and lack of transparency

• Spreadsheet error: Norwegian Central Bank publishes incorrect interest rate prediction, giving people totally wrong impression about upcoming interest rates

• Fidelity Magellan Fund overestimates dividend by $2.6 billion due to error transcribing into spreadsheet, causing promised dividend distribution not to take place

• €4.3 million spreadsheet error leads to resignation of Chief Executive at Mouchel

UKE Love Excel EBook (8 pages)

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THE KEYSTONE IS LOCATED MINUTES FROM MOSCONE CENTER

Date & Time: Tuesday, Sept 20th 6:00 -8:00 PM

When you arrive, please present your

OpenWorld badge to our representative.

68 4th StreetSan Francisco, CA 94103(415) 777-1200

Excel4apps, Magnitude Software and AXIA Consulting welcome you to a reception on Tuesday evening. Come enjoy complimentary cocktails, appetizers and a

chance to win an iPad and other door prizes at The Keystone.

C O C K T A I L S A N D C OM PA N Y

P L E A S E J O I N U S A T T H E

F O R

OpenWorld 2016 t-shirt and cocktail card.

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> Your Mission: Find a Replacement for Oracle Discoverer.

Fear of the UnknownAs an Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) user, data access is about to get a bit more difficult now that the company has phased out the Oracle Discoverer product. If you are like the many organizations with hundreds or thousands of Discoverer reports, it’s overwhelming to think of switching to another ERP reporting tool. How can you re-develop the reports created over the years? Will the transition deliver as promised? What if there’s a steep user learning curve? How much IT effort and implementation time will a new tool require?

You need a reporting tool that is easy to implement and use. The majority of enterprise software reporting user interfaces were built for IT or those with expert skillsets. These interfaces create additional workload for IT when a new report or change is required and do not provide an easy way to drill down into information often making it difficult to understand the data.

IT Friendly OptionsThis has put many looking for an alternative rather than sticking with an unsupported ERP reporting tool. Oracle recommended that their E-Business Suite customers replace their Discoverer implementation by migrating to Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite by June 2015, but there are other options available to you. TIM

E IS R

UNNING OUT

FOR

DISC

OVERER REPLACEMENT

Companies who rely on Discoverer are now scrambling to decide how they can effectively fulfil reporting needs. In actuality, three options exist:

> Your Options

The Impact of Discoverer Ending:

• Premium support ended in 2015 and extended support ends June 2017

• No new releases are planned• Any new bugs found will not be addressed

by Oracle Development• Will not be certified to work on any new

products released (including but not limited to) the Operating System, Web Browser, and Oracle Database, etc.

Fear of the unknown has left many companies afraid to implement a new reporting tool, yet the risk of staying with Discoverer is becoming increasingly high. Although doing so would require the least amount of cost and effort, Oracle won’t be there to assist if you encounter a problem. This might cause your organization to avoid upgrading its ERP for fear

of Discoverer breaking without a replacement in hand. IT skills are another concern. Because Discoverer has been non-strategic since 2006, it’s a challenge for IT to successfully write reports. Even finding the resources with the right technical knowledge to do so is difficult and sometimes results in an unhealthy dependency on a single expert.

Stick with Oracle Discoverer

Migrate to Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)

Explore user- and cost-friendly next-generation reporting alternatives

Simply do nothing: Continue to stay with unsupported Discoverer1

2

3

• Riskiest option• Least amount of effort and cost• Oracle will no longer provides

assistance • No longer able to use Oracle

Support for any issues

1Option

Oracle Discoverer

Next Generation of Reporting

Hello Goodbye

Companies who rely on Discoverer are nowscrambling to decide how they can effectivelyfulfill their reporting needs. Fear of the unknownhas left many companies afraid to implementa new reporting tool, yet the risk of staying withDiscoverer is becoming increasingly high. WithExtended Support ending in June 2017, time isrunning out to find a replacement.

8 Page mini calendar brochure distributed at events.