ERP software is a multifaceted product that can house a vast amount of information and give manufacturers the opportunity to make better informed decisions for their companies. However, one of the challenges many manufacturers face on what seems to be a daily basis is making sense of all the data that is in their systems.
It is important for a manufacturer to be able to take front office financial information and fashion it into something meaningful to their company and goals, but the challenge lies in how to organize and display that valuable business data. At IQMS, we offer a large array of financial reports to solve this issue, including existing reports that pull just the information the customer is looking for, and custom reports that are dependent upon a user’s specific situation that may not apply to other manufacturers.
IQMS' Financial Reporting module allows for templates (such as income statements and balance sheets) to be easily created for quick organization and display of your information. Multiple templates can be created based on the user’s needs for added functionality within the system. The template creation process is as straightforward as creating a name for the template and adding the appropriate account types to be included in the report. A report file name is created and indicates which template the system will use when the report is selected to print. The default headers and footers of the report are assigned by the quick click of a speed button.
The system also accommodates the creation of templates for division-specific reporting. The user can accomplish this by adding the accounts specific to the division into the template. It is recommended to create a simple naming convention when creating templates of the same type. For example, your Texas division-specific template for an income statement can be named “Income Statement-TEXAS.” This will allow for ease of use when printing the reports.
As a software support specialist in IQMS' accounting department, there are many instances where the question is asked: “Do you have a report that does this?” followed by a description of their need. It’s our job to assist the customer with finding this report, point out helpful features such as Report Catalogs that can aid in locating the right report in the future and suggest best practices when setting up financial report templates.
Because the IQMS report database is so large, a report usually already exists regarding the information the customer is looking for, but there are times when custom reports are necessary. When that situation occurs, we work with our customers to help them create what they need. The ability to go the extra mile for our customers in this situation allows our system to be that much more useful and beneficial to them.
While reporting challenges do exist for manufacturers, the IQMS system has a way of making these challenges melt away for our customers with its ease of use and the vast functionality it provides.
This guest blog post was written by IQMS Software Support Specialist - Accounting, Tambra Cook.
