by John McGrann

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter
 
In any company there are two primary aspects to reporting: the definition and the technology.

The definition refers to reports required by customers, usually residing under the direction of the business managers. For example, Finance teams define what reporting is required to meet statutory and regulatory requirements. They define what information is included, who receives the report and when the report needs to be delivered to the customer.  The IT team is responsible for advising on, developing and supporting the technology used to meet the needs of business reporting. The IT role is to focus on how reports are delivered effectively and efficiently using the most appropriate reporting tools.

Often companies have no clear strategy for reporting with the results being incomplete and an inefficient use of resources.  This problem is further complicated when too many people become involved in any aspect of the report.  Nevertheless, the bulk of the problems arise during when determining what the report content and who will be responsible for its development.

Reporting tools may include:
• Standard reports – out of the box and reliable
• Financial reports - user defined, usually from an additional financial reporting package
• Customised reports - costly and high maintenance
• Ad hoc queries - risky but quick; often from within a database
• Business Intelligence.- when a full strategic analysis is required.  This can be very costly.

Security

The ability to create these reports requires access to live production systems and databases, sensitive HR, Contracts, Projects and Payroll data.  A significant amount of work may be required to ensure that the security and integrity of that data is maintained.  Access to this data and reports must be closely restricted to authorized personnel.  IT plays an important part in this role since it should manage access for users, databases, and applications’ security, menus, responsibilities and functions

Skills, Costs and Strategies

In the likely case that the business side lacks the requisite skills to develop the reports, expertise must come from elsewhere – usually from IT or from an outside consultant.  Good communications and a mutual understanding of the requirements are essential for a successful outcome. The aim should be to meet all current and future support, development and reporting needs of customers with the current established numbers of analysts and absorbing new requirements by eliminating wasted efforts.

Summary

There are huge potential benefits to successfully manage report generation and delivering correct, timely useful management information in a more efficient manner than the ad hoc supplementary tools often used in organizations.  Having the required information readily accessible and in an extremely useful format can greatly enhance decision making and profitability.

John McGrann  (MBA ACMA AIMC) describes himself as an ‘ Oracle Applications Manager’ and has a practical and professional approach with well developed business management, financial and applications skills, gained through working on a range of projects, change and support assignments for UK public sector and international private sector organisations.

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