Johannesburg, 29 Aug 2013
User acceptance and limited staff are among the top five risks in ERP upgrades, according to a recent survey [1]. With that in mind, finance users and information technology (IT) professionals involved in upgrading Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) to Release 12 (R12) should prepare for significant differences in General Ledger (GL) reporting in the absence of Oracle's Client Application Desktop Integrator (ADI). The same holds true with desktop upgrades to Microsoft Excel 2007 or 2010 , where this has been known to cause Client ADI compatibility issues.
Used for years to produce ad hoc Financial Statement Generator (FSG) reports, Client ADI was replaced in R12 by two browser-based applications: Web ADI and Report Manager for publishing FSGs into Excel. As financial professionals explore these new applications, they discover gaps with the familiar Client ADI functionality - gaps that could eventually place additional demands on IT resources already stressed by an ERP upgrade and testing. Many financial professionals who have used the new applications are considering an Excel-based alternative for filling those gaps so that comparable or improved functionality exists after an R12 upgrade, with minimal impacts on the IT staff.
Extra steps in new reporting process
Client ADI, a spreadsheet-based extension of GL and Oracle Assets, involves installation of software on each user's computer. Finance users find Client ADI valuable for producing ad hoc FSG reports, as well as for batched report processing via Oracle Report Manager, with access to the report repository via login to Oracle EBS. Among other tasks, the tool supports drill-down into FSG report details. In addition, journal, budget and fixed assets uploads are part of its repertoire.
With an R12 upgrade, Client ADI is replaced by Web ADI for uploading journals from Excel and Report Manager for publishing FSGs into Excel. Accessible via the GL menu structure, both are browser based, without the need for client installs. However, gaps exist between Client ADI's functionality and the two new applications.
For example, Client ADI allows users to produce ad hoc FSG reports, but the new Report Manager was designed for storing point-in-time reports. Report Manager was not designed as an ad hoc inquiry tool and does not allow users to easily define or modify reports. Users submit ad hoc FSG or standard reports from the Report Manager, but they must re-create each template in a special editor before its first use.
Also, while FSG reports are still published to Excel, HTML, PDF and text formats, submitting an FSG report from R12 becomes a five-step process, which increases report submission time compared with Client ADI. For complex reports, users relate that R12 submission takes up to five times longer per report than with Client ADI. Reports must be saved in a repository, where chronological instead of alphabetical storage makes access to recent reports difficult and counter-intuitive. Clearing out reports is also time-consuming and requires running a batch job to delete old reports.
Drill down restrictions
Client ADI allows drill down to transactions for amounts in an FSG report published to Excel. The drill-down feature displays journal entries associated with the amount queried and supports further drilling to related sub-ledger transaction details.
R12 only supports account analysis and drill down for reports published through the "Account Analysis and Drilldown" function in Report Manager. Many users have found this function cumbersome and report an increase in time required to examine data. Sorting and searching data is also time-consuming and limited in scope.
Limited chart of accounts access
With Client ADI, users had a graphical view of the chart of accounts (COA) hierarchy. This feature allowed users to understand and traverse the structure of each segment in the COA, which was especially useful for new employees.
The graphical COA was replaced by a Java-based form in the R12 GL module that is now only accessible by system administrators and designated business analysts. For the feature to be accessible to all users, the form must be moved to an unrestricted area within the GL menu.
Flexibility, price issues with Oracle alternatives
To produce ad hoc reports without Report Manager, Oracle users can submit a "Publish FSG Report" request via the standard request submission form. While this method does allow users to produce any FSG report, the report layout templates used are built with Microsoft Word and do not offer the same flexibility as an Excel editor. Another complication is that all templates built using an Excel editor must be rebuilt in Word to use this report-creation method.
With few FSG reporting enhancements in recent years, many Oracle customers have been compelled to consider their business intelligence (BI) products for creating financial statements. These alternatives include Hyperion or OBIEE (Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition) products, but the installation of such BI products are often too costly and time-consuming for many users.
Excel-based alternative fills reporting gaps
Organisations that have anticipated or encountered reporting issues from losing Client ADI with R12 or Excel 2007 migrations have turned to GL Wand from Excel4apps. An Oracle Validated Integration solution, GL Wand delivers real-time GL data via direct link between Oracle and its Excel front end, dramatically cutting steps from the report-creation process - even beyond Client ADI. Many companies using Client ADI have already found that Excel-based GL Wand makes an attractive option, both from price and user acceptance standpoints.
"We were immediately impressed with GL Wand's real-time results, which were much faster than with any of the FSGs or boxed Oracle reports we'd used," said Michael Jacobson, controller at Starkey, a manufacturer of diagnostic equipment, hearing protection products, wireless technology and hearing solutions. "Every user agrees that we are more efficient at our job with GL Wand."
Because finance users have strong Excel skills, they easily create and modify ad hoc reports in just minutes through GL Wand's familiar Excel interface, without programming support. Reports are similar to those they are accustomed to from Client ADI, yet the process is much faster than with either Client ADI or the new Report Manager.
"Excel4apps has a good online knowledge base and tutorials, but GL Wand itself is just so inherently intuitive for Excel users of an intermediate level, as many are in our finance group," explained Jacobson. "Even those who hadn't used Excel as much were able to take off using it with little direction. Users in engineering love GL Wand for running project information because they can get
up-to-the-minute spending data. This demonstrates how GL Wand is a unique tool that even a novice Excel person can use."
Finance users can also drill into sub-ledger transaction details with just a click with GL Wand, which utilises Oracle's security settings to maintain appropriate data accessibility. They can easily view set-up information relating to the GL, including the COA and its hierarchies. Users report that submitting ad hoc reports that took 15 minutes with Client ADI and 45 minutes with Report Manager take less than five minutes with GL Wand, leaving more time for valuable analysis and less time for frustration.
"GL Wand lets us drill into relevant data right away, without having to sort out extraneous information," Jacobson described. "We started digging into account inquiries and sub-ledgers, discovering how GL Wand provides the ability to go from a GL account down into accounts receivable in a mouse click, bypassing the need to run multiple reports."
GL Wand also benefits the IT staff on many levels. It installs quickly with minimal IT intervention, and users typically perform upgrades. IT is also less burdened with programming required for reports. For organisations already invested in customised FSG reports, a GL Wand conversion tool easily converts existing reports into Excel.
"With GL Wand, finance users are drilling down to the data they need and are 100% self-sufficient in running their own queries and creating their own reports," described Rob Duncan, CIO for Powell Industries, a global provider of engineering solutions for power control rooms in the transportation, energy and utilities sectors. "My IT development resources are no longer overwhelmed with finance's requests, meaning they can focus on value-added tasks like rolling out Oracle EBS to other divisions. We had not anticipated this benefit, and it's huge for our team."
It is important for users to take into account the effects of an Oracle EBS R12 upgrade, or even re-implementation, on the GL reporting process. Understanding these effects and identifying available solutions like GL Wand can not only satisfy the GL reporting requirements of finance users without impacting IT, but also improve financial reporting processes altogether.
"Purchasing GL Wand was one of the best decisions I have made at Powell because of the value and the immediate holes it resolved," said Duncan. "Rarely do users thank you for a new product, but almost every controller has thanked IT for GL Wand. Considering they require little training and support, Excel4apps products offer maximum returns for a minimal investment."
Reference
1, "ERP Upgrades: What's Your Philosophy? 2012 OAUG Survey on Enterprise Application/ERP Suite Upgrade Strategies," Unisphere
Research, February 2012.
Excel4apps is a leading provider of Excel-based reporting and inquiry solutions for Oracle and SAP users. To learn more, e-mail sales@excel4apps.com or visit www.excel4apps.com/contact.
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