Fortis Bank's New Budgeting and Reporting Solution
Overview_
Cost-effective Business Intelligence solution, leveraging Microsoft Excel and SQL Server 2000 analytics services to streamline budgeting and reporting processes, resulting in an 80% time-saving, improved financial control, reduced workload for employees, and a scalable foundation for future development.
Client_
Fortis Bank, a global group with key activities in banking and insurance, has been recently acquired by BNP Paribas Bank.
Industry
Banking and Finance
Country
Poland
Background_
The partnership between Fortis Bank (now BNP Paribas) and Euvic brought about the implementation of a Business Intelligence solution. This resulted in an 80% timesaving in budgeting and cost-reporting processes, improved budget oversight, centralized financial data storage, and expanded analysis opportunities. The solution was cost-effective, utilizing existing licenses for Microsoft Excel and SQL Server 2000 analytics services.
Challenge_
Fortis Bank Polska aimed to implement a customer profitability system that could produce various profit and loss statements and assess distribution channels and product profitability. However, their existing system failed to resolve their budgeting issues. The budgeting process heavily relied on Excel, with thousands of different versions of files sent annually. Although initially effective, the increasing volume of files and versions made budget management increasingly difficult.
The primary challenge was managing changes in budget calculations and the budget itself. Structural changes in accounts or organization led to inefficient distribution to accounts via macros. Furthermore, multiple budget versions, last-minute changes, and difficulties in reviewing the current budget version often caused work duplication. These issues drove up administrative costs and made accurate cost and budget control challenging.
Analysis of the Problem_
Analysis revealed two crucial points: employees were proficient in Microsoft Excel, and they were comfortable using a browser. The problem wasn’t the software’s analytical capabilities or data presentation but data processing. Euvic suggested using a Microsoft SQL Server database with multidimensional analysis services, using Excel as the user interface.
Solution_
The final solution utilized Microsoft SQL 2000 Server with analytical services to store all previously used materials. Data was sourced from implementation data provided by the bank’s transaction system and manually entered by authorized staff. The user interface was Microsoft Excel, which communicated directly with the database, ensuring data consistency and avoiding the issues with email overload and changing versions.
The access authorization system used Active Directory (AD) to manage employees’ data and report access rights, allowing each employee to only see their data. The system also made data available in summary form via PivotTable, facilitating any format of reports based on available fields.
Implementation took several months, providing an integrated reporting and budgeting system for 100 users across the bank.
Result_
- Operational Enhancement The solution increased the bank’s operational efficiency significantly, reducing report processing and budgeting time by 80%. It did this without large IT investments, aligning with the bank’s future growth plans that emphasize resource optimization.
- Improved Financial Oversight The system centralized data collection, improving data quality and enabling data-driven decisions. Automation reduced human errors and access rights increased data accountability and transparency. The system facilitated immediate data analysis, providing the management with timely information.
- Cost-Effective Solution Fortis Bank chose to develop its own budgeting system, primarily due to the staff’s familiarity with Microsoft Excel. This approach reduced training and maintenance costs, and addressed data transfer issues. By leveraging existing licenses, implementation costs were minimized. Reliable technology partner, Euvic Group, ensured adherence to the bank’s specifications and requirements.
- Intuitive User Experience The new solution gave Microsoft Excel an upgrade, revealing more functionalities to users. It also facilitated teamwork on shared documents like budget plans. Centralized data collection and access eliminated the need to download numerous files from different emails.
- Reduced Workload The new system enabled staff to spend less time modifying and distributing reports. SQL Server 2000 analytics provided a secure and manageable reporting environment. An integrated set of tools allowed IT staff to manage report creation and delivery centrally.
- Scalability for Growth The budgeting and reporting system is scalable, ensuring it can grow with the bank. It maximizes available resources and supports the bank’s development plans. The system will adapt as the bank’s knowledge and expertise expand, eliminating the need for replacement in the future.
Excelerator®_
Excelerator® is an offering from Euvic that utilizes Microsoft technologies such as SQL Server and Office to help you set up a data warehouse, a system for data analysis, or a budgeting support system leveraging widely accessible Microsoft technologies. These include SQL Server 2000 or 2005 (which offer analytics and reporting services for data processing and analysis), and Microsoft Office – particularly Office Web Components for SharePoint, facilitating team collaboration and information management.
