Automating 55+ Hours a Month of Manual Financial Reporting
How a manufacturing finance team eliminated manual budget-vs-actuals work and added forward-looking cash flow forecasting.
55+
Monthly Hours Saved
+31%
Forecast Accuracy
-95%
Reporting Errors
Client Background
How a manufacturing finance team eliminated manual budget-vs-actuals work and added forward-looking cash flow forecasting.
The Challenge
The finance team spent over 60 hours every month manually rebuilding budget vs. actuals reports in Excel, copying data out of the ERP system by hand. Formula errors were common, and there was no forward-looking forecast — only a rear-view mirror of what had already happened.
Our Approach
We automated the ERP export and transformation process end-to-end, replacing manual copy-paste with a scheduled Python pipeline feeding a governed SQL model. Every number in the model traced back to its ERP source, satisfying finance's need for a clear audit trail.
Implementation
The Power BI reporting layer combined budget vs. actuals, margin analysis by product line, and a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast built on historical trends and open orders. Finance leadership could drill from a summary KPI down to the originating transaction in a few clicks.
Results
- —Finance reclaimed over 55 hours per month previously spent on manual reporting
- —Forecast accuracy improved by 31% against prior manual estimates
- —Reporting errors dropped by 95% after removing manual copy-paste steps