CEO Monthly Sept

24 CEO MONTHLY / AUGUST 2017 , Fixfast, one of Europe’s leading specialist building component manufacturers, has selected FastClose to get the most out of their Epicor ERP system. Dynamic Improvement One of Europe’s leading specialist building component manufacturers, Fixfast has selected FastClose to get the most out of their Epicor ERP system. Using FastClose, an Accounting Intelligence software company, financial reporting for Product Profitability by Customer has been massively improved, which has led to significant improvements in the analysis of margins. Ken Lynes, CEO of Fixfast, read an article from FastClose discussing how one of Epicor’s best accounting features – dynamic segments – was rarely used by companies, so he called in Nick Gomersall of FastClose to dig deeper. After an initial meeting and demo explaining how Epicor’s dynamic segments (automated postings of account code segments) plus FastClose could generate high- value management information out of Epicor’s ERP, Ken tied in Clear Business Outcome (CBO), an Epicor business partner, to arrange a joint meeting to set up the extra segments. Russell Howden, Fixfast’s finance controller, explained further, “We were surprised that we were not told about dynamic segments in our initial training from Epicor. We implemented four standard segments in our chart of accounts, even though Epicor can have up to 20. “When FastClose came down to see us, they explained what dynamic segments were and how they could be automatically populated by updating the posting rules. We were impressed by the potential benefits as you can get detailed product profitability by customer, with no additional work, once the posting rules for AR and Cost of Sales are updated. “We worked with CBO and FastClose to add two dynamic segments to our general ledger, and change the necessary Epicor posting rules. We gained everything that FastClose promised. “If it was not for FastClose, we would still be struggling to report on our gross margin by product and customer. We are now publishing these reports for management and the sales and marketing teams using FastClose; and we can drill right down to the sales and purchase orders when margins go awry to explain any variances.” Nick Gomersall, CEO at FastClose, explained, “The reason why dynamic segments are not pushed is that, with standard Epicor, their tools have no easy way to take advantage or report on them. So they are just ignored and accountants have to dive into other tables and try to pull some sensible information out in other ways – which is hard and often highly time-consuming to do. “FastClose is a multi-dimensional reporting and enquiry tool that makes rolling up various segment balances, and drilling on these numbers to the detailed transaction, a simple thing to do. This is challenging in standard Epicor as the more segments which get used, the more complex it becomes for getting at balances across segments. Russell Howden concluded, “We have solved a specific problem with FastClose but we bought a site license for all of their modules as we want to drill from the GL to the other sub ledgers. Over time we plan to use the additional modules for better management information across the whole ERP system. With FastClose, I am building my management reporting system myself and not having to rely on our IT function to create new reports and dashboards.” Nick Gomersall added, “Fixfast is a great company to work with, and we take their suggestions and improvements to the product onboard. We look forward to working with them to deliver real time operational information across the whole of Epicor’s ERP system.”