The Problem
For many years, this education provider, like numerous other longstanding organisations, produced its financial reports using a collection of spreadsheets, all with embedded complex macros and rigid structures, which can make it challenging to implement even the simplest of changes. Every end-of-month process depended on critical sources such as uniform shop sales, canteen sales, tuition, etc. All information had to be collected, validated, and finally merged to assist in demonstrating the school’s progress in financial health. This process would take several days with a serious risk that if any component were incorrect, the whole process would have to be reperformed. Questionable values that required explanation had to be requested from the service desk for detailed reports, which, in most cases, led to further questions. Getting to the bottom of these questions was time-consuming and inefficient, delaying the publication of the financial statements.
The Solution
Leveraging Azure cloud services resulted in the identified and secured on-premises data being lifted, transformed, and landed in Azure Data Lake using Azure Data Factory. Once the files were transferred to the Lake, Azure Synapse demonstrated its proficiency by processing a tremendous amount of data instantaneously. As a result, a well-crafted Power BI Financial Statement Reporting solution was developed, with a customisable layout that presented the information as the client envisioned. Under the presentation layer was a scalable, business-friendly, and robust Power BI Model that linked to Azure Synapse On-Demand SQL Database.
Business Benefits
Through this adapted solution, commentary explaining values in the reports can now be communicated to the business, thereby avoiding email trails. It also provides subject matter experts with the right tools to gain instant insight into areas of concern. It is common for departments and cost codes to change, so now their financial reports can adapt, as the accountant no longer needs to rely on IT. Moving away from the client’s traditional financial reports using spreadsheets eliminates the potential human error relating to manual processes, which in turn is more cost-effective and accurate for the business
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