Don’t do it by the book, do it according to best practice, methods and formulas, understanding the production shifts and monthly ebbs and flows of work.

MS Excel is more than a high tech calculator; it can assist with your data management, inventory control levels, with a sales department dashboard, financial management analysis, cash flow regulator, picking slip – invoice and delivery note etc.

Most spreadsheets today, are an integral part of your business, are usually inherited form others, developed by friends, adapted from other departments, all the time they’re carrying baggage and redundant formulas, with repetitive capture and reporting a daily chore.

You need a tool, a mechanism that will identify and report abnormalities within the current report systems. We are talking here of a “tool” that will help manage your business from a manager’s point of view and not from a financial or productivity view point.

Understanding best practice processes and developing the outcomes will speed up reports ensuring accuracy and data integrity.

Those various departments should be feeding into your management report.

Understanding the output or end result will assist all departments when putting together their reports from their data, and not merely presenting their data.