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The ERP Analytics Console

ERP Analytics gives each company its key figures: a KPI dashboard, an Explore tab for any measure broken down by period, account, customer, supplier, cost centre, project or item, the rows behind any number, and saved and scheduled reports. Every figure is for one company you can read; a total across companies is only ever a saved report marked Consolidated.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Trading & Analytics:

  • Analytics — the console: Dashboard, Explore, Saved reports and Schedules
  • Measures — the figures
  • Dimensions — the groupings
  • Reports — saved reports
  • Report Schedules — scheduled e-mails

Admin Panel → Reporting:

  • ERP Analytics — the same console for finance and reporting staff who are not architects

Who can use it

  • ERP: Reporting: read-only. Run, drill and export.
  • ERP: Finance: also save reports and manage schedules. Someone holding ERP: Reporting and ERP: Administration can save and schedule too; ERP: Administration alone does not open the screen.

Which companies anyone sees is their company access; a role never implies a company. Holding ERP: Reporting or ERP: Finance is enough to read the datastores the starter pack's measures use, so no separate datastore grant is needed. Grant the roles and company access on ERP Setup (see Getting Started with ERP).

Choosing a company and period

At the top, choose the Company (the top of the group is listed first and elimination companies last; the screen remembers your last choice) and the Period: All dates, This month to date, Last month, This quarter to date, Last quarter, This calendar year to date, Last calendar year, This financial year to date (the default), Last financial year, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, Last 12 months, or Between dates… with From and To. Financial-year periods use the company's own year end.

The Dashboard

The Dashboard tab shows every saved report whose layout is KPI cards, such as the starter pack's Finance KPIs and Operations KPIs. Each card gives the figure for the period, the change against the comparable earlier period (green or red depending on whether higher is better), and a twelve-month trend. A figure that is a state today, such as inventory value from the cost layers, says Today's figure and shows no comparison or trend.

Exploring a question

  1. Go to Explore.
  2. Tick up to six Measures; use Find a measure… to search.
  3. Choose Group by and, optionally, Then by. Only groupings that fit every chosen measure are listed.
  4. Choose the Chart: Automatic, Bar, Stacked bar, Horizontal bar, Line, Area, Pie, Doughnut or Table only.
  5. Click Add a filter to narrow the rows, then Run.
  6. Select any figure in the table to see the rows behind it; Close hides them.
  7. Click Export CSV to download, or Save as report… to keep the question.

The headline total is worked out again without the grouping, so an average or a balance is the true overall figure. A result that hits the row limit says so. If a figure or grouping is missing and you may add to those datastores, New measure and New grouping appear under Missing a figure or a grouping?

ERP figures on BI dashboards

Holders of ERP: Reporting or ERP: Finance can also put ERP figures on a platform BI dashboard (Admin Panel → Reporting → Dashboards). Open a dashboard and click Add an ERP figure, then give it a Title, choose the Company (or the group, all companies in the group currency), up to six Figures, Group by and Then by, the Period and Show as, and click Add to dashboard. Everyone who opens the dashboard sees the figures for the companies they may read. See BI Dashboards.

What goes wrong

  • "No enabled measures are defined": load the starter pack or define measures.
  • Every KPI reads 0.00: you are looking at an elimination company; pick a trading company.
  • A grouping is missing from the list: it does not fit one of the chosen measures; remove that measure.
  • "Give both a From and a To date for a custom period."
  • "ERP figures need the ERP: Reporting or ERP: Finance role." on a BI dashboard.

Worked example

An operations manager with ERP: Reporting opens ERP Analytics for the UK company, financial year to date. The Operations KPIs show inventory value today, billable utilisation, unbilled time, purchase spend and hours logged. Utilisation is down, so they click through to Explore, tick Hours logged, Billable hours and Billable utilisation %, group by Month then Resource, and run it. One consultant's billable hours dropped in August; they select the figure to see the time entries behind it, and export the table for their team meeting.

Recommendations

  • Start from the Dashboard and drill into Explore only for the question in front of you.
  • Keep to two groupings; save several focused reports rather than one large one.
  • Check the company and period before reading any figure.
  • Use the rows behind a figure to settle any disagreement about a number.