Adaptive Consulting - Exploring all paths to reach the peak in your business

As mentioned in my previous article, there are many reasons as to why off the shelf software packages come with only a limited range of reports. I'll first illustrate this problem with an example and then explain why this is the case.

A business associate of mine recently complained that the software package he uses for his business doesn't give him enough information to identify some of the accounts receivable issues he's been having. He wanted to be able to run a report and immediately see which of his clients are at risk of missing their payments, but there was no pre-defined report that met this requirement.

Based on my experience, the most common reasons for this are:

1. Software development companies create what they consider to be the most important reports and await feedback from customers prior to investing in the development of more reports.
2. By providing a limited number of reports, software development companies keep the development cost of the software package at a reasonable level. By doing so, the product can be priced at reasonable level which would attract buyers.
3. For software development companies it can also be an additional source of future revenue should customers wish to modify their software package or reports to suit the individual circumstances.
4. As long as a software application does its job of capturing important information, there are a myriad of reporting tools that customers could use to develop their own reports. Some software companies take the view of 'why bother providing reports when customers would not use them?' This probably comes down to lack of consultation with potential clients prior to developing the software.
5. Customers can be fussy about how they want their reports to look. By providing in-built reporting tools with their software, some software development companies make it easy and cost effective for their customers to create and/or customise reports to suit their needs.

The problem that my business associate had in the scenario I described above was not the software package, but the fact that he did not realise what he could do with his software. The software package provided him with all the tools he needed to generate his own reports! This seems to be another common problem when people buy off the shelf software packages - they don't explore the features in the software for the fear of breaking something!

Do you know of any additional reasons that can be added to this list or of any further examples that can be shared with other readers?

Have you ever felt like you put in a lot of information into your database or business software but don't seem to get any value out of this information? Or, have you ever had the need to produce a report but were unable to because you didn't know how to do it?

Put simply, most software packages only include basic enquiries and reports that make the software functional (I will explain why this is the case in another article). However from time to time businesses would have a requirement for information that either cannot be found using the standard reports and/or enquiries, or would take a considerable amount of manual effort to find.

As an example, a sports club that I know of likes to update their list of "Most Committed" members each month and uses it for motivational purposes. However, the membership software they use doesn't come with a pre-built report for this purpose and as a result one of the administration staff spends a long time (more than a day) every month going through the complete list of members (past and present) to summarise how many training sessions each person attended. If you add this up over the course of a year, just think of how much effort would have been spent on this activity alone!

The Solution

In situations such as these, a simple database reporting software would come in handy. By 'database reporting software', I am referring to software packages such as Crystal Reports, Business Objects and DataVision. These are purpose built to work with a multitude of databases and produce a variety of reports. Common features of these software include record selection, sorting, grouping and generating any graph of your choice and in a variety of formats.

Admittedly some of these software are not cheap while there are others that are open source and are completely free!

If your business has someone who is database savvy, the process of introducing this new software becomes a breeze. However, if your business does not have this luxury, it would be a wise investment to have a consultant familiar with the chosen reporting software to come in and setup your first couple of reports. Once you have created a report or two, it usually becomes easy as you can quickly create your own new reports by simply copying and modifying the existing reports. More often that not, you will find it easier to have an expert create the reports you want in a short period of time than to have a staff member slave away for days trying to understand complex database structures. It is possible that you may encounter problems in this process, even if you hire an expert.

Potential Issues

Some common issues we have come across in the past include:

1. The database cannot be accessed

This could be due to a couple of reasons. Firstly it could be because there is some database security that needs to be overcome. Some vendors secure the databases that are shipped with their software to ensure no one can get in and corrupt the data, be it deliberately or accidentally. If you encounter this problem, you would need to either contact your database administrator (if you have one) or the software vendor for the access details.

The second reason could be a missing database driver. If the database driver is commonly used, you may be able to find and download it by doing a search online. Alternatively you may have to contact your software vendor for help in locating and installing the required database driver(s).

2. Vendor backlash

Software vendors tend to be attached to their products and in some cases do not like the idea of someone else messing around with their databases. I have seen examples where the only option is to use the same software vendor to develop any additional reports.

Conclusion

It is always good practice to know ahead of time as to what you are up against should you wish to create your own reports. This is something you need to ask your software vendors at the time of software selection. If not researched properly, the selected software will cost your business lot more in ongoing charges rather than just the purchase and subscription fees.

I hope this article sheds some light into how you could go about developing your own business reports and what you might be up against. Feel free to drop us a note if you require any further advice or if we can assist you with any reporting needs your business may have.

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Risk Assessments can be performed at any stage of a business lifecycle. In particular, we have noticed the following events as triggers for when businesses decide to perform Risk Assessments:

• Starting up a business
• Investing in a business
• Planning for growth
• Buying or selling a business
• When something bad and potentially expensive happens to the business and the owners want to ensure it doesn't happen again

The last one in particular is interesting. A good example is the recent shutdown of European airspaces due to the Icelandic volcano eruption and how it affected business or all types, not just the airline industry. Many business want to avoid a repeat of this and have sought appropriate insurance as a way to minimise future risk.

"Why would someone want a Risk Assessment done for their business?". This is a question that was asked of me a few weeks ago by a client. It made me realise that most people don't usually give any thought to what potential risks they or their businesses could be exposed to.

I had a think about the pros and cons of performing a Risk Assessment and having a Risk Management Plan for any business and listed my thoughts below:

Pros

• Provides a snapshot of the business with regards to current or future risks and issues
• Identify areas where the business can be protected from different types of risks
• Provides a basis for implementing the most relevant and cost-effective safeguards and to avoid costly and long-winded resolution of issues
• Identify opportunity risks so that the business is ready for or working towards potential opportunities that may arise as a result of certain situations
• Increase the likelihood of achieving business or project objectives
• Provides customers and stakeholders an improved confidence and trust in the business

Cons

• Costs time and/or money to perform a risk assessment
• Costs time and/or money to implement recommendations
• Monitoring risks can be time consuming
• Not all risks could be identified upfront as these change depending on a variety of circumstances
• Not all risks will eventuate

It is important to note that Risk Management is an ongoing activity and doesn't stop after an assessment is completed.