Summary: ERP systems rarely provide a perfect fit for your company’s unique reporting needs. The problem is, you’re stuck in something of a “Catch-22.” If you don’t customize the system, it won’t perfectly fit your needs. If you do customize it, you’re locked into that system. In this article, you’ll learn how other businesses are creating custom reporting over their ERP systems, without locking themselves down.

If your organization runs an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, let me ask you a question: Does it fit your company’s unique reporting needs?

If the answer is, “No.” or “Not always.”, read on.

The fact is, reporting is one of the most common problems with ERP systems. The system doesn’t offer the reporting options you need, or doesn’t output the data in the way you’d like.

The result: You’re stuck pulling data out of your ERP system and manually generating reports with other tools–usually Excel. This process wastes time, leads to data errors, and doesn’t deliver real-time reports.

Would you like to deliver custom, real-time reporting from your ERP system–without altering the system itself?

Today, I’d like to share some great examples of companies struggling with this very problem–and how they fixed it.

Philip Dennis Foodservice delivers real-time ERP data to their users
Philip Dennis Foodservice couldn’t get the information they needed out of their Chorus ERP system. They found themselves relying on Excel for too much daily reporting. Learn how they addressed this problem, and delivered real-time ERP data directly to their users.

ERMCO finds a multi-platform, end-user reporting tool
ERMCO’s end users couldn’t create their own reports. Instead, they relied on the MIS department for reporting–a process that often required days, depending on their schedule. Learn how they delivered end-user reporting over multiple platforms (Optimum Solutions and Friedman Frontier ERP), and across different departments.

Hutchinsons gains instant access to their ERP data
Running on an M3 ERP system, Hutchinsons needed an easy way to access their data. They realized they were spending too much time extracting and collating ERP data into spreadsheets. Learn how they eliminated these time-consuming Excel reporting tasks, and put data at their user’s fingertips.

If you’re facing a similar problem, hopefully these stories inspire you. You can deliver customized reporting over your ERP software, without modifying the underlying system at all–and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. To better understand all of the different ways you can enhance your ERP system, check out this paper.