Murray US slashes ‘time-to-decision’ with real-time web planning

Mowers and lawn tractors manufacturer Murray in the US says it’s improved profitability while also ramping up efficiency by a measurable 40% since implementing real-time enterprise planning and budgeting systems from Coda Financials two years ago. Rose Melillo, financial systems manager, says the firm now understands business trends and can view accurate forecasts, having eliminated hundreds of individual spreadsheets formerly used for budgeting and planning. Actual and budgeted spend can now be calculated in just 45 minutes and the system produces instant reports and sales analysis for key customers like Wal-Mart and Sears. It is also a fully closed-loop financial planning system, covering financial reporting and management of budgeting and forecasting cycles. Recent research from Coda shows that almost 95% of US corporates rely on spreadsheets for financial planning, reporting and analysis. Business information is not real-time – sometimes three months out of date – since spreadsheets provide static, fragmented data which has to be consolidated manually. It also shows that US companies depend heavily on manual intervention to get the business metrics. “CODA-Planning provides Murray with real-time sales and customer information across the supply chain, allowing it to produce the accurate trends analysis that, as a seasonal company, is key to continued profitability,” says Melillo. What the firm now has is an efficient, collaborative process that enables it to respond to seasonal peaks and troughs, allowing managers to measure, monitor and control short and long term performance, and drive profitability. Melillo: “We wanted to implement a planning and budgeting solution that would provide us with more control and predictability through real-time reporting, monitoring and reaction. The only way to achieve this was to replace our existing planning process, which … provided fragmented information, not the business analytics. “This was further compounded by the fact that we had little integration between our business operating systems – so we had vast islands of information sitting in our finance, manufacturing and CRM (customer relationship management) systems, leaving key business data spread out across a number of different databases. “To make this information meaningful, we had to bring it together. We wanted to ensure that useful data is not simply collected, but is also delivered to those that need it in a manner that is targeted, timely and cost-effective.” The system cost some $350,000, of which two thirds was consultancy. It has allowed Murray to close the information gap by supporting top-down and bottom-up planning, so users benefit from a collaborative, iterative approach to planning. By allowing those who control business activities to be involved, with high visibility through workflow, plans have become more meaningful and useful. And Melillo adds: “We can now see sales history all the way back to 1998, so for example, we can report on what we sold to Wal-Mart last season and what it is budgeted to spend. Armed with these figures, we can then accurately plan, budget and forecast.”