A key area for many firms, is the ability to be able to produce management reports and analyse Business Information quickly and effectively.
Traditionally, linked Excel spreadsheets have been used or custom reports written to allow this to be done.
Microsoft have responded to this growing demand by providing Power BI as part of the Office 365 offering. This is a powerful and highly cost effective tool where IT, Accounts or other users can quickly build reports showing the latest information and then publish them to Management. These reports are not just static but are interactive. For example selecting a particular person or a particular client shows the information for that client.
Department Heads find these effective ways to manage their teams, look for trends, staff utilisation, badly overdue Invoices, etc.
These reports can even be published externally to clients so they can see the position on their work.
The security model also ensures people can only see the information they are allowed to see (e.g. a client can only see their work, or a Department Head can only see their department).
The same information can also be accessed in Excel (as Pivot Tables) for printing and traditional reporting purposes.
Simmans Consulting has worked with many law firms to utilise this technology. We build the central model and then users in the firms create the reports required.
For Peppermint users a standard model is available which provides a fast start in the use of this technology.
For other systems, Simmans Consulting offer a service to help you rapidly get started with this exciting new technology.