Education Problem #2: Fragmented Financial Data

Top 10 problems solved by Infor SunSystems Cloud in Education.
Problem #2: Fragmented Financial Data

This is the second in a series of blogs highlighting ten of the most common challenges faced by finance teams in the education sector. In this blog, we highlight the problem of fragmented financial data.

The fragmentation problem

The problem can manifest itself in a number of ways. For example:

Data silos

Fragmentation occurs when key information is held in multiple systems rather than in one place. Typically, these “data silos” will be separate systems for MIS, finance, procurement, and budgeting with little or no integration between them. But that is not the only source of fragmentation. Many finance systems struggle with reporting across multiple entities. In cases such as these, each entity – College, Academy, Site, Trading Entity, etc. – can be regarded as a separate data silo.  Where consolidated reporting is required this can often only be achieved through laborious manual processes at month-end. Reports may also contain inconsistent numbers due to lags or delay.

Over reliance on spreadsheets

A common solution to the data silo problem is to use spreadsheets to fill the gap. Spreadsheets require minimal investment, but they are slow, prone to error, disconnected and out of sync with the prime source of data, and often rely on the expertise of a single individual.

Here are three examples of how spreadsheets are used:

• Transaction upload
  Financial data is exported from one system, formatted, then uploaded to the finance system.
• Reporting
  Multiple reports are combined or manually keyed into a consolidated report.
• Budgeting and Planning
  Spreadsheets are often used in place of built-for-purpose budgeting and planning solutions but they present many drawbacks as outlined in our previous blog on budgeting and planning.

There are, of course, other solutions to the fragmentation problem. Business Intelligence apps such as Microsoft Power BI for instance, can consolidate data from multiple sources across the organisation. But solutions such as this can be expensive and require extensive IT support to set up.

How SunSystems Cloud from LAKE can help

Multi-entity reporting

SunSystems is renowned for its analysis power and suitability for multi-entity accounting.

SunSystems is designed for organisations with multiple entities, cost centres, campuses, subsidiaries and funding streams. It automates the process of consolidation while delivering real time visibility and drilldown to source data. No more spreadsheets. No more days spent on manual consolidation at month end.

One source of the truth

SunSystems Cloud delivers a single source of the truth for all your financial and reporting needs. This can be via real time updates to SunSystems or via the SunSystems Data Lake.

Customisable reports and dashboards deliver instant access to the information that matters most to your organisation. With real-time visibility of your data, you can quickly identify and act on opportunities and threats.

Future proof

SunSystems is a cloud service. It replaces ageing servers and local infrastructure with a future proof solution to all your financial management and reporting needs. As your organisation grows, SunSystems Cloud will adapt and scale to accommodate those changes.

Comprehensive solution

The LAKE solution for education is a comprehensive and integrated solution that includes Financial Management, Purchase-to-Pay, AP Automation, Budgeting and Planning, Dashboards and Reporting. In short, everything you might need to support your digital transformation.

Take the next step

In the next blog in this series, we highlight the problem of restricted financial transparency.

To find out how Infor SunSystems Cloud from LAKE could help your organisation, download a copy of our SunSystems Cloud Beginner’s Guide – Education.