Client story
Automating financial analyses through the use of RoiBot
We helped Flexa Estonia to implement the financial analysis and budgeting tool RoiBot, which enables users to operatively react to market changes.
Overview
In the beginning of 2022, Flexa Estonia started using the RoiBot Financial Planning and Analysis solution that we have developed, which makes budgeting and reporting much easier than it has previously been. The solution enables companies to quickly make changes to their budget, thus ensuring they can operatively react to market demands or general economic changes.
RoiBot Finance gathers data from different sources and creates automatically updated reports by using the world’s leading reporting and data visualization software Microsoft Power BI. One of the advantages of using a standardised product like this is fast implementation – adjusting the solution fully to the company’s needs and its implementation only took four months, which meant months of time saved compared to ordering a new, custom-made IT solution.
Problem
What problem did we start to solve?
Flexa is one of Europe’s leading producers of children’s furniture with headquarters located in Denmark. Its subsidiary Flexa Eesti AS was founded in 1994 and has two factories located in Estonia, which produce high-quality and durable furniture that is highly valued by customers.
The crises of the past few years have brought various challenges to the production sector. For example, in 2022, the price of lumber saw an increase of a couple of hundred percent and this soaring material price increase put the company, as well as the whole furniture sector, under immense pressure.
Business analysis software helps companies to effectively manage their resources and optimise their processes in changing circumstances. Flexa Estonia had been using an ERP system for a very long time, which has very limited financial analysis and planning options.
Because of this, in autumn 2021, the company started to quickly look for a new solution that would allow them to measure financial indicators and KPIs in a more dynamic way, to create and amend budgets operatively, and to ensure that those budgets are adhered to.
Proposing a solution
From the problem to the solution in four months
We offered Flexa Estonia the option of implementing Intelex Insight’s – our affiliated company – own solution, a standardised financial planning product with rolling budgeting – RoiBot Finance – that we have already implemented in over 20 organisations.
Since we used a standardised product, the client could start using the new solution just a few months after the beginning of the project and fully reach their intended result in just four months. For a new custom-made IT solution, that is the minimum presumptive period for being able to develop an initial version that would then still have to be tested, amended, and implemented.
Implementation
Implementation stages
1st step
The first step was to analyse which data must end up in the reports and in what format, then we used that information to set up automated data transfers into RoiBot Finance’s data storage banks. As using a standardised product means that the data bank tables are already connected to the data model and initial reports, then the client was able to check their data through RoiBot’s reports right after the first step was done.
2nd step
Next, we handed the budgeting feature to the client along with pre-filled budget forms. Now, the Flexa Estonia team was able to insert their current fiscal year budget into the solution. We amended the budgeting solution so that every month, they would be able to create a new budget forecast that would change the previous forecast. At the same time, all previous versions would be saved so that they could be compared to each other as well as actual numbers.
3rd step
In the last step, we amended the models with company-specific KPIs and created some new company-specific reports based on the amended data model. We also conducted training sessions for the company’s team.
Project outcome
Quick and convenient reports for every field support decision-making
As a result of this project, Flexa Estonia now uses a full-featured automated financial analysis and rolling budget solution that has been adapted to the company’s needs on a daily basis.
The solution enables them to automate data transfer from the ERP solution to the analytics software, to operatively track their financial indicators (KPIs) and budget.
Additionally, the solution supports rolling budgeting, enabling them to create up to 12 different budget forecasts per year and to compare them to one another.
The company can track and analyse financial data, compare that data to their budget, and share it with various team members.
Analysing revenue and expenses allows the company to evaluate how they are doing as a whole, but to also analyse which areas are problematic and how to fix them.
The Microsoft Power BI environment allows them to visualise data well and to see patterns that would be difficult to notice within data tables.
Automated data transfer with the initial systems ensures that all reports are constantly updated. This means that the company always has the newest data on hand to base their decisions on.
The solution can be used to deliver crucial information to the heads of every field and department who are always provided with a constantly updated report from the solution that has been tailored specifically to their needs.
For Flexa Estonia, the RoiBot Finance automated financial analysis and rolling budget solution was a cost-effective option that started creating value for the company in just two months.
Today, the solution developed by Intelex Insight has proven itself to be an operative tool that enables companies to quickly react to market demands or general economic changes. Adapting a budget to the current state of the market each month only takes 10 minutes, yet the benefits that can be reaped from this could be immeasurable – thanks to this solution, the company was able to keep its expenses under control and manage to overcome the sudden material price increases by constantly adapting their budget during the years that were especially difficult for the furniture sector.
