BPM’s Data Analytics team successfully implemented valuable data automation solutions for a leading youth enrichment programs provider, streamlining their NetSuite implementation and month-end reporting processes across multiple subsidiaries. Learn how they achieved significant efficiency gains through strategic automation and visualization.
Challenges
A recognized leader in youth enrichment programs approached BPM during a period of rapid expansion. As the organization continued to acquire new companies, it needed to implement NetSuite across its subsidiaries while managing complex data requirements. The client faced two critical challenges: migrating historical financial data for new acquisitions and streamlining its time-intensive month-end reporting process.
The month-end reporting process was particularly burdensome, requiring 20-24 hours monthly to generate and distribute flash reports, budget versus actuals and month-over-month comparisons across 24 different groups. Each report needed to be individually filtered and emailed to specific stakeholders, creating a significant operational bottleneck.
Solutions
BPM’s Data Analytics team developed a two-pronged approach to address both the historical data migration and ongoing reporting challenges:
Historical data migration
Working closely with the NetSuite implementation team, the Data Analytics team created a Python-based automation solution for transforming legacy system data into the NetSuite format. The script incorporated complex account and segment mapping rules while handling exceptions. As one example of its impact, the automation proved invaluable when the client needed to migrate historical trial balance summaries into NetSuite for the period from December 2023 to July 2024. While the initial script development took approximately eight hours, the resulting automation reduced processing time to seconds. The script created reduces the risk of human error when transforming and any additional transformations that would need to be run due to updated data can be done in a matter of minutes.
Month-end reporting
To reshape the reporting process, the team implemented a Microsoft PowerBI solution that:
- Centralizes all reporting in a single, secure platform
- Enables near real-time data access
- Implements role-based security controls
- Automates distribution to stakeholders
Results
The automation initiatives delivered substantial, measurable improvements:
Historical data migration
The final script:
- Reduces processing time from 2 hours to 15 minutes per month
- Generates annual cost savings of $6,000
- Significantly reduces the risk of human error in data transformation
- Enables rapid processing of any subsequent data updates
Month-end reporting
The final Microsoft PowerBI report:
- Decreases processing time from 20-24 hours to just 30 minutes monthly
- Saves the client 240-288 hours annually
- Eliminates manual report distribution
- Provides stakeholders with self-service access to critical financial data
Ongoing innovation
Building on these successes, BPM’s Data Analytics team continues enhancing the solution’s capabilities. Recent improvements include:
- Providing location managers with detailed cost breakdowns through a new payroll detail dashboard
- Adding utilities and supplies visualization tools
- Streamlining data flow through automated refresh pipeline from NetSuite to Snowflake to PowerBI (in development)
These enhancements address previously time-consuming ad hoc requests, each requiring one to two hours of processing time during critical month-end periods. By making this information readily available through dashboards, the team has eliminated these disruptions while providing greater operational transparency.
Transform your financial operations
Explore how we can help your organization achieve similar results through strategic data automation and visualization solutions. Contact us today to learn more about our innovative approaches to business process optimization.
