We would like to thank Ray Newton, CFO of System Source, for this article.

NEWS FLASH – the days of delivering static paper, or even electronic reports are gone (or at least should be). Save yourself and the users of your data the pains of obsolete data and manual data manipulation. Instead:

  1. Make it the standard in your organization to deliver data sets that are dynamically linked to databases in real time.
  2. Educate your information users in the use of Pivot Tables, Filtering, Sorting, Subtotaling, Correlations, and Trending tools.

PivotTables

Providing information in this way allows users of data to not only get the information they are seeking, but allows them to (do I dare use the word?) “creatively” analyze their data in real-time. Empower your users to not only find the immediate answers they are looking for, but also to move forward and answer the questions that arise from their initial findings.

It is time to STOP writing reports – and start delivering meaningful, real-time, flexible analytics.