In today’s finance landscape, fully owning your Finance Data Warehouse is paramount. This centralised hub contains core financials, budgets, forecasts, and operational data tailored explicitly for finance needs. However, establishing an effective Finance Data Warehouse can be complex and slow, especially as many IT teams have limited Finance experience. Thankfully, tools like Calumo, with support from dedicated consultants, streamline implementation, enabling finance teams to leverage data-driven insights, informed decision-making, and efficient automation from Calumo and related tools like Power BI and Excel.
Understanding the Finance Data Warehouse:
At its core, a Finance Data Warehouse serves as the nerve centre of financial data management. It acts as a centralised repository, aggregating financial data from various sources such as General Ledger systems, budgeting and forecasting tools, operational databases, relevant external sources, and manual input and commentary. By consolidating data at a granular level, the Finance Data Warehouse enhances the contextual understanding of financial information, facilitating automation and comprehensive reporting and analysis.
The Role of Calumo and Power BI:
Calumo transcends traditional reporting and budgeting tools by offering a comprehensive solution that includes creating a tailored Finance Data Warehouse in Microsoft SQL Server using a dimensional model approach. This Finance Data Warehouse is then expanded over time to further empower finance.
Calumo uses Cubes, which, like large pivot tables, can easily be viewed and queried online for rapid and self-service analysis. These cubes and direct links to the Finance Data Warehouse also form the basis of Calumo’s intuitive and flexible reporting capabilities. Reports are authored in Excel, and there is no end to the types of reports that are possible; writeback can also be enabled across different cubes and situations, commentary captured directly, and the full power of SQL Server (and Excel) can be used for modelling, automation or creation of Finance specific applications to generate complex allocation journals, commission calculations, eliminations or any of the hundreds of other things that a well-built Finance Data Warehouse with a friendly interface allows.
Calumo also has charting capabilities and can leverage Excel charts. Still, it does not have the purpose-built and specialised visualisations of Power BI. Fortunately, it can provide tailored (and updatable) datasets for Power BI, unlocking powerful visualisation capabilities. This integration empowers finance professionals to explore and analyse data effortlessly, driving informed decision-making and strategic insights. It also means that finance uses a single source of truth and does not waste time wrangling data or DAX (the formula language used in Power BI).
Challenges in Establishing a Finance Data Warehouse:
Establishing and maintaining a finance-centric data warehouse poses unique challenges, especially for IT teams who may not be deeply familiar with the specific needs and nuances of the finance domain, may have limited or no prior experience in developing and managing finance-specific data warehouses, and, like any good IT team, may have many competing priorities. This knowledge gap underscores the importance of partnering with a specialised consultancy like Brydens BI (yes, this is a plug!). With a wealth of experience in developing and managing complex Finance Data Warehouses, Brydens BI is a trusted ally, leading and guiding organisations through every implementation stage, always being available and providing ongoing support as an extension of the Finance team.
A good Finance Data Warehouse is data source agnostic. Over the course of several years, Brydens BI has had many clients change source systems, change staff, buy and sell businesses, and work through reorganisations. The only constant is the Finance Data Warehouse, with Calumo as its key interface. In fact, it is not unusual when a CFO changes businesses for Calumo and the principal consultant they trust to be very high on their list of priorities.
Synergy Between Calumo, Power BI, Excel and Brydens BI:
The synergy between Calumo, Power BI, and Brydens BI offers unparalleled benefits for finance teams. Calumo’s robust Finance Data Warehouse and finance-friendly reporting and modelling serve as the foundation, while Power BI enhances visualisation and ad-hoc once-off capabilities, bringing data to life. Calumo also directly links to Excel and uses Excel for report authoring to capitalise on existing Excel skills. With Brydens BI’s expertise and support, organisations can be up and running quickly, maximising the value derived from these tools, unlocking new insights, driving efficiency, and empowering informed decision-making.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How does Calumo differentiate itself from traditional budgeting tools?
Calumo goes beyond conventional budgeting tools by offering a comprehensive solution that includes creating a tailored Finance Data Warehouse and dynamic online reporting authored in Excel. Unlike traditional tools that focus solely on budgeting, Calumo effectively serves as a centralised hub or platform for financial and relevant operational data, enabling deeper insights and analysis. Furthermore, Calumo integrates seamlessly with Excel, and the Finance Data Warehouse it links to is built using Microsoft SQL Server using a Dimensional model approach perfectly suited for Power BI. This means that tailored correctly formed datasets can be generated for Power BI to fully unlock its potential without becoming bogged down in data wrangling and complex data transformations that many Finance staff may not have the time or background to achieve.
What specific advantages does linking Power BI with Calumo offer finance teams?
Many staff will have experience with Excel and Power BI. Linking Power BI with tailored datasets from the Finance Data Warehouse that underpins Calumo ensures a single source of truth removing key data sourcing and data transform issues associated with Power BI. It also means Finance teams get the best of both worlds, including the enhanced visualisation capabilities of Power BI and the data management, modelling and finance-friendly reporting capabilities of Calumo.
How does Brydens BI support clients with their Finance Data Warehouse and Finance needs?
Brydens BI offers specialised expertise in designing, implementing, and supporting Finance Data Warehouse and analytics capabilities, drawing from its extensive experience with a range of large private and listed companies. Given its Finance and IT knowledge combined with its depth of experience, a typical implementation requires only limited input from client-side resources.
Collaborating closely with clients, Brydens BI actively provides options, suggests best practise and delivers tailored solutions that address unique needs and challenges. As client businesses grow and change, Brydens BI remains available to account for change, allowing the Finance team to focus on adding value and drive efficiency, accuracy, and strategic decision-making.