Running head: INTELLIGENCE REPORT
Intelligence Report
Nicole Ferguson
Bellevue University
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Abstract
There are many different concepts that can arise from enterprises which will require
some type of business intelligence. Many issues and questions are more than just
collecting data and information – there needs to be a measured analysis to make a
supportive decision.
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Intelligence Report
The basic idea of business intelligence by a company is to use this tool to
improve decision making, cut costs, and identify new business opportunities (Mulcahy,
2007). This is normally done by applying the various business intelligence tools. By
using these tools, we can better understand the knowledge and any opportunities or
threats. Over the next few paragraphs I will be going into detail about an actual project
that I have been apart of for the last few months. This project has involved using the
business intelligence tool in reference that we feel in our business we have identified
new opportunities to better assist our customers.
When first starting the intelligence process, specific questions are normally
addressed. In reference to the project that I have been a part of, all the questions and
explorations were already determined by upper management. Their decision based
upon research and analysis was to begin a new division in the main Accounts Payable
department by bringing all Accounts Payables functions from every facility under one
roof in essence creating a Shared Service Center. We already processed the majority
of our company’s payables, however, many of our smaller facilities processed their own
payables. Our upper management team presented to all of our smaller facilities
business units of what we would be able to do for them. Studies show that moving
processes to a Shared Service Center have been known for their cost saving benefit ,
such as fewer lost invoices, improved visibility, quicker approval of invoices, and lower
processing costs (Advisors). When the business units found that by moving their
payables to the Shared Services would lower their processing costs, they starting lining
up to start the move.
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When implemented successfully, a true Shared Service can create optimal value
for customers and stakeholders (Advisors). The Shared Services responsibility delivers
process excellence, service excellence, best practices, and value-added capabilities to
enhance overall process quality (Advisors). This is exactly the information that our
upper management strived to advise the business unties that our team would be able to
provide to them. Keep in mind that our upper management is using their lower
processing costs advantage to the business units as our team would be able to take on
these functions with less head count than they currently had. Taking on the additional
workload of other business units with half the people to do the job meant that we had to
start our own business intelligence use of tools.
The unique situation of moving the business unit’s payables to our Shared
Services group was that we would be “lifting and shifting” their payables to our group.
This is meaning that we are literally taking whatever system that they are currently
processing their payables out of and moving that system and process to our Shared
Services group. The idea is that we would be processing out of this system until we are
able to transition to our shared services system when the time is chosen to upgrade.
The analysis approach that was used in order for upper management to support
their decision was based upon the SWOT Analysis tool. SWOT stands for strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Goodrich, 2015). By using this analysis,
businesses are able to identify both internal and external influences. Business can look
at the current situation and strategically plan for a goal-setting process. The upper
management team was able to look at our renounces and cababilities available to meet
the additional goals of adding on more payable functions. They made sure to look at
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any gaps in our capabilities or poor response from any of our current customers on how
we do our current processes. By exploring this opportunity, our upper management
realized what a good business venture this would be to partner within our own business
units. Before upper management could make sure this was a decision they could
propose they had to make sure and minimize any barriers, such as tax changes, etc.
Once upper management was aware of the positive and negative elements they were
able to move forward with their proposals. SWOT is an invaluable tool that can help
you navigate and implement a sound strategy for the business (Goodrich, 2015)
Many businesses are always looking out for better ways to reduce their costs.
For this approach to move all accounts payables functions to one Shared Service was
also the business intelligence tool of value analysis. Value analysis is a critical advance
in reducing costs. If correctly implemented and applied, value analysts can reduce
costs, modernize the processes, uncover any design flaws, and the benefits to our
customers (Gresham). This approach that our upper management used to our business
units was a methodical approach given to improve their cost structure.
Now that our business units are on board with starting the process of moving
their payables to our Shared Services begins the real intelligence process tool – but this
time it will be from the Shared Services side. Upper management has done their part by
selling our Shared Services services and now it is our time to show these business units
that we are capable of taking on their processes efficiently, professionally, and
operational.
Anytime that your are implementing or redirecting to a central location, one of the
key steps will be to make sure that you are informing the vendors of the changes
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(Graham, 2011). The vendors are extremely a crucial part of the transition process to
run more efficiently and will ensure that they will not have a lag in their payments due to
the transition. Another key factor is the resistance to change from both the team
currently processing these payables to the shared services team members (What is
Shared Service?). What is happening to the team member that is currently processing
the payables is that they will no longer have a position once this has been transitioned.
Therefore, it is imperative that we are sensitive their needs and address their issues
during this transition. All of these factors are part of a check sheet that is a tool used in
business intelligence. Before moving the process, a list needs to be made that
observes the current operations, identifies any issues, and maintains the highest level of
professionalism.
The biggest part of the transition is the training of how the process works
currently in order to know how to process when transitioned. There are many tools that
we utilized in mapping out this process. We gathered manuals, made screen prints,
took notes, made flow charts, and did some process maps. However, after only being
trained for 2 weeks on the process to transition to our Shared Services, it was an
unavoidable black hole that knowledge management would be the most important
business intelligence tool that we would be able to utilize.
There are two types of knowledge: explicit and tacit. Explicit knowledge is
basically like a manual you can pass on to the next person or information that you are
able to save in a database (Knowledge Management). Tacit knowledge is often learned
by experience (Knowledge Management). This is where we realized that tacit
knowledge was going to be a key player in the effectiveness of this transition. The main
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key person that was training had been in the position for over 15 years. This is 15 years
of basically tacit knowledge that in less than 2 weeks would only be about a 2 percent
chance of retainage. This was something that during the transitional period a lot of vital
information was not exposed. The main reason for this is that a lot of transactions or
procedures only occur maybe once a month and there is no documentation and a lot of
tacit knowledge is only learned by experience.
This is where critical thinking becomes very useful. The transition period had
already occurred and plans were in place to begin processioning the business unit’s
payables into our Shared Services. By utilizing our intelligence tools we were able to
being keeping track of the information on a daily basis in spreadsheets and started a
new manual of processes. We were fortunate that we have a 3-month transition time
lag to utilize the previous persons for any questions or assistance. We have crucially
used this time to make sure we ask as many questions as we can, document as much
as we can and learn anything that we have in order to make this transition to our shared
services a success.
Anytime that business intelligence is used within a process change, companies
have found new ways to save money as well as connect with their customers (Nash,
2010) Today, companies are making sure that they can use their business intelligence
tools to move forward in their industries as well as with their customers.
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References
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Advisors, P. (n.d.). The Road to Financial Shared Services . Retrieved from
saphiraconsullting.com:
http://www.saphiraconsulting.com/images/stories/PayStream_Shared_Services_
Report_ReadSoft_2013.pdf
Goodrich, R. (2015, January 1). SWOT Analysis: Examples, Templates, & Definition.
Retrieved from buinessnewsdaily.com: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245swot-analysis.html
Graham, A. (2011, April 27). 10 Things to Consider Before You To Into an AP Shared
Services System. Retrieved from keymarkinc.com:
http:www.keymarkinc.com/infographic
Gresham, T. (n.d.). What are the Benefits of Value Analysis? . Retrieved from
smallbusiness.chron.com: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-valueanalysis-41686.html
Knowledge Management. (n.d.). Retrieved from mindtools.com:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_87.htm
Mulcahy, R. (2007, March 6). Buisness Intelligence Definition and Solutions. Retrieved
from cio.com: http://www.cio.com/article/2439504/business-intelligence/businessintelligence-definition-and-solutions.html
Nash, K. (2010, July 1). Analyzing the Future. Retrieved from proquest.com.
What is Shared Service? (n.d.). Retrieved from peeriosity.com:
https://www.peeriosity.com/shared-services/articles/2012/06/what-is-sharedservices/
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