The controlling team worked in Microsoft Dynamics. The system does its job, but some tasks controllers perform every month are not provided for, or only with considerable customisation: recording postings and adjustments, applying corrections traceably and producing exports in the form downstream processes require.
Where the ERP ends, the Excel shadow world begins
When a function is missing, a workaround appears. Usually it is an Excel file at the edge of the system that travels by email. It contains business logic nobody checks and creates data versions nobody sees centrally. Customising the ERP core is the other route, but it is costly and has to be carried through every release. Both cost time and control.
Does this sound familiar?
If your controllers regularly export data from the ERP, adjust it in Excel and load it back, let us show you in a first conversation how a small app closes that gap.
The app runs where the data is secure
We did not build the application next to the data but inside the Snowflake environment where the data already resides. Permissions are managed centrally there: row-level security ensures that each role only sees and edits the data released to it. Security comes from the platform and does not have to be rebuilt in every app. Data is not copied into side systems.
The ERP remains the leading system for accounting. The app adds a separate, clearly delimited layer for controlling adjustments. Every entry is stored with user and timestamp, so it is always clear which figure comes from the ERP and which results from an adjustment. How such a platform is built alongside Dynamics is shown in our article Two Worlds, One Ledger.
The process defines the app
The app maps the controlling workflow, not a list of features: record postings and adjustments, check the result, produce exports. Everyone works on the same data instead of sending files around. Because platform and security are already in place, such an application is a quick build, not a major project.
Three takeaways
- A gap in the ERP is no reason for Excel. What the system cannot do can be added in a small, secured app. More under Software & Apps.
- Security comes from the platform. Row-level security set up properly once applies to every app running on it. The foundation is described in our article on the semantic layer.
- Start small. The function that costs the most time every month is the right first step and delivers the fastest benefit.