When
Thompson Tractor Company converted from DBSi to DBSi 5.0, the company’s treasurer, Paul Tombrello, knew he could count on Advanced Computer Inc. (ACI) to empower his managers to make more informed decisions with the new elements and external references anticipated in DBSi 5.0.
ACI, which was recently acquired by TARGIT, provided Thompson Tractor Company with what they needed: a database repository that provided the flexibility to work with their present and future financial packages as well as a variety of reporting software packages.
Time and resources were not available to evaluate, purchase, and retrain users in a new reporting tool when converting to DBSi 5.0, and Tombrello had already proven ACI’s reporting strategy in his previous conversion from DBS to DBSi, so he knew could count on ACI again. Plus, ACI’s open architecture allowed Thompson Tractor Company to retain the existing reporting designs known to be effective in the last conversion.
ACI’s methodologies simplified Thompson Tractor Company's reporting administration with a data repository that is compatible with different software applications such as CODA, CRM, Engine Project Management, and other data sources. ACI automatically updated their repository, multidimensional cubes, and reports.
The administration of security and access to end users was also streamlined. Thompson Tractor Company staff could focus on basic and intermediate technical support while ACI provided advanced technical support and value-added processes. ACI also built validation cubes and reports for detailed validation of accounts by Division, Department, and Store. Cubes were used to improve performance while doing the financial validations.
Gross Profit by Customer and Market Segment
But why stop there? Tombrello wondered if there was a way to analyze customer profitability. Of course, ACI had the solution. When ACI converted Thompson Tractor Company's Automated Financial Reporting system (AFR) to CODA V10, a Market Segment dimension was added to Thompson’s Operating Statement cube. This allows all dealer expenses to be aggregated at the customer level. Users can analyze individual customer profitability as well as profitability by Industry, Territory, Product Group, and Business Mix.