In many businesses the monthly report looks like this: someone pulls lists out of the ERP, copies them into an Excel workbook, adds figures from the online shop and from accounts, checks the sums and sends out the result. It takes time, it depends on one person, and the overview is already out of date by the time it arrives.

On top of that comes a second problem, which often matters more: the figures do not match. Sales report a different turnover from accounts, the stock level in the report differs from the system, and the meeting revolves around which figure is right instead of what follows from it.

Why the figures do not match

Rarely is one of the figures simply wrong. Usually two people mean different things by the same word.

  • Turnover: Does the order count, the delivery or the invoice? With or without credit notes, with or without carriage?
  • Order intake: Does the date of the purchase order count or that of the order confirmation? What happens to cancelled orders?
  • Margin: Which purchase price is used, the latest, the average or the planned one?
  • How current: Is the report from this morning or from the last export three weeks ago?

As long as these questions are unanswered, even the finest dashboard will not help.

What a good report needs

One source for every figure

Every key figure comes from exactly one system. Turnover from invoices comes from the ERP, not from a copy in Excel that someone has been updating by hand. Where data comes from several systems, it is settled which system leads for which item. More on this in our guide Master data in one place.

Clear terms

For every key figure there is a short written explanation: what is counted, what is not, and from which date. That sounds like red tape, but it saves every other discussion in the meeting.

Current data

A report that fills itself from the system is always up to date. One that is put together by hand is as old as the last export.

Permissions

Not everyone should see everything. Margins, purchase prices and figures for individual staff belong only to those who need them. Anyone drawing reports from the system should have the same permissions as in the system itself. Why that matters is described in our guide Roles and permissions.

The routes to a report

Reports in the ERP itself

Most ERP systems come with reports and lists, often more than the business uses. Before anything new is created, it is worth asking: what can the system already do, and why does nobody use it? Sometimes all that is missing is a filter, a column or someone to set up the report once.

Excel or Power BI with a direct connection

Instead of exporting every month, Excel or Power BI can, where possible, be connected directly to the ERP, for example through Power Query or an interface the system provides. The report is then refreshed at the press of a button or automatically. Whether and how this works depends on which access your ERP offers. The rules on permissions and terms apply here just the same.

Bringing data together from several systems

It gets harder when a key figure needs data from several systems: orders from the ERP, orders from the online shop, hours from time recording, payments from accounts. The data then has to fit together, for example through the same customer number in every system. This is often the moment when it shows how clean the master data really is. How systems are connected is explained in our guide What is an interface?

Questions in everyday language

A newer route is AI assistants that can put questions to the ERP: “Which orders are overdue?” or “Which customers have ordered less this quarter than last?”. For that the assistant needs controlled access to the system, today often through an MCP server. How that works is described in our guide What is an MCP server?

The important point: the figures come from the system, not from the language model. The assistant asks the question and words the answer; the calculating happens in the ERP. Language models are unreliable at arithmetic, and a figure the model has worked out itself has no place in a decision. More on this in our guide What AI cannot do for your business.

A few key figures instead of a wall of charts

A dashboard with forty charts looks impressive and stops being opened after a few weeks. Better are a few key figures that someone really needs in order to decide something:

  • For the managing director, for example, order intake, turnover and open items.
  • For sales, open quotes and customers who are ordering less.
  • For the warehouse, items below minimum stock and deliveries that have to go out today.
  • For purchasing, overdue orders with suppliers.

Ask of every key figure: who looks at it, and what do they do differently if it rises or falls? If there is no answer, the figure can go.

Checklist

  • Which reports are put together by hand today, and how much time do they take?
  • Which figures are regularly questioned in meetings?
  • Is it written down for every key figure what it counts and which system it comes from?
  • What can your ERP’s reports already do, and who uses them?
  • Which reports need data from several systems?
  • Who may see which figures?

If your figures sit in several systems and do not match, the solution rarely lies in the chart but in the connections behind it. How we connect systems where possible is shown on our page on ERP integration.