GL Wand Supports High Seas Commerce and Faster Oracle R12 Financial Reporting Processes at Berge Bulk

“GL Wand offers easy report creation using an Excel interface and provides immediate updates with live data, so we knew it could help us make big improvements in our internal financial reporting processes.”

Ying Shi, Business Finance Analyst, Berge Bulk

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY2013–2014

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY2013–2014

As a fast growing company in the global shipping market, Berge Bulk Ltd. needed a straightforward way to create financial reports from its Oracle R12.1 ERP system. The company struggled with exporting the required financial information from Oracle into a maze of Excel spreadsheets needed for reporting on its growing fleet of ships. By taking of advantage of GL Wand’s direct link to Oracle data via an Excel interface, Berge Bulk has addressed many of the bottlenecks in its financial reporting processes and gained greater confidence in report data.

“We are much more confident in the data from GL Wand because it

automatically pulls from Oracle with

a refresh, meaning we don’t have to

spend as much time validating it.”

Ying Shi Business Finance Analyst, Berge Bulk

One of the world’s leading independent dry bulk owners, Berge Bulk Ltd. focuses on long term industrial shipping of vital commodities like steel, coal and iron ore. Headquartered in Bermuda and managed from Singapore, the company was set up in 2007 to focus on dry bulk shipping using 12 ships. It has since grown its fleet to more than 40 vessels, including some of the world’s largest dry bulk carriers, with new ones being added all the time.

Facing such rapid growth, Berge Bulk needed a way to easily and accurately report the financial performance of the company and its ships using its Oracle R12.1 ERP system. It also needed a way to standardize internal financial reporting processes to support this growth and allow more time for financial analysis. When Finance managers decided a more automated approach to reporting was needed, Berge Bulk turned to GL Wand, an Excel-based financial reporting and inquiry tool from Excel4apps.

Maze of Spreadsheets Complicates Reporting

To create financial reports, Berge Bulk’s Finance department initially used Oracle Discoverer to export financial data to Excel spreadsheets, where it was manipulated and formatted to display the required financial details. This time consuming process took around four hours per report, and left open the potential for manual errors.

GL Wand for Oracle shown

“We are about half way through addressing bottlenecks in our financial reporting processes, and GL Wand has been a huge help in accomplishing this.” Ying Shi, Business Finance Analyst, Berge Bulk

“We had multiple Excel spreadsheets linked together into a confusing maze,” said Ying Shi, Business Finance Analyst at Berge Bulk. “Also, as the data was exported to Excel and arranged into the correct format, there was always the chance that errors could be introduced, which required additional time for validation of data.” Live Data Populates GL Wand for Automated Updates

Berge Bulk needed a way to both expedite and improve its financial reporting processes that went over and beyond what Oracle tools could provide. One of the company’s Financial Managers had used GL Wand at a previous company, and knew that its real-time access to live Oracle data through a familiar Excel front-end could provide help in accomplishing those goals.

“Because we continued to grow and add vessels, we understood that we needed a more timely and accurate way to access and report general ledger data,” said Ying Shi. “GL Wand offers easy report creation using an Excel interface and provides immediate updates with live data, so we knew it could help us make big improvements in our internal financial reporting processes.”

In late 2012, Berge Bulk purchased GL Wand. The Finance department was able to install and begin using GL Wand with minimal support and training, as the company’s IT department primarily focuses on supporting the vessels shipping products around the world. GL Wand is now used to create four types of month-end reports, including the profit and loss (P&L) statement by vessel.

“It now takes just two hours to create each report, and we expect the time requirements to drop even further as we get a handle on our internal process for financial reporting, which is challenging as we continue to grow so quickly,” explained Ying Shi, who is now a GL Wand super user. “Also, we are much more confident in the data from GL Wand because it automatically pulls from Oracle with

a refresh, meaning we don’t have to spend as much time validating it.”

Additional Improvements Around the Corner

Managers have noticed that month-end reports are faster, according to Ying Shi, who expects ongoing benefits from using GL Wand.

“We are about half way through addressing bottlenecks in our financial reporting processes, and GL Wand has been a huge help in accomplishing this,” Ying Shi described. “Once those improvements in internal process are further along, we will convert more month-end reports to GL Wand, and accountants will also begin using it more for management and ad-hoc queries.”

www.excel4apps.com

Started in 2007 with 12 ships by CEO James Marshall to focus on industrial dry bulk shipping

Key customers include the world’s largest steel mills and mining companies

Headquartered in Bermuda and managed out of Singapore

Currently owns, operates and manages a fleet of 40 vessels equating to over 9 million DWT

Has used Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1 since 2009

©2014 Excel4apps. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Excel4apps is a best-in-class provider of Excel-based reporting, inquiry, and budget-loading software for Oracle and SAP. Designed for finance professionals, its award-winning GL Wand, Reports Wand and Budget Wand products easily and securely deliver real-time ERP data using Microsoft Excel® to save reporting time and effort. Excel4apps serves over 16,000 Oracle and SAP users in 62 countries, with offices in Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and South Africa.

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