Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

The data model of sqlFinance provides an excellent base for later analysis and an efficient controlling. Normalised bookings are very suitable for the treatment with statistical methods and can be considered as a multivariate system. A number of parameters (account, organisation, contract, etc.) influences as a resulting variable the amount. This way we get straightaway a correctly designed data-Cube, as it is common in „business intelligence“ applications. This data cube will include the following parameters:

• Organisation: the internal organisation of the company, often addressed as cost centre structure
• Business: the single client project or a collection of client oriented activities (in this case: business field)
• Contract: the contract partner (client, supplier, employee)
• Product:  the physical product or the service, with reference to product lines, measurement units and prices

The possibility to indicate a contract partner in all bookings makes it possible to keep the chart of accounts very slim. Since the contract partners are transferred to a separate reference table, the chart of accounts only holds the stable scaffold for the presentation in the balance and the income statement. The contract number can be equally used for the administration of bank accounts, insurance policies, telephone numbers, rental agreements, etc. In addition to this contract reference, there is the supplementary possibility to manage client projects or internal projects in a further reference table (“business”). With this approach single sided bookings can attribute supplier movements directly to client projects, which makes the internal logistics and project reporting very efficient.

While the contract partners represent the external relations of the company, the organisation serves for the structuring of the internal relations and responsibilities. The organisation can represent a cost or a profit centre. Organisational units can be assigned to master organisations (e.g. departments or sales areas). Similarly employees can be registered as part of an organisational unit.

The product field is only available in the modules purchase and sales and offers not only the possibility to manage material and services, but also entire bills of materials and inventory locations. In the full version sqlFinance includes a payroll and time management module as well. The salaries can be attributed to organisational units. The partial closing of an intermediate period will then show the personnel expenses per organisational units and import these summary bookings into the general ledger. The same way operating hours per employee can be attributed to a project or business field, or get moved from one organisational unit to another one. Bookings of this kind can be imported as a summary to the general ledger reporting as well.