Prophix Software Inc. has released a new version of its corporate performance management software that integrates new business intelligence tools.
Prophix 10 R3 will make it easier for business and financial analysts to automate business processes that were formerly very “manually intensive,” giving them more time to focus on their mandate, said Paul Barber, CEO of the Mississauga, Ont.-based company.
“You end up with highly-paid people in finance who can spend more time understanding the business and analyzing the numbers instead of spending a lot of time copying and pasting data and formulas in spreadsheets,” Barber said.
Barber said the software illustrates how the company is setting its sights on automating non-transactional systems in the enterprise, such as budgeting and financial reporting, which have to be done on a regular basis. Freeing people from the tedium of performing these tasks, companies can also save time and money, he said.
Geoffrey Ng, vice-president of product planning at Prophix, says R3’s new analytical capabilities will allow financial analysts to incorporate things like visualizations, reports and dashboards into the reports they create. Prophix 10 R3 also “bridges the gap” between strategic and operational planning, he said. The software can be used to hold certain units within a business accountable for their performance, for example.
“Through the use of things like a scorecard that keeps track of key performance indicators that may be key success factors for the business, they can easily track the various metrics like maybe their inventory turns or their profitability, or their cash coverage ratios, and link that to specific divisions or departments within the organization,” Ng said.
As a “Microsoft-centric” company, Prophix’s new software is designed to integrate well with Microsoft SQL server as a data source, said Barber. It can also output to Microsoft Word and Excel. The software can run on a single box running Windows Server all the way to a large cluster of servers.
Prophix 10 R3 is being sold directly by the company as well as through various channel partners in Canada and around the world.