Everything is consolidated in one place, but the key advantage of BrightAnalytics is that we can drill down and analyse discrepancies in the finest detail.

Bridging the gap between spreadsheets and ERP 

10.000 customers, over 250 different products, four entities in two countries – that’s a vast amount of data for a CFO to steer a company with. For Truls Vad Fjeldberg, CFO at Trainor, it was crystal clear that  a professional tool would add tremendous value in making all that data accessible – not just from a financial perspective, but also on an operational level. Since then, BrightAnalytics has been helping to guide the company in the right direction.

“The essence of my job is not so much about reporting figures, but rather understanding what lies behind them,” Truls begins. Some time ago, he reached out to BrightAnalytics because Trainor was in need of a financial consolidation tool. The company group consists of four entities in Norway and Sweden. Until then, the company had relied on spreadsheets for reporting – originally developed by previous CFOs and later adjusted and updated as needed. “Keeping the spreadsheets up to date and accurate was an immense task,” Truls continues. “I wanted a more robust solution that could not only consolidate all information in real -time but also remain independent of the various ERP systems used within our company group. These include different platforms such as Fortnox and Visma.net.“

Before joining Trainor, Truls had worked at another company facing similar challenges. “That company had entities spread across the globe. I was interim CFO there and initiated the search for a tool to help with consolidation and financial reporting. We considered implementing a single large ERP system for all entities. However, this proved difficult, as local adaptations were always needed in different countries. Then I came across BrightAnalytics, which could be layered on top of the various ERP systems. For us, it was the perfect middle ground between opting for one large ERP system and relying on spreadsheets.” Did he compare BrightAnalytics with similar solutions at Trainor? “No, we needed to move quickly, I had already done the comparison at my previous company. I knew it was a solid solution, so the decision was made quickly. 

Both Flexible and Robust 

When Trainor was acquired shortly afterward, it introduced an additional challenge in terms of reporting. From then on, there were two types of reporting: internal management reporting and group reporting. “Fortunately, we were already using BrightAnalytics at that time. The tool allows us to map accounts flexibly and robustly to accommodate both reporting requirements. Moreover, we operate with different account structures in Norway and Sweden. BrightAnalytics consolidates everything in one place while also enabling us to drill down and analyse discrepancies in detail. This makes it easy to retrieve the information we need. Unlike a static system or a spreadsheet linked to an ERP system, BrightAnalytics makes it simple to work with the figures. This is a significant advantage for us, given that we follow multiple reporting standards. I am sometimes asked why we did not opt for PowerBI. From past experiences, I know that this tool does not provide alerts when something goes wrong, such as when there is a change in the data source. While we could potentially perform similar analyses, we would spend significantly more time on setup and maintenance.

Managing Sales and Product Development 

After successfully implementing financial reporting – including P&L, balance sheets, budgeting, reforecasting, and cash flow analysis – Trainor increasingly started using the software for analytical purposes. This included insights at the product, customer segment, and supplier levels. Truls explains: “We have around 10,000 customers and approximately 250 different products. A key task for us is analysing who buys what. Managing data on such a large scale is a real challenge. Having a tool that provides us with these insights is essential for understanding our business. BrightAnalytics helps us do this better than before. The figures we extract from BrightAnalytics guide our sales department and product development and inform our discussions with suppliers. This means we don’t just use the software for financial reporting but also to steer the company.”

At Trainor, all management levels have access to the system, albeit with different access rights. “The COO uses it at an operational level, and the sales department can extract the data that is relevant to them. The CEO, in turn, has a clear view of the company’s financial performance without having to send an email. The ability to set individual access rights is a major advantage: it ensures that not everyone sees everything and also makes the system easier to use. Users are not overwhelmed with unnecessary information. This is one of the reasons why the tool is accessible to non-financial profiles-something that would not be the case with a standard ERP system.”

Finally, Truls is also highly positive about the collaboration with BrightAnalytics. “They challenge me to think about new possibilities, and in turn, I challenge them to further refine the system. They are quick to respond to these requests. And whenever there has been an issue with the system, it has always been resolved very quickly. Excellent customer service,’ he concludes.