Rusta’s embedded a performance management solution based on user requirements
In January 2012, Mercur started to help Rusta implement a new solution for performance management. The first reports were made available to users in May of the same year, and within one year, the new system was functioning throughout the entire organization.
Background
Several factors contributed to the need for a new performance management solution at Rusta. Rusta had grown rapidly as an organization, leading to changes in many administrative processes. Their old solution was not in tune with the current organization and was not able to meet today's information needs, as access to data varied greatly. Store managers got general reports emailed to them once a month and couldn’t drill down and see detailed information behind the figures.
If employees wanted to know more, they had to call the finance department. Analytical work was time-consuming because many people developed reports for their own specific needs, and a great deal of time was required to compile the data.
Quick to implement throughout the organization
Due to a lack of internal resources, Rusta chose to engage external consultant Maria Alkbrant, from Dirigus, as project manager. The aim from the outset was to introduce common, user-friendly tools for decision support, for the entire organization - stores, purchasing, regional managers, and the head office. The new solution needed to support both planning and analysis. One of the requirements was that the system is tried, tested, and quick to implement, without needing to rely on consultants for everyday business. The project began in January 2012 and the first reports were made available to users in May of the same year. Within one year, the new system was functioning throughout the entire organization, with 155 users.
Monitoring sales in department stores
Of Rusta’s 350 users 200 users have written and read access due to their budgeting responsibilities, while the remaining 150 users have read-only access. The role-based authorization to Mercur is divided into three major groups - Stores, Purchasing, and Head Office. Department stores primarily monitor sales, numbers of customers, and average transaction size daily. Monthly, the cost reports and income statements are most important. The business areas and the product line areas monitor sales, contribution margin, and contribution margin ratio on a daily, monthly, and rolling 12 months basis.
Mercur is also frequently used in Rusta’s open-to-buy process. Planners regularly update forecasts in Mercur and receive updated basis for spending, which leads to increased control of both stock and stock turnover. At the Head Office, Mercur is used to monitor overhead and income statements for all companies.
"With Mercur, all store managers have access to dynamic reports and scorecards showing sales and hours worked per day and store, with comparison to budgets and forecasts. They can also see their ranking compared to other stores in the region."
Saved countless hours
With the introduction of Mercur, Rusta has saved countless hours of manual work in Excel and has increased awareness about revenues and costs. Purchase reports that previously took two days of manual work, due to large numbers of product groups and comprehensive reports, are now easily accessible and always updated in Mercur. Ranking reports, produced by one person on a weekly and monthly basis, previously took three hours. Today, this is available as a standard report with multiple parameters that everyone has access to.
Integration with IFS and Medius
Rusta has integrated Mercur with the IFS ERP system and its BI systems, as well as the electronic invoice handling system Medius.
Daily work in Mercur
For many Rusta employees, Mercur is a big part of their everyday work, and a large number of users look at sales reports daily. Every morning, an automatic email containing one of the sales reports is sent to selected parts of the organization. During budget and forecasting times, as well as at month-end closings, an even larger number of employees use Mercur to analyze their overheads and results.
The greatest advantage with Mercur
Rusta lists the main advantages with Mercur:
Faster reporting
Controllers and others in the organization can spend more time analyzing data than compiling it
Better visibility of costs allocated to stores and cost centers, which provides insight into which costs and revenues can be influenced
Greater control contributing to lower risk
Clarified ownership
Clear follow up against budget
Next steps for Rusta
The next step for Rusta is to take reporting and analysis to the next level. Rusta has begun to distribute dashboards to store managers on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. In this way, managers can get a quick overview of sales (for example top-selling articles) and how they are performing about other stores in the region and throughout the country. With the upgrade to Mercur Business Control version 8, during the autumn of 2017, Rusta has experienced significant performance improvements, leading to faster response times and the opportunity to follow up data on an even more granular level.