NE-XT Technologies Reduces Reporting Time from Days to Minutes with Spreadsheet Server

In brief

• NE-XT Technologies’ labor-intensive, manual reporting process relied on multiple spreadsheets and heavy time investment.
• The company needed an easy, flexible solution for report creation and data analysis.
• With Spreadsheet Server, NE-XT Technologies reduced the financial reporting process from 1-2 days to less than 5 minutes.

Founded in 1971 as a two-man shop, NE-XT Technologies has grown over more than 50 years into a 200+ employee manufacturing company that uses innovative processes to manufacture complex, close tolerance, and precision-machined components and assemblies for applications in aerospace, defense, and other industrial OEMs. Using a solutions-based mindset and more than 100 CNC machines, NE-XT creates the highest quality products possible for its customers.

User-Friendly Report Creation

When Rich Havighorst was named Chief Financial Officer at NE-XT Technologies in 2022, he described the business as a venture capital startup. While the company has grown exponentially, NE-XT prides itself on running leaner than its 200+ employees might suggest, keeping a relatively small administrative staff and no IT department.

One of the first things Havighorst did as CFO was to implement Epicor and Spreadsheet Server for unified data management and reporting. “Before the implementation, our process was basically taking a trial balance and manually mapping it up into the financial statements every month by using a bunch of VLOOKUP formulas,” Havighorst explained. “We needed an easy, flexible solution for report creation and data analysis.”

Havighorst decided to implement Epicor and Spreadsheet Server together because Spreadsheet Server gave his team the user-friendly reporting process they needed. “One of the big disadvantages with Epicor alone was you still had to go back into the source system to research down into the transactions,” he said. “One of the big benefits of Spreadsheet Server is that it can drill-down or drill-through to get to underlying data; it saves a ton of time in trying to understand what’s rolling up.”

“If You Can Use Excel, You Can Use Spreadsheet Server”

The main reason Havighorst chose to implement Spreadsheet Server alongside Epicor is its Excel compatibility. As an Excel add-in with seamless ERP integration, using Spreadsheet Server leverages your team’s existing skill and comfort with Excel. Setup is quick and easy, and Havighorst’s team is now able to generate financial statements and drill down to transaction data without ever leaving Excel.

Havighorst realized early on that anyone with even a basic knowledge of Excel could successfully use Spreadsheet Server. For NE-XT’s financial reporting needs, it came down to a single Excel formula. Spreadsheet Server allows you to build a query and save it to your ribbon in Excel. From there, you can access it at any time, for any report. From building reports to creating charts and pivot tables, “one Excel formula drives it all,” he said. “Once you know this one formula, you can get pretty much any data you need.”

Drill-Down is a Favorite Feature

The feature Havighorst enjoys the most when working with Spreadsheet Server is the ability to drill down to transaction-level data in real time without leaving Excel. He loves being able to select the number he needs more information on, select drill down, and immediately see the transaction history tied to that number.

Epicor data also automatically updates in Excel to enable real-time reporting. Havighorst’s team now has the ability to drill down to transaction data to find and fix errors and inconsistencies. “When I’m closing the books and I want to look at what’s in a charge, I don’t need to go into Epicor. I can basically do it right from my spreadsheet and drill straight down into the charges one by one.”

Drill-down is available for both financial and non-financial data, making it a useful feature to track both financial transactions and inventory and logistics information. Being able to drill down to details like these without leaving Excel saves countless hours of work for Havighorst’s team.

Not Just for Finance

Spreadsheet Server makes finance reporting quick and easy, but it extends far beyond that. NE-XT can use Spreadsheet Server for any kind of operational reporting the company needs, including physical inventory counts, updating standards, and creating DMT templates.

As the company continues to grow and expand, Havighorst is looking forward to taking advantage of Spreadsheet Server’s distribution manager and expanding its use to the rest of his team. He plans to hire a controller and a dedicated IT person to be the main report creators, and to train more business users on the software so his team can continue making efficiency gains and delivering insightful analysis to the company.

Outcome

Spreadsheet Server allows NE-XT Technologies to automate previously manual processes, saving time and eliminating the potential for errors. A reporting process that once took days to complete now takes only minutes, allowing Havighorst and his team to focus on providing strategic analysis and business insights for continued growth.

“Before Epicor and Spreadsheet Server, gathering the data and creating reports was a very manual, one- to two-day process. Now, I can generate financials in under 5 minutes, and immediately begin analysis.”

Ready to learn more about how Spreadsheet Server can help you streamline your financial and operational reporting? Read the brochure.