New Market Evaluation for PE Investor
We have recently engaged in our first project in support of a European PE investor which is evaluating new cross-border investment strategies tailored to emerging market conditions.
Time-Proof Bank Payment Interface
After the first few trial attempts made out of excel the internal audit team highlighted the need for a payment interface which was able to perform end to end operations without user intervention. To serve this purpose a new writer program was to be developed which was creating and placing the payment file generated on a dedicated internal storage and sending the remittance document via email. Using some built in flexibility the same interface Mr. Balint was able to reapply with a different bank in Dubai without the need of a single line code change which is a good example of how a thoroughly considered design with a mapping capability can create a reliable and reusable solution optimizing the usage of corporate resources.
Global Concur Integration Server
When first laid hand on the Concur Integration immediately were discovered two critical conditions: 1. FTP used as file transfer which despite the fact that the file was PGP encrypted it posed obvious risk and 2. an outdated operating system. After successfully lobbied for a dedicated new server Tamas refactored the 1.5Mbyte sized, redundant VBS script based interface into a tiny, ini file driven bash script running in Windows Linux Subsystem. It was able to continue at any step if interrupted, and identify any new country supplied in the file. From this moment introducing a new country was simply to set a few parameters like region, ID and even the files put into parking were picked and repurposed as per the settings to ensure their final delivery at the relevant target system for all the regions and countries using Concur in the company. The external operation was SSH based and internally the delivery was FTP due to the constraints on the receiver side.
The implementation was so successful that after a little while when the need came for a similar interface for the lease management, it could be reapplied with minimal code change hence some elements of the more complex Concur operation were not needed.
Data Warehouse issues resolved
First Case: Cube-Based Profit and Loss BI Tool
In an in-house, cube-based Profit and Loss statement BI tool, Mr. Balint together with a Turkey-based team identified discrepancies where revenue and cost appeared on different products. Pinpointing the sources of these issues and implementing proper (semi-automatic) allocation rules significantly improved the reporting quality in product and customer matrix. The improved accuracy in data reporting enhanced the Turkish business’s engagement with the system and facilitated better decision-making on product profitability. This achievement ultimately led to his relocation to Turkey, where he spent almost eight years driving further business improvements.
Second Case: DSS Warehouse Installation
After the local migration of the DSS warehouse, a significant issue was discovered: header and detail records were connected using the order number, which was not a unique key. This mismatch led to inaccurate results. By extending the tables to include the invoice number, the records were finally producing a result which was aligned with the expected values, thereby ensuring data accuracy and reliability.
Disaster Avoidance
During a shared EU ERP system outage, a proactive thinking and innovative use of the test server enabled continuous operations, resulting in the best sales week of the year for a fresh dairy company. Utilizing the auxiliary systems’ handheld capabilities which were developed for order entry and been in production for some time. Mr Balint ensured that transactions were properly numbered, meeting legal requirements and in line with the broken live system. For sales and invoice generation tasks, utilizing existing interfaces to transfer final transactions between the test and production systems, it was possible to completely avoid the need for manual re-entry of missing transactions. This approach significantly reduced recovery time and minimized the risk of human error.
Fixed Assets System Upgraded
To overcome the shortcomings of the older system, Mr. Balint led a fundamental redesign of a core Fixed Assets module. Utilizing a higher software version’s source code, advanced functions like disposal with different rules were introduced with adaptation of the various real life scenarios. The team also incorporated special regulations such as daily depreciation in Hungary and enhanced the asset life-cycle with re-capitalization for refurbished assets, significantly improving asset management processes.
Retail P&L
Mr. Balint developed a robust Retail P&L database along with a highly flexible dashboard for an oil company. This dashboard allowed comparisons across periods, countries, and phases like budget vs. latest estimates for the given KPIs, thereby enhancing financial reporting accuracy and providing management with insights to improve efficiency within the CEE region.
New Market Evaluation for PE Investor
We have recently engaged in our first project in support of a European PE investor which is evaluating new cross-border investment strategies tailored to emerging market conditions.
Time-Proof Bank Payment Interface
After the first few trial attempts made out of excel the internal audit team highlighted the need for a payment interface which was able to perform end to end operations without user intervention. To serve this purpose a new writer program was to be developed which was creating and placing the payment file generated on a dedicated internal storage and sending the remittance document via email. Using some built in flexibility the same interface Mr. Balint was able to reapply with a different bank in Dubai without the need of a single line code change which is a good example of how a thoroughly considered design with a mapping capability can create a reliable and reusable solution optimizing the usage of corporate resources.
Global Concur Integration Server
When first laid hand on the Concur Integration immediately were discovered two critical conditions: 1. FTP used as file transfer which despite the fact that the file was PGP encrypted it posed obvious risk and 2. an outdated operating system. After successfully lobbied for a dedicated new server Tamas refactored the 1.5Mbyte sized, redundant VBS script based interface into a tiny, ini file driven bash script running in Windows Linux Subsystem. It was able to continue at any step if interrupted, and identify any new country supplied in the file. From this moment introducing a new country was simply to set a few parameters like region, ID and even the files put into parking were picked and repurposed as per the settings to ensure their final delivery at the relevant target system for all the regions and countries using Concur in the company. The external operation was SSH based and internally the delivery was FTP due to the constraints on the receiver side.
The implementation was so successful that after a little while when the need came for a similar interface for the lease management, it could be reapplied with minimal code change hence some elements of the more complex Concur operation were not needed.
Data Warehouse issues resolved
First Case: Cube-Based Profit and Loss BI Tool
In an in-house, cube-based Profit and Loss statement BI tool, Mr. Balint together with a Turkey-based team identified discrepancies where revenue and cost appeared on different products. Pinpointing the sources of these issues and implementing proper (semi-automatic) allocation rules significantly improved the reporting quality in product and customer matrix. The improved accuracy in data reporting enhanced the Turkish business’s engagement with the system and facilitated better decision-making on product profitability. This achievement ultimately led to his relocation to Turkey, where he spent almost eight years driving further business improvements.
Second Case: DSS Warehouse Installation
After the local migration of the DSS warehouse, a significant issue was discovered: header and detail records were connected using the order number, which was not a unique key. This mismatch led to inaccurate results. By extending the tables to include the invoice number, the records were finally producing a result which was aligned with the expected values, thereby ensuring data accuracy and reliability.
Disaster Avoidance
During a shared EU ERP system outage, a proactive thinking and innovative use of the test server enabled continuous operations, resulting in the best sales week of the year for a fresh dairy company. Utilizing the auxiliary systems’ handheld capabilities which were developed for order entry and been in production for some time. Mr Balint ensured that transactions were properly numbered, meeting legal requirements and in line with the broken live system. For sales and invoice generation tasks, utilizing existing interfaces to transfer final transactions between the test and production systems, it was possible to completely avoid the need for manual re-entry of missing transactions. This approach significantly reduced recovery time and minimized the risk of human error.
Fixed Assets System Upgraded
To overcome the shortcomings of the older system, Mr. Balint led a fundamental redesign of a core Fixed Assets module. Utilizing a higher software version’s source code, advanced functions like disposal with different rules were introduced with adaptation of the various real life scenarios. The team also incorporated special regulations such as daily depreciation in Hungary and enhanced the asset life-cycle with re-capitalization for refurbished assets, significantly improving asset management processes.
Retail P&L
Mr. Balint developed a robust Retail P&L database along with a highly flexible dashboard for an oil company. This dashboard allowed comparisons across periods, countries, and phases like budget vs. latest estimates for the given KPIs, thereby enhancing financial reporting accuracy and providing management with insights to improve efficiency within the CEE region.