corporate reporting

The challenge

Every large organization, particularly if matrix structured, faces the necessity to make many diverse reports. At Balkan Star almost every department is responsible for the creation of at least 4 reports like performance indicators evaluation, measurable outcomes and comparison of planned/ actual data. The recipients of these reports also differ – from the management team, shareholders or owner to the employees, media, professional organizations and partners. And what if your integrated enterprise resource planning system does not cover all of the topics or you have not implemented such system yet?

How do you integrate the information coming from various sources – to name just sales department, marketing retail, PR and controlling as an example – to make them spread the same message in one voice?

The solution

To manage successfully the information coming out of the company you need a well-developed and reliable system. A system that is able to oversee all activities of the organization taking into consideration all internal and external evaluation criteria. And all data should have unified corporate design to clearly state not only their origin but also to contribute to the strong image establishment of Balkan Star brand.

I analyzed all incoming and outgoing reports of all departments of the group. I tracked the internal path and usage of these data. As a result I summarized the findings in a matrix of the information flows. After reconsideration of the adequacy and adjustments where needed I formulate in this matrix also the rules of information management with the respective responsible positions, deadlines and recipients’ groups. This information flow management rules I communicated to and with all employees being part of any data exchange process.

As a second step to integrate the company’s data and reports I developed and implemented the corporate reporting tool which gave overview of all:

• management summary of the organizations business development, target goals achievement, strategic pillars;
• performance indicators of the different companies and departments within the group, for example sales reports, retail ranking list, financial results, plan/actual data;
• divisions’ activities overview, for example customer events, media test-drives, implementation of new processes, new internal tools to be established;
• business outlooks and future projects.

This corporate reporting tool consisted of different modules with equal corporate design. The data was provided by the departments-in-charge. The distribution of the information based on specific departments’ requirements – for example the Mercedes-Benz new passenger cars wholesale sales department used for its reporting the wholesale MBPC sales results for the country, retail rankings, financial results, external market situation overview, marketing activities for the wholesale, retail specific marketing activities, media monitoring report, PR activities overview, HR training program for sales staff overview, internal newsletter implementation and insights from the customer satisfaction survey.

The outcome

The information flows management system improved the internal data availability and structured the process of information exchange. In this way it enhanced the inter-department communication within the group of companies.

As I implemented the corporate reporting system I was able to create a management overview over the whole organization which was integrated, systemized and unified. This corporate report assured the one-voice-communication of the corporate brand and positioned Balkan Star as a strong partner, employer and investment item.

The corporate reporting enabled the data coming from all 24 divisions/departments to be integrated and communicated in one voice. This created sustainable corporate identity to all internal and external audiences of the organizations: business partners, trade and industry organizations, shareholders, management team, employees, media, customers, solution providers, public authorities, local community.