Can you access the Business Intelligence Data you need to make decisions?
Most club software systems have a limited number of reports. But what if a user wants to dig deeper beyond these canned reports? Generally all club software systems contain the data that a user may want to include in their analysis; however, the user has limited access to that data. At best, data has to be exported to Excel (or another third-party reporting tool), organized and re-formatted before any data analysis can begin.
The problems of this data export process are magnified when attempting to pull data from multiple systems. Additionally, a user has to possess a strong command of Excel to be able to accomplish even simple data exports. What should take minutes to perform, namely “what if” and “data mining” analysis, can take hours with some legacy software platforms. These problems become even more apparent when club professionals are tasked to supply insights on KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), metrics, and other information that offer insights into operations that many boards now expect to see - largely because that is how these board members manage their own businesses. Current software technology allows for easy access to data with “drag and drop” functionality.
This trend corresponds with the changing attitudes of club board directors. Many board members, accustomed to obtaining key financial and operational data about the businesses they run, now expect to get the same kind of data about their club. By and large, club professionals and their board members are in agreement here: not only must data inform actions, but that data must also be easy to access.
Business Intelligence – Key Considerations
Not only is your back-end software central to your operations, it could also be a source of inefficiencies. This is particularly true if your club uses one of the several legacy software programs in the market. Some vendors install and maintain accounting programs that have not received any major upgrades in a decade or more. For users, these programs might perform some basic functions. Any advanced functionality, such as pivot-table type reporting tools, or the ability to access data whenever you need it inside the product, cannot be accommodated by these older products.
Learn More in our Guide for Club Executives - Keys to Evaluating Your Club Management & Back Office Software
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