Unaka Goes ‘Global’ for Spreadsheet Automation
September 16, 2008 Alex Woodie
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Tennessee-based Unaka Company has licensed the whole group of Excel-based analysis tools from Global Software. With Spreadsheet Server, Executive DASH, and Budget Manager in place, Unaka managers have another avenue for accessing and analyzing data stored in their ERP systems. Unaka is a group of companies that includes a manufacturing and import company, an office space company, and an international food supply company. Managing this diverse set of properties are a collection of ERP products from Infor and Ross Systems, including Infor ERP XA (formerly MAPICS) and iRenaissance, which runs on open systems platforms. Like many organizations, Unaka uses Excel spreadsheets to make it easier for managers to work with and manipulate data stored in its ERP systems. However, without a system in place to provide structure, the use of spreadsheets could quickly get out of hand. Global’s collection of software provides that structure and automation for spreadsheets. It maintains a real-time connection to ERP data, thereby eliminating the need for users to download or cut and paste data into Excel. Users can view the data they’re interested in by simply changing a heading, such as a time period or account number, and then drill down into the data as far as they want to go. Global’s software has had a major impact at Unaka, according to executives with the company. R. D. Spears, director of MIS for Unaka, called Global’s products the “missing link we had been looking for.” Buddy Yonz, Unaka’s CFO, was also impressed. “Global has clearly transcended the spreadsheet chasm with their Excel-based tools,” he says. “We are ecstatic at the new opportunities and flexibility that this tool set has given us.”
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