CUSTOMER CASE STUDY

Oracle E-Business Suite

Reporting and Analysis Made Easy:

Tiger Brands Deploys GL Wand

“There were other tools available to

us, but none of these would have been
able to achieve what GL Wand did, let
alone do it in such a short space
of time.”
- J an van der Merwe,
Senior Business Analyst at Tiger Brands
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY
Both the reporting and analysis
tasks in complex organisations
can prove to be major obstacles
for the relevant personnel in a
large enterprise. While each of
these tasks can be described as
being crucial to the company’s
wellbeing, the often cumbersome
nature of the process can either
slow down or completely impede
the employees’ ability to fulfil their
duties. This was the case at Tiger
Brands, up until the company
chose to implement GL Wand
from Excel4apps solution, which
removed these headaches and
instead created an automated,
flexible and easily executed
process.
Tiger Brands Limited is a Top 40 JSE Limited company,
with a footprint that extends across the African
continent and beyond. It is one of the largest
manufacturers and marketers of FMCG products
in Southern Africa, focusing on a broad basket of
categories that spans food, home and personal care
as well as baby products. Tiger Brands is a world–class
operation that maintains its position through constant
investment in people, brands, technology, efficiency,
quality and sustainability.
GL Wand for Oracle shown
Tiger Brands chose to implement GL Wand as part of
a long term, company-wide strategic shift towards
adopting Oracle E-Business Suite technology. This
shift has been successful, with the company currently
utilising E-Business Suite version 12.
Jan van der Merwe, a senior business analyst at
Tiger Brands, explains that with the organisation’s
growth over the years, its IT environment ended up
looking a bit like a ‘fruit salad’, with multiple different
enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in
place across the various divisions. It was this that led
to the desire for a strategic shift to an Oracle-only
environment.
“Our first use of the GL Wand tool came about in
2006, when we were busy with an implementation
project for one of the divisions that was not using
Oracle at the time. We were put under pressure
by the time constraints with regard to getting the
necessary reporting requirements in place, as these
were extremely tight,” says van der Merwe.
“Obviously, these users were inexperienced with
Oracle, so in order to address the requirements
of this particular user community and to get them
up and running within the tight timeframes we
were given; we implemented the GL Wand tool
from Excel4apps. This enabled us to quickly and
efficiently address the requirements of that business
unit.”
He points out that the company was especially
impressed with how easily the tool enabled the
users to adapt to the new Oracle environment,
and how simple it was to get the employees up to a
level of self-sufficiency, thanks to the rapid transfer
of knowledge.
“The other tools we had available to us would never
have been able to achieve this, let alone achieve
it in such a short space of time.”
“GL Wand offers Tiger Brands
two key pillars, namely those
of reporting and analysis.”
- Jan van der Merwe,
Senior Business Analyst at Tiger Brands

“In terms of reporting, we obtain a final product that is more quickly
put together, offers less chance for human error to creep in and is
delivered in an effective and presentable format.”
- Jan van der Merwe, Senior Business Analyst at Tiger Brands
Van der Merwe explains that subsequent to this
rollout, Tiger Brands expanded the use of the
Excel4apps software to other divisions that were
already using Oracle, adding that since then, all
new implementations have followed the self-same
route.
“With the original GL Wand implementation, when
we first demonstrated exactly what this tool could
do from both a reporting and analysis point of
view, the users were impressed. Since then, every
single time we show it to new users of Oracle, we
get exactly the same reaction.”
“The effectiveness of GL Wand is probably best
indicated by simple numbers – with the original
implementation in 2006, we purchased six licences.
Today, that number has increased by more than a
factor of 20, with the Tiger Brands Group currently
utilising over 130 licences,” he continues.
These users are spread across the entire country,
he says, adding that while he cannot say if every
single user utilises the tool to its fullest extent, he
has come across many instances of users doing
wonderful things with it.
“Perhaps the biggest single benefit we obtain from
GL Wand – and this goes for every single user – is the
incredible time savings that are achieved. With the
other tools we used in the past, it took much longer
to produce a report because the information had
to first be ported to an outside source, and also
due to the fact that the cosmetic appearance of
the report had to be redone every time. With GL
Wand, you are able to design the look of the report
first and then simply insert the latest information
and populate the values as you require. This means
it is quicker to produce and you are always assured
that the final product will look the same.”
Reporting and Analysis Benefits
According to van der Merwe, GL Wand offers Tiger
Brands two key pillars, namely those of reporting and
analysis. He says that from an analysis perspective,
the company has no other tool that is able to offer
www.excel4apps.com/oracle
In 2006, Tiger Brands took a strategic decision
to consolidate its ERP environment into an
Oracle-only one.
Tiger Brands is currently using Oracle
E-Business Suite version 12.
GL Wand was initially implemented to assist in
transitioning one of the divisions that had not
been using Oracle prior to the consolidation
exercise.
Recognising how easily the tool enabled
the users to adapt to the new Oracle
environment, and how simple it was to get
the employees up to a level of self-sufficiency,
Tiger Brands has begun using the GL Wand
across the Group.
Today, the company benefits extensively from
both the reporting and analysis functionality
built into the tool.
After many years of use, GL Wand continues
to exceed expectations and Tiger Brands
continues to increase the number of licences
it purchases.
what GL Wand does in pure functionality terms. This
coupled with the ability to drill down to a granular
level, means that whatever level of analysis is
required, the tool can do it.
“In terms of reporting, we obtain a final product
that is more quickly put together, offers less chance
for human error to creep in and is delivered in an
effective and presentable format.”
“It is particularly useful for our financial people, most
of whom come from an environment where they
 www.excel4apps.com/oracle

“The effectiveness of GL Wand is probably best indicated by simple

numbers – with the original implementation in 2006, we purchased
six licences. Today, that number has increased by more than a factor
of 20.”
- Jan van der Merwe, Senior Business Analyst at Tiger Brands
already use Excel a lot. Thus, they are comfortable
with the tool and recognise that it enables them to
do their jobs better. Also, the fact that these users
already know the Excel environment meant that
very little training was required here, and they took
to the tool like a fish to water. This, of course, was
beneficial both to the Tiger Brands IT department
and the users themselves.”
Asked whether GL Wand had a positive effect on
month-end, van der Merwe is more circumspect.
He explains that there are a multitude of issues that
affect the reporting lifecycle.
“For example, our head office has recently shrunk
the cut-off dates for month-end reports, which has
really shaken up the reporting process across the
Group. One thing I am positive of is that GL Wand
has enabled our financial people to deal with
these stricter dates more easily than they would
have been able to without it.”
Conclusion
It is clear that from a reporting perspective, GL
Wand ensures that users at Tiger Brands have
access to more trustworthy data. This, says van der
Merwe, is due to the fact that spreadsheets are
linked to the Group’s database, meaning they are
updated automatically when changes are saved.
This, he states, really improves the quality of the data.
“On the analysis side, the drill down functionality built
into the tool gives our people exactly what they need
in terms of accessing relevant information. Although
there are definitely other methods they can use to
obtain such analysis data, the GL Wand tool is quite
obviously the quickest, easiest and most effective
method.”
And would he consider telling other companies
about this tool?
“Actually, I have already recommended GL Wand
to a number of other organisations. After all, it really
is an amazing tool, so I don’t see why I should have
any qualms about endorsing it.”
“Internally, everyone to whom we have demonstrated
it has seen the value of the tool in their environment
as well, proving just how good an investment this has
been. I think it is safe to say that the success of GL
Wand within the Tiger Brands Group has been such
that I genuinely couldn’t picture the organisation’s
Oracle environment without it,” he concludes.

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