In a world where data is king, it is essential that decision makers at all levels have access to the right information, on time, and with the certainty that it is accurate. So when Neyer Properties, a fully integrated Real Estate company based in Cincinnati, Ohio realized it was missing essential financial reporting capabilities in MRI Software, it turned to Open Box for a solution.
The team at the Commercial Real Estate company needed meaningful data at their fingertips.
With 3,500 acres of land under development, and hundreds of projects valued at more than $2 billion, the team at the Commercial Real Estate company needed meaningful data at their fingertips. Unfortunately, to get the data in the format they required, it took weeks, if not months, to pull the information, including income statements and balance sheets, from MRI into a massive, multi-tab spreadsheet.Not only was this time-consuming, laborious and frustrating, we have all faced the horror of what happens when spreadsheets get too big. Once the data had been manually wrangled into the spreadsheet, it would be consolidated and presented in the appropriate format for the various role-players.
This was clearly untenable in today’s fast-paced business world, where quick, strategic, data-based decisions are a competitive necessity. So Neyer Properties called on Open Box to see if they could figure out a solution to their financial reporting challenge. (To be honest, they weren’t even sure there was one.)
My project consisted of a customized report unlike anything currently offered by MRI.
“My project consisted of a customized report unlike anything currently offered by MRI. So I wasn’t sure at first that Open Box would have the knowledge needed, but to my surprise, they were able to program all the report features I needed,” said Colleen Kroell, financial controller at Neyer Properties. “Their MRI knowledge was definitely more than I anticipated, and, what Open Box did not know immediately, they have the resources at MRI to get answers.”
Within a month, Open Box delivered the reporting ability from within MRI that gave Neyer Properties the financial reports in the format they needed, along with the necessary consolidation to present the data meaningfully.
“I think what impressed me the most was the level of customer service I received as well as the timeliness in completing my project. The personnel assigned to my project were knowledgeable, followed through, and did what they committed to do. I will not hesitate to use Open Box again for any future needs,” said Kroell.
From the CEO down, Neyer Properties can deliver the right information at the press of a button.
“One of the big things we did was make it a cross-tab report, which is not typically available in MRI, so that Neyer Property can run the report using various time periods,” said Melusi Mlalazi, business analyst at Open Box. “But more than that, we turned on additional functionality within MRI to allow the cross-tab reports to run across entities within the organization as well as across time periods.
“Now, depending on the granularity needed by the person using the data, from the president and CEO down, Neyer Properties can deliver the right information at the press of a button.”
In addition, if Neyer Properties makes any changes to its financial formats, say by tweaking its chart of accounts, the internal team has the flexibility to amend the MRI report as well, without needing to call in Open Box again.
