Deck 6.2

Business Reporting and Data Extraction Tools

ICT 110: IT for Business

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

✅ Explain the role of reporting and data extraction in modern business decision-making.
✅ Differentiate between various types of reporting tools and their applications across business functions.
✅ Describe how data is extracted from systems like ERP, CRM, and HRIS to support operations.
✅ Analyze how integrated reporting provides a holistic view of business performance.

The Core Question for Every Business

    "How can we turn our raw business data into actionable insights to improve performance?"
  

The answer lies in two key processes:

🔍 Data Extraction

Getting the right data from various sources.

📊 Business Reporting

Presenting that data in a meaningful way.

What is Business Reporting?

    Business Reporting is the process of collecting and formatting data to generate insightful information for users at all levels of a business, from front-line staff to the CEO.
  

🎯 The Goal: To support informed, data-driven decision-making across ALL departments.

Not just for marketing or sales!
Finance uses it for budgeting.
HR uses it for workforce planning.
Operations uses it for supply chain management.

The Reporting Lifecycle

Data Extraction: Pulling raw data from source systems (e.g., accounting software, inventory system).
Data Transformation: Cleaning, structuring, and organizing the data to make it usable (e.g., converting currencies, removing duplicates).
Data Loading: Storing the transformed data in a central location, like a data warehouse.
Reporting & Visualization: Using tools to create reports, charts, and dashboards for business users.

⚡ A failure in any step compromises the final report. "Garbage in, garbage out."

Step 1: Data Extraction in Action

Data is everywhere in a business. The challenge is getting it out of its silo.

Internal Sources

ERP Systems (SAP, Oracle): Financials, supply chain data.
CRM Systems (Salesforce): Customer interactions, sales pipeline.
HRIS (Workday): Employee records, payroll, attendance.
Accounting Software (Tally): Transactional data.

External Sources

Market Data Providers: Industry trends, competitor pricing.
Government Databases: Economic indicators, census data.
Social Media APIs: Customer sentiment, brand mentions.

Examples Across Business Functions

How different departments extract data:

💰 Finance: Extracts monthly expense data from the accounting system to create a budget variance report.
⚙️ Operations: Pulls daily production output data from factory floor sensors to monitor efficiency.
🤝 Human Resources: Extracts quarterly employee performance scores from the HRIS to identify training needs.
🎯 Marketing: Pulls website traffic data from Google Analytics and sales data from the CRM to calculate campaign ROI.

Step 4: Reporting Tools - The Right Tool for the Job

Spreadsheets

(Excel, Google Sheets)

Best for small-scale, ad-hoc analysis and simple financial modeling.

Business Intelligence (BI) Tools

(Power BI, Tableau)

Best for creating interactive, visual dashboards from multiple data sources.

Built-in ERP/CRM Reporting

(SAP Reports, Salesforce Reports)

Best for standard, operational reports directly from the source system.

The Power of Dashboards

A business dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated on a single screen so it can be monitored at a glance.

Example CEO Dashboard KPIs:

💰 Finance: Net Profit Margin
⚙️ Operations: Order Fulfillment Cycle Time

🤝 HR: Employee Turnover Rate
🎯 Marketing: Customer Acquisition Cost

It provides a single, unified view of the entire business health.

Types of Business Reports

Strategic Reports

Audience: C-Suite, Board
Focus: Long-term goals, high-level trends.
Example: Annual financial forecast, market share analysis.

Analytical Reports

Audience: Business Analysts, Managers
Focus: Understanding trends, answering "why".
Example: Customer churn analysis, supply chain bottleneck report.

Operational Reports

Audience: Front-line staff, Team Leads
Focus: Day-to-day activities, real-time monitoring.
Example: Daily sales summary, inventory stock levels.

Scenario: Solving a Business Problem

Problem: Sales are down 15% in the Eastern Region. Why?

Data Extraction:
- Finance extracts sales transaction data from the ERP. 💰
- Operations extracts inventory & shipping data from the WMS. ⚙️
- Marketing extracts regional campaign performance from the CRM. 🎯
Reporting:
A BI tool combines these sources into a single dashboard.
Insight: ⚡
The report reveals marketing campaigns are effective (high click-through), but the top-selling products are consistently out of stock in that region. The problem is operational, not marketing-related.

Application in the Nepali Context

💼 eSewa (FinTech)

Extracts millions of transaction records to create reports on user behavior, detect fraudulent activity, and ensure compliance with Nepal Rastra Bank regulations.

⚙️ CG Foods (Manufacturing)

Uses ERP reporting to monitor production efficiency of Wai Wai noodles, manage raw material inventory, and track distribution logistics across its vast network.

🛒 Daraz (E-commerce)

Provides sellers with dashboards showing sales trends and inventory levels. Internally, it analyzes logistics data to optimize delivery times in cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Summary: Key Takeaways

Reporting and data extraction are fundamental to data-driven decision-making in every business function.
The journey from raw data to insight involves extracting, transforming, and visualizing information.
Choose the right tool for the task: Spreadsheets for simple analysis, BI tools for complex visualization, and ERP reports for standard operations.
The ultimate business value comes from integrating data across departments to get a complete picture of performance. ⚡

Thank You

Questions?

Next Topic: Tools for Scheduling and Monitoring

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