Excel continues to be such a key tool in business today, that Enterprises of all sizes – big and small – use it extensively. It is such a universally known tool that despite the sophistication of many other available programs, it is fair to say that Excel is very much at the heart of the workplace, particularly in Financial departments. The rub is that Financial data and other important metrics normally are held in your Company’s main IT system, ERP and Enterprise Management Database. So what if you could create and refresh reports in Microsoft® Office Excel®, combining ERP data with additional lookups and calculations to get the answers you need without the usual challenges of gathering source data and refreshing reports? This is where Epicor XL Connect comes into the picture.
Epicor XL Connect
The XL Connect solution is designed with pre-packaged content packs for Epicor ERP but is also available for other ERP Platforms. We have helped many customers implement this bridge between their enterprise source data and Excel.
With XL Connect, you can access real-time data from your ERP system with built-in functions that let you combine ERP data with non-ERP data, run lookups or calculations, and arrange and format data exactly as you want.
For the technical users, here’s what’s happening under the hood.
When you launch the XL Connect client, it reaches out to an Admin File Share. This is typically on a server, but technically it’s just a basic file share that can be copied anywhere.
When you drag in a function from the XL Connect tree view to your MS Excel spreadsheet, you are simply reaching out to an SSRS Report Server to grab the corresponding XL Connect report, and then pulling in data from your data source, which could be for example an Epicor database, so that you can populate the report in your spreadsheet.
XL Connect can be licensed for users who can run drill-downs, and also for developers who can build advanced, cross-platform queries that can be run directly from Microsoft Excel.
For more information about XL Connect please click here. We are happy to help!
About Encompass Solutions
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
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