Data Analytics: Advice from Optimum Assurance Group
What is Data Analytics?
Data analytics is the development of tactical solutions to access, load, analyse, cleanse and translate data into a form that facilitates reporting or investigative activities.
Why should my business use Data Analytics?
Standard reports that you can run out of your POS system or main database are simple queries containing various parameters that are designed to provide you with basic information about your business in a useful and readable format. However, if the parameters of these reports are not maintained properly or kept up to date, your standard reports may not be picking up everything they should, may not be performing calculations correctly and may not even add up!
Being able to extract data direct from the data source (POS system or main database), analyse it in a specific and targeted way, construct ad-hoc reports and even create your own permanent, non-standard reports, allows you to truly analyse in-depth what is happening in your business. You can even independently verify that your standard reports are correct!
Getting hold of the Data you need
It is critical to make sure you can get hold of the data you need to be able to conduct the analysis you wish to perform. All the data relating to your business will be stored in one or more databases. To be able to get the data you need, you will need to know what type of databases you have (eg: SQL), what data they store (eg: POS) and what types of files can be extracted from them (eg: Excel, Tab Delimited).
OA Group has data analytics experts who can deal with all of these issues, to ensure you get access to the data you need in a readable and useable format. We can then work with you to determine your data analysis needs and assist your business with its data extraction and reporting requirements.
What can I use Data Analytics for?
Typical areas where data analytics can be used in a franchise business include (but are not limited to):
- Sales analysis
- COGS analysis
- Margin analysis
- Comparing bank records to accounting records
- Comparing POS records to bank records
- Comparing accounting records to POS records
- Inventory analysis
- Franchisee payments
- Royalty payments
The Benefits of Data Analytics
Imagine being able to access the most accurate and up to date data direct from the data source whenever you require it and the resulting benefits to your business!
Data Analytics can help you focus on the main risks and exposures in your business and address inefficiencies and potential areas of abuse, improving not only how you run your business, but also the bottom line of your business.
By using data analytics, you can take the guess work out of assessing the impact of various events on your business and what might be happening. Data Analytics will help you discover what is happening in your business.
Continuous Monitoring
Continuous monitoring is automated data analytics. This means that data analytics activities can be scripted and combined with powerful and easy to use dialog screens (drop down menus, checkboxes, radio buttons etc). As a result, your most important data analytics applications can be run continuously.
Conclusion
Together, Data Analytics and Continuous Monitoring allow you to institute a process of end-to-end, automated and regular controls monitoring that accesses data at its source and provides you with the latest analysis and exceptions you need to run a successful and profitable franchise business.
Optimum Assurance Group business service is the franchise consultants audit specialist and has over a decade of internal audit, compliance and Risk Management experience with some of Australia’s best known franchised brands as well as some of Australia’s largest public and private companies. The modern audit approach is closely geared towards areas of highest risk and adding value to an organisation on all levels.
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Contact Optimum Assurance Group Pty Ltd
Level 3, 97 Pirie St,
Adelaide
SA 5000
Tel: 08 7129 4463
Fax: 08 8232 4446
