Mercedes-Benz moves from 1,000+ spreadsheets to a unified platform

Before Jedox, Mercedes-Benz relied on Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint for its reporting. While the method did the basics, it created a disparate system of Excel spreadsheets. Worse, the team worried about the time it took to complete their Excel reporting and forecasting process, especially when factoring in checking the sheets for errors. Forecasting and reporting were draining business users, so the Business Controlling division sought a better solution.

It became evident quickly that Jedox was the best match. After an extensive validation process, the team at Mercedes-Benz found that Jedox could provide everything they needed to improve their reporting and forecasting process. For a company with heterogeneous data in endless spreadsheets, using Jedox’s Excel-integrated platform made for a seamless transition. Jedox’s intuitiveness meant Mercedes-Benz South Africa could implement Jedox independently without any obligation and tailor its solution to its specific needs. Jedox made low demands on the IT department, requiring little more than a server to run. Jedox’s technical flexibility meant Mercedes-Benz South Africa could safely accommodate changes. This was invaluable to the team when they finalized their SAP integration. Jedox’s built-in SAP connector meant instant and flexible access to all SAP data.

Mercedes-Benz started working with Jedox support, using online learning tools and exploring the functionality. In only a few weeks, it had fully implemented Jedox. The team soon familiarized themselves and modeled their business quickly and easily with Jedox. Once the finance team had the solution running, the IT team helped make it enterprise-ready by providing an independent server and daily data backup. The Mercedes-Benz South Africa finance team was soon able to create their own reports, forecasts, and dashboards independently.

Jedox provides Mercedes-Benz South Africa with reliable forecasts and on-tap reporting. Jedox is used every day by the Business Controlling division for bottom-up planning and forecasting for headcount and costs, monthly reporting on actuals, and cost-center and cost-element reporting. Jedox continues to provide Mercedes-Benz South Africa with a high ROI because it is simple for business users and requires almost no IT support. It just works. Jedox gives Mercedes-Benz South Africa adaptable reporting that empowers the Business Controlling division, with valuable history on-demand for making comparisons and forecasts easily.
A contract management module was also created with Jedox for around 50 users in the USA in just under five months. The module helps account managers plan upcoming projects, supports contract creation through an integrated release workflow, and provides an overview of the status of all contracts. The visualized reports make the need for action with expiring contracts immediately visible so that key account managers can plan customer meetings more strategically. The system-controlled approval workflow replaces the previous email traffic in contract processing, and new contracts are generated directly from Jedox. The most significant benefit, however, is the initial data collection, which was previously handled with a four-digit number of Excel sheets. Now, account managers enter their upcoming customer projects directly into Jedox via the web, where all data is immediately available centrally and aggregated. The powerful CPM and BI platform save considerable costs and time, and ensures significantly higher data quality by avoiding transmission errors.