When we talk with growing small and mid-size companies, without fail, one of the top challenges they face is a lack of visibility into their data. They have questions about their business performance that they can’t answer – at least not without a ton of time and manual effort. What these companies want is a quick, easy way to get clear answers to their questions. They’re looking for a nice dashboard that neatly displays the data they care about most. Sounds simple enough, right? Sort of. If we take a step back, there are two foundational pieces you need to have in place before you can create ..read more

Creating dashboards that truly provide value is a combination of science and art. Clearly, data is at the heart of it, answering key questions about your business. But transforming that data into a set of visuals that you can quickly interpret is where the art comes in. Luckily, with the dashboard tools available today, you don’t need a ton of technical experience to create dashboards. But to ensure you get the most useful result, it’s wise to focus on the fundamentals first. That's the goal of this post – to help you understand the best practices of dashboard design so you have actionable in ..read more

When you hop into the driver seat of your vehicle, the first thing you see is the dashboard. In just a few seconds, you can see how much gas you have, check the engine temperature and see if anything urgently needs your attention. Throughout your drive, your dashboard will continue feeding you valuable information, like changes in speed, fuel levels and more, so you can make quick decisions. Transfer that same concept into business and you can see how valuable a dashboard is. Whether you’re a business owner, department leader or employee, a well-crafted dashboard can give you a quick view of ..read more

This month marks 20 years since I, along with my partners Collin and Darrell, started ProjectLine. Like any business, the journey has been full of ups and downs. And the past year has been no exception, trying to support both our team and our customers through such a challenging time. Approaching this major milestone in our company, I found myself reflecting on the experiences we’ve had over the years (the good, the bad and the ugly). And I thought I’d share with you some of the biggest lessons learned from starting and growing a business ..read more

As an ERP implementation partner, we see a common challenge in the small to mid-size companies we work with – they’ve been running with the “this is how we’ve always done it” mentality. But then they’re hit with the heavy realization that this simply doesn’t work anymore. With increasingly competitive markets and big growth goals, they’re forced to acknowledge that what worked yesterday, last week, last year (or five years ago) isn’t good enough for tomorrow. This is often one of the underlying factors that pushes them to implement ERP software – they need to simplify their processes and move ..read more

Getting an accurate picture of your financial health is critical for small and mid-size business leaders. Financial metrics and KPIs create that picture for you. Monitoring financial metrics helps you understand your current state and make the best decisions to improve your financial health moving forward. While there are many metrics you could track in your business, it’s not realistic to track them all. The right metrics will depend on your industry and the goals you’re working to achieve. But we’ve come up with a short list of financial metrics that should be top of the list for all growin ..read more

Most small to mid-size companies start out using basic accounting software. The simplicity of QuickBooks and the like is appealing. And these applications will work for a while. But as your finance and accounting needs become more sophisticated, the gaps in your software become obvious. Heavy reliance on spreadsheets is often the first clue. An FSN survey found that 58% of SMEs are spreadsheet bound and can’t provide timely support to other areas of the business. That alone can significantly reduce the productivity of your finance team. Not to mention the impact on your ability to make fast ..read more

Nearly every small business owner has some variation of the same dream – to grow their business. Unfortunately, only 43% of new Canadian businesses survive past the 10-year mark. Despite any amount of entrepreneurial zeal, even the best business idea can fail. And the risks are even greater for companies that are growing rapidly. If not managed carefully, their growth can actually be their downfall. Cash flow issues are common as monthly expenses exceed revenues. With so much focus on pursuing growth, the day-to-day processes can easily become unwieldy. Basic systems and manual processes that ..read more

Thoroughly evaluating ERP solutions is an important step in your evaluation that deserves a lot of attention. While you might be inclined to focus primarily on the ERP vendor selection criteria, there’s another stakeholder in your ERP implementation that you need to consider with equal importance – the ERP partner that provides implementation and support for your chosen solution. Given that your partner will become part of your business, working with you not only through implementation, but for years beyond that, selecting the right partner is a critical component of your decision. Establishi ..read more

When you start researching ERP solutions, you’ll quickly find that they all have a long list of features, some of which you likely won’t need. It can be overwhelming, especially if this is your first ERP implementation. ERP systems are designed to be comprehensive and include functionality for every part of a business. In the long run, this works to your benefit as you can start with the most critical features and implement additional functionality as it’s needed over time. This is the beauty of ERP – it’s scalable ..read more