Fast Close for the Enterprise - Redwood Software

Fast Close for the Enterprise
Empowering SAP® ERP Financials
Financial Fast Close is More Than Just Speed
Many companies are struggling to develop a cost-effective financial closing process that is efficient to
manage, produces on-time accurate results, and complies with reporting and regulatory guidelines. The
reason for the constant struggle is the seemingly endless array of tasks that must be performed, the
numerous IT systems that are utilized to obtain data, a lack of standardization across the enterprise, and a
lack of transparency available to the appropriate people for monitoring the closing schedule. SAP® and
Redwood Software® offer customers a powerful new solution with SAP Financial Closing cockpit and SAP
Central Process Scheduling by Redwood. SAP Financial Closing cockpit solution meets the four critical
requirements needed to achieve a successful financial close:
• Reliability
• Speed
• Efficiency
• Compliance
Reliability
A robust closing process capable of
generating reliable information for
reporting and auditing purposes is the
cornerstone of every world-class financial
closing process. The SAP Financial Closing
cockpit solution provides:
• Consistency in results delivered by
proper sequencing of processes across
all entities
• Facilitation of data availability from
both SAP and non-SAP systems
• Centralized control and monitoring of
closing tasks across disparate
financial and non-financial
applications, reducing the
dependency on functional
spreadsheets Why Redwood Software?
SAP Financial Closing cockpit and SAP Central Process Scheduling were codeveloped
by SAP and Redwood Software. SAP Central Process Scheduling is the
only enterprise-wide closing process automation solution that is integrated with
SAP Financial Closing cockpit, and licensed and supported directly by SAP.
Redwood’s state-of-the-art process automation technology provides companies
with:
• Enablement of SAP ERP Financials across the enterprise
• Unique, seamless integration with SAP Financial Closing cockpit
• A single point of control and monitoring across SAP and non-SAP systems
• Integrated information across financial and non-financial applications

Fast Close for the Enterprise
Empowering SAP® ERP Financials
Speed
Timeliness is one of the most quantifiable
measures by which a closing process is
evaluated. Reducing the number of days to
close is often a mandate imposed upon the
financial department to allow time for
analysis of results and variance reporting.
The SAP Financial Closing cockpit solution
enables:
• Consolidation of associated tasks and
inter-task dependencies using parallel
execution to reduce process latency
• Real-time error detection and alerts
to appropriate parties for remediation
• Event-based closing task automation,
which streamlines closing time by
maximizing system resources
Efficiency
The cost-effective use of manpower,
systems and processes during the closing
process is critical for working within
resource and budgetary constraints. The
SAP Financial Closing cockpit solution
provides:
• Significant cost savings through
reduced clerical staff and
management effort and
improvement to audit staff
productivity
• Reduced reliance upon manual
processes and spreadsheets through
automation of closing tasks
• “Right First Time Processing”, which
ensures that accurate information is
processed on the first pass, avoiding
costly delays downstream
Compliance
Monitoring of internal controls is essential
for generating accurate financial reporting
and for compliance with regulatory
guidelines. The SAP Financial Closing
cockpit solution enables:
• Documented and reliable audit trails
for all activities performed during
the close, including who ran the
process, error analysis, and process
run authorizations
• Enterprise-wide control with userdefined
views for monitoring closing
status and potential delays
• Enhanced oversight of closing task
execution to ensure alignment with
the internal control structure
Redwood is a registered trademark and Cronacle and Report2Web are trademarks of Redwood Software. All other products or company names mentioned are used for
identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
© Redwood Software 2010.
All rights reserved. www.redwood.com
GA.0110.R6