CODA Group plc.

CODA Group plc, a finance systems specialist, has brought out CODA-Control Manager, a finance tool intended to make the period-end close process faster and more controlled for users of SAP[R] solutions.

SAP has more than 33,000 customers worldwide, each of which has to close its accounts regularly, usually every month. While ERP solutions such as the mySAP[TM] ERP application manage the financial data, much of the period-close process takes place outside of those systems. In the majority of organizations, this is still a highly manual process.

"To our knowledge, there is no specific tool on the market to help users of SAP solutions close the books in a faster and more controlled manner," said Jeremy Roche, CODA Group CEO, in an announcement. "Month-end close in virtually all organizations involves the finance department completing thousands of manual tasks--chasing other departments and subsidiaries for information, checking and adjusting data, making decisions around areas like credit control and bad debt provisions, posting journals and so on.

"CODA-Control helps finance departments to get control over the period close, automatically scheduling the tasks, making the whole process standardized and visible to the financial controller, and ensuring every step taken is recorded and can be audited later."

The United Kingdom-based Coda says the new product:

* supports a fast close;

* makes the close process controlled, repeatable, visible and auditable;

* drives efficiency through automation of processes; and

* is easy to integrate with SAP solutions through use of Web services.

Increasing emphasis on compliance and performance management is driving greater focus on controlling the period close, since it is a critical process that underpins those activities, CODA notes. Speed is key--world class organizations can close their books two to three days after month-end, though most take far longer--but control, reliability and auditability of the process have taken on far more importance.

Developed by CODA with support from Microsoft Corp., CODA-Control uses standard tools that users are instantly familiar with. Therefore, it will work well alongside the tools and technologies used by those that are already using SAP solutions.

Use of Web services means that CODA-Control Manager is relatively easy to interface with other business systems, the company says, and it will work in a mixed systems environment. It can be implemented in a staged approach, taking no more than a few days to get started with a pilot, and creates minimal disruption for finance, CODA insists.

Web: www.coda.com