Industry: Manufacturing/Animal Feed
“Vivid Reports is simply the most powerful, flexible, and ultimately usable financial reporting tool I have encountered. I recommend it enthusiastically!”
–Gord Hildebrand, CFO, Ridley, Inc.
The Client
- Ridley, Inc., based in Mankato, Minnesota
- Publicly-traded manufacturer of animal nutrition products
- Operation includes 40 feed plants, and three divisions made up of multiple companies
- Employs about 1,000 people; total revenues of $600 million
- ridleyinc.com
The Challenge
- Animal nutrition is a highly competitive industry. Decision-makers need razor-sharp data quickly to react to margin trends
- Ridley was already using an earlier version of Vivid Reports to produce departmental financial reports, and then decided to move to Microsoft Dynamics AX® in 2008 to streamline their systems
- A tool was needed to support the ERP migration
The Solution
- Ridley became an early adopter of Vivid Reports 2.0 shortly after Microsoft Dynamics AX® was installed
- In 2009, Ridley added budgeting functionality to their Vivid Reports package
- Staff required only two days of training
The New Reality
- Ridley’s senior managers now get current snapshots of key performance indicators in moments, without input from IT or finance staff
- Vivid Reports has helped Ridley be nimble. Managers are using the reports to make daily decisions to respond to events, instead of waiting until month-end when it might be too late
- Month-end closing is now one and a half days faster than before
- Ridley has reduced manual keying by as much as 90%, thereby saving time and reducing the risk of human error
- Ridley is using Vivid Reports to perform detailed margin analysis. By the end of the first week of the month, executives can predict what margins will look like that month and make appropriate adjustments
- Management can now collaborate on budgets and planning more efficiently, and with proper analysis and documentation of assumptions
- Budgets are consolidated on the server in real time
A Vivid Result: Quick access to data for quick decision-making
