All businesses need to track their financial costs as well as the revenue generated. All forms of expenses incurred in the company, be it for the development of infrastructure, be it for marketing purposes, be it for employ educational expenses, all these expenses need to be properly noted down and recorded for future reference. Later, the company management as well as other members of the organization need to create reports based on these data. You can understand about the strengths, weaknesses, possibility of growth, potential risks etc of the company by going through these reports only. These can be generated manually or with the help of a good quality reporting software. Of course, the latter is way too advanced and much more efficient than the manual version.
When did the history of business reports start? The enterprising men of the past ventured out to unknown continents for discovering new lands, new business opportunities, new resources etc. Christopher Columbus, Vasco Da Gama etc were some of the well known names that belong to this category. Before their times, there must have been many other such adventurous folks from all parts of the world, who undertook similar voyages in their attempts to capture new markets as well as resources. Some of their ventures are recorded by history. But many more are drowned in the waste bins of history.
All these past adventurers had business interests in their mind. Many of them went out to far off places to increase the financial clout and wealth of their kings. As such, they had to keep a record of what they brought along with them, what they were able to sell in the newly discovered lands, how much profits they made, what stock was left unsold etc. They needed to prove the success of their venture to their bosses, typically the kings of the times. The very initial reports were created for these purposes, most probably on leaves, leather etc. As paper was not in existence at that time, reports on papers were not a possibility at all.
The times have changed for good. Paper and printing arrived on the scene. Later computers and software came in to business establishments. Reporting software has become a very essential aspect of modern business operations. How can any one even think about running a current business establishment without a reporting software?
The availability of accurate and precise reports at the right time can enhance the opportunities of a business enterprise. Any time a manager, CEO, marketing strategist, financier or lawyer need the information about a particular topic, it must be available right away. If this information arrives after a few days of time, then it may be utterly useless. As such, any reporting software you use must be able to generate the needed reports in a timely manner.
The reports need to be prepared in a legible manner. If a report contains way too many things presented in hard to understand manner, it will not serve the purpose. The report has to be easily understood by any one who may be using it. It is not created for the programmer or the IT manager, who is responsible for the generation of it. The CEO or the financier of the firm who look at these reports may not have the patience to browse through way too much information that is stuffed in to the document. A report must contain only the very bare essential details needed within its scope. Any good reporting software will take this fact in to consideration.
A good reporting software should have the provision for its generation by any one who is authorized to generate it in the company. If a computer programmer or MIS manager has to get involved in the generation of each and every report, then the reporting software is not doing its job. If the MD or the CEO of the company wants to have a particular report, he or she should be able to just punch in a few keys or click the mouse a few times and be able to get the report in a very short time. In a similar manner, a person who is pretty low down in the company management need to have the ability to generate the reports that he or she needs to use for the proper execution of his or her job. Of course, all reports need not be accessible to every one in the firm. A good reporting software will have the provisions to allow and restrict access to each type of reports to each member of the organization.
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