How to Transition to Emburse Analytics

It’s time to start thinking about the transition to Emburse Analytics, and we want to help you get there as smoothly as possible. Whether you use only a few standard reports, some ad hoc reports, or a combination of both—with or without schedules—your users will need information, training, and support throughout the transition.

So how do you get there?

  • If your company ONLY uses standard reports with a limited number of users, the Emburse Analytics Report Reference Guide and the Emburse Analytics Learning Maps for creators and administrators will provide the information your users will need to get started finding, modifying, and scheduling the desired reports. Even if you only have a few users running a few reports, or if at first glance it seems like you only need a list of reports rebuilt, we recommend that you review all available resources, recommendations, and best practices for efficiency gains and data consistency improvements.

  • If your transition is more complex—meaning the number of users is high or you use a combination of standard and ad hoc reports—we recommend a more detailed approach with clearly defined phases and outcome expectations for easier management.

The three main stages of transition—Discovery, Preparation, and Rollout—are described below. Click here for a detailed outline of the transition experience.

Discovery Phase

Learn about the benefits and potential of Emburse Analytics and how it is different from our traditional reporting tools. Our resources in the Emburse Analytics Help Center will help you understand how Emburse Analytics can change the way your company sees and uses data. With this information, your organization can decide on a suitable rollout plan that embeds Emburse Analytics into your larger data strategy.

In this phase of the journey, many companies decide against rebuilding every existing report in favor of a more streamlined spend-analytics strategy that delivers consistently defined KPIs and metrics in real time with far fewer reports. This results in the elimination of manual effort to build, run, and maintain reports, as well as reduced effort after the data is collected. 

Preparation Phase

During the preparation phase, you will be reviewing and documenting the rollout plan. This includes:

  1. Identifying the current state of data and reporting, as well as all processes, outcomes, and stakeholders
  2. Identifying and consolidating redundancies
  3. Creating your change-management and rollout plan

Rollout Phase

Now you will start kicking things off. The rollout process includes all stakeholders and stewards of the data. Depending on the size and scope of your data strategy, this may include simply pointing users to the new standard reports, rebuilding custom reports, or both.

Depending on the size and scope of your transition needs, it may be beneficial to formalize a change management process to document expected outcomes along the way. You might also consider phasing out the internal rollout strategy one use case and/or one group at a time to focus on support for the new processes and monitor the adoption as you go.

For a detailed look at the transition process, see the Transition Experience Outline.

Was this article helpful?