A.W. Chesterton Co., a global manufacturer of industrial seals, pumps, and gaskets, developed a financial information system used by managers world-wide with iTM1. The system helps deliver information at all levels of management, faster and easier than with previous systems. Managers can instantly project the effect of alternate decisions at the operational level and the impact on the enterprise. According to CFO, Bob Bowen, "decisions can be driven lower in the business because information is available at all levels. Information is knowledge, which translates into power to make good decisions."

The iTM1 system, says Bowen, "... is clearly the core element of our financial information processing and distribution activity today. There is not a person - in sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution - at corporate or in remote locations - who is not aware of the existence of our system and the financial capabilities it provides."

"The fact that we can link this anywhere in the world and disseminate information is incredibly helpful to us," Bowen said. "I just don't have to worry about availability of financial information for decision making. The information is at their hands. Everybody is accessing the system. We have secretaries who access and pull data out of the system for their bosses. Everyone finds it is a lot easier to learn how to use the system, and get data themselves rather than wait to get someone to produce the information which has the answer. It's all there at your finger tips."

Real-time updating insures the reliability of numbers world-wide. When a change is made - whether it is on a daily basis (budget input, month-end journal entries), weekly (inventory), or monthly (financial reports) - it is available across the enterprise.

According to Ron Maxwell, Director of Financial Reporting and Budgeting, "The instant consolidation is extremely important from an efficiency stand point. I've got 3-4 people posting adjustments at any one time. It becomes a very important issue for the closing cycle, analysis and internal distribution all to be done in five days. The old process was more like three weeks, and at end of three weeks, you only had statutory views, not all the other views. Now once we finish posting all adjustments, I can print three different views of the business and do it simultaneously while I am browsing the information with the CFO, drilling down and doing analysis in a completely free form manner."

Maxwell further says, "I'll be very frank, it is the best financial reporting system I have ever seen. I have worked in a lot of environments. I have never seen a financial reporting package as powerful as this one when it comes to providing information, in summary form or to the lowest level of detail, throughout the enterprise, in a rapid fire fashion."