A Manual, Multi-System Cash Forecasting Process
Before Datarails, NTEC’s treasury team managed 13-week cash forecasting almost entirely in Excel. Producing an accurate forecast required pulling data from multiple sources, coordinating across teams, manually stitching everything together into a single spreadsheet, and constantly validating formulas and assumptions.
“We had to go to multiple systems to get the information we needed to complete a 13-week cash flow. It was a lot of copy and paste into spreadsheets and a lot of formulas.”
Accounts receivable data came from one system. Debt schedules lived in separate spreadsheets. Accounts payable teams had to coordinate upcoming payments manually, while finance teams across sites contributed additional information that then had to be reconciled.
The process was time-consuming and difficult to maintain. Even small errors or broken formulas could create major issues.
“If something didn’t work, it was very tedious to fix. We had to go back through all the spreadsheets and formulas to figure out where the issue was.”
At the same time, the company’s existing platform wasn’t the right fit for the highly detailed cash forecasting they needed. Storing that level of operational cash data inside the system would have created unnecessary complexity and storage demands.
“We were looking for a dedicated solution for 13-week cash forecasting that could integrate with all our systems without adding complexity.”
Connected Cash Data
NTEC selected Datarails for its connectivity, automation capabilities, and flexible Excel-native environment.
The connectivity to the banks, the preset reports that were already built in, and how easy the mapping was made it a huge benefit for us.
The team connected Datarails directly to their ERP, AR, AP, and banking systems, replacing a heavily manual forecasting process with automated data flows and centralized visibility. Instead of assembling forecasts manually every week, the team now works from a continuously updated centralized environment.
Having everything automatically uploaded and updated in Datarails means we don’t have to babysit the data to know that it’s right.
Datarails’ prebuilt templates also accelerated implementation. Rather than starting from scratch, the team could adapt existing reports and dashboards to match their own structure and reporting needs.
“The preset reports that Datarails had were awesome. They were built in, but also very easy to modify.”
Daily Cash Visibility, Better Decisions
The biggest change has been visibility.
Before Datarails, leadership largely relied on weekly reporting cycles to understand the company’s cash position. Now, treasury and executive teams can monitor cash daily and make decisions based on real-time information instead of waiting for weekly reporting.
Our CEO and CFO can go into Datarails and see our cash position on a daily basis. That’s been a huge benefit because it gives them visibility into the 13-week cash flow whenever they want to look at it.
That visibility has made cash forecasting more actionable across the business. Instead of reacting after the fact, leadership can identify potential cash gaps earlier and adjust operations proactively.
Datarails gives leadership the ability to adjust as necessary, if they know they’re going to be short on cash or need to modify operations, based on what the cash flow is showing.
With direct system integrations replacing manual spreadsheet consolidation, the finance team also has greater confidence in the accuracy of the data behind the forecast.
We know the data coming from our systems has already been validated, so there’s a much higher confidence level in what we’re seeing in the forecast.
This combination of automation, accuracy, and real-time visibility has transformed cash forecasting from a manual reporting exercise into an operational decision-making tool for finance leadership.
Building on the Foundation
Cassie and her team are excited to continue building on the visibility and flexibility they already have today. As reporting needs evolve, the team plans to expand how they use Datarails across treasury and cash operations while continuing to automate more of the underlying processes.
What started as a solution for 13-week cash forecasting has become a centralized source of daily cash visibility and faster decision-making.
Datarails has been and continues to be a huge benefit for us. It’s made the cash forecasting process much more streamlined and gives leadership visibility we didn’t have before.
Cassie ConnerManager of Financial Systems
