Why Yusen Logistics Refuses to Compromise on Data

When you deliver across the entire spectrum of the supply chain—from the manufacturing process to retailers to commercial end-users to consumer homes—around the world, it’s more than important to have the right solutions in place for speed and efficiency. It’s actually vital. So, when Yusen Logistics Hungary noticed that its customers—and therefore its business—had some sophisticated needs, they had to find a sophisticated way to meet those needs.

Yusen Logistics Hungary is one of a thousand distribution centers located around the world and operating under Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha headquartered in Japan. Each office deals in logistics and serving clients’ goals to warehouse and ship goods across the globe by air, ocean, and land. Yusen has locations in 310 cities in 43 countries, with 2.27 million square meters of strategically positioned warehouse space.

To say Yusen Logistics Hungary has reporting challenges is putting it mildly. Not only does Yusen need to provide reporting to its parent company in Japan, it also needs to consolidate reporting with a second location right in Hungary. That’s a lot of data flying all over the country and the world, and Yusen Logistics Hungary needed to ensure that data was both timely and accurate.

The Solution that Thinks outside of the Box

Enter Atlas for Microsoft Dynamics. Yusen had already chosen Microsoft Dynamics AX for all its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software needs due to the program’s global platform capabilities. While Microsoft Dynamics AX fits Yusen’s needs for a great many things, CFO Zoltan Bodnar found it difficult to reach relevant data in a way that Yusen could handle. “We saw gaps in the way the Microsoft Dynamics AX tool delivered data, and we needed access to open visualization of data, details for analytic breakdowns, and the ability to run reports on the fly,” said Bodnar.

With Atlas for Microsoft Dynamics, they could accomplish all that and more. So, they implemented Atlas parallel with Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Uncompromised Access

Prior to Atlas, Bodnar felt it was necessary to compromise in order to reach the data he needed in his ERP. “In the past, we first extracted CSV data which could be imported into Excel. Then we had to edit and restructure, which was a time-wasting procedure to get the data into the required format,” he remarked.

Bodnar also likes how easy it is to use Atlas for reporting: “We learned that the old kind of related tools for reporting required IT and SQL-based knowledge to form a programmed breakdown or structured way to reach data. But you don’t have to be an IT expert to construct a query or structure the formats to use Atlas.” With Atlas in their corner, Bodnar and his team are now able to view the data behind the final figures using the drill-down capabilities. The speed with which Atlas completes reporting—they’ve trimmed more than 60 percent from previous reporting processes through automated, live data reporting—allows Yusen Logistics to be more analytical regarding the data it reports. Beyond financials and general ledger, Yusen Logistics Hungary has also leveraged the Atlas query functionality for reporting both payables/receivables and inventory.

All the stats and percentages aside, Yusen Logistics Hungary simply cannot see how they ever managed reporting prior to having Atlas for Microsoft Dynamics. “We couldn’t live without Atlas,” Bodnar said. “So it is not a matter of time or cost saved, but existence. . . . we cannot imagine our ERP without it.”

Live Data for a Dramatic Impact

Whether you’re running Microsoft Dynamics AX or Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Atlas for Microsoft Dynamics empowers users to build the exact financial and operational reports they need, reports that are easy to consume and visualize, and offer the opportunity to react to your data through Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and even Power BI.

Cut your Microsoft Dynamics reporting processes and encounter the reliability of automated live-data reporting with the power of Atlas. Request a demo today and see how Atlas can dramatically impact your Microsoft Dynamics reporting now!