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"Invest for Excel® software helps us standardize our investment process."

Invest for Excel® inspires to think and to find solutions

At the end of 1997, the Management of Isku settled for the objective unification of the corporate investment process. Up to that time, various methods had been used in calculating investments. Each subsidiary handled the calculations in its own way. The results were difficult to compare, as no single, uniform calculating method was available.

The Isku Group was growing, which meant that further investments were necessary. Pekka Kairtamo, Isku Group Financial Manager: "Our aim was to find a tool that keeps us on the right, uniform tracks, based on a few main principles. We intended to harmonize procedures, and learn to calculate in a rational manner."

"We needed reliable software to set the framework for our calculation activity. When we heard about Invest for Excel®, and the software was demonstrated to us, the threshold to adopting it was very low", Kairtamo continues. Timo Ruuskanen, Product Calculation Manager, states that while working with Invest for Excel® no essential factors, for example with regard to cash flow and costs, can be overlooked.

On the contrary, comparing various alternatives enables one to check what effect the term of payment of sales receivables or the volume of goods in stock have on profitability. "Investments can be categorized into rationalization or replacement investments, and often they share elements of both. It is necessary to establish standards for calculations. Invest for Excel® serves this purpose in an excellent way", Ruuskanen states.

A systematic approach with Invest for Excel®

"The calculations and reports developed with Invest for Excel® are considered clear, informative and reliable. In Invest for Excel®, Management has a definite, easy-to-read format on which to base its decisions. Although we are fairly new users of Invest for Excel®, we have already made some significant investments decisions with the aid of it. The investments proposal has a good presentation form, especially after it was modified slightly to suit our company needs", Pekka Kairtamo reckons.

Invest for Excel® links the business world and academia

Isku’s aims to harmonize investment calculation and investments proposal procedures were put to practice in a joint project between the Laboratory of Wood Technology at Helsinki University of Technology and the Isku Group. Invest for Excel® was used in the course leading to a master’s degree.

Implementation steps

Several users of Invest for Excel® at Isku work in business administration, while the rest are departmental managers in the technical divisions. While the software was delivered in the spring of 1998, the training sessions were organised for the first users. "That way the process was sufficiently comprehensive and systematic from the start. We have met our objective of creating a well-functioning calculating system. It is easy for anyone involved to learn the basics and to understand the calculation parameters specific to Isku", Kairtamo adds.

The organisation keeps learning

"I believe that in a couple of years’ we will have a good system for investment feasibility studies. The routines of investment calculation will be performed smoothly and the employees in charge will learn to extract the data required for the purpose. Our own system – a harmonized procedure – will evolve in time. It will become a standard, generally accepted procedure according to which we will calculate. Standardized printout formats will create easy-to-read models. Invest for Excel® is like a template that lists the items, to which we need to find answers in order to take the process forward", Pekka Kairtamo outlines.

Copyright 1999 Datapartner Oy Last update in 2005. All rights reserved.