AAD - Use Cases - a quick view

Building an analytics application for finance users with live GL data from xx company codes and yyyy profit centers, leveraging Azure Active Directory (AAD) for authentication and authorization, opens up a wealth of possibilities for interactive reporting. Here are 20 use cases, categorized for clarity:

Financial Performance Analysis:

1. Profit & Loss (P&L) Drill-Down:
   • Allow users to drill down from high-level P&L statements to individual GL accounts, profit centers, and company codes in real-time.
   • Enable filtering by time periods, cost centers, and custom dimensions.
2. Variance Analysis:
   • Compare actuals against budgets, forecasts, and prior periods, displaying variances with interactive charts and tables.
   • Highlight significant deviations and provide explanations.
3. Profit Center Performance Dashboard:
   • Visualize key performance indicators (KPIs) for each profit center, such as revenue, cost of goods sold (COGS), and operating profit.
   • Enable benchmarking across profit centers.
4. Company Code Consolidated Reporting:
   • Create consolidated financial statements across multiple company codes, with the ability to drill down into individual entity data.
   • Handle intercompany eliminations and reconciliations.
5. Trend Analysis:
   • Display historical trends of financial data, allowing users to identify patterns and anomalies.
   • Implement forecasting capabilities based on historical data.

Operational Reporting & Analysis:

1. Cost Center Analysis:
   • Analyze expenses by cost center, identifying areas of high spending and potential cost savings.
   • Visualize cost allocations and track budget adherence.
2. Revenue Recognition Analysis:
   • Track revenue recognition over time, ensuring compliance with accounting standards.
   • Analyze revenue by product, customer, and region.
3. Working Capital Analysis:
   • Monitor key working capital metrics, such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, and inventory turnover.
   • Identify opportunities to improve cash flow.
4. Expense Analysis by Category:
   • Show expenses by their GL account categories, and allow for drill down to the individual transactions.
5. Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Tracking:
   • Track CapEx spending against budgets, and show the asset depreciation over time.

Ad-Hoc Reporting & Customization:

1. Custom Report Builder:
   • Empower users to create their own reports by selecting dimensions, measures, and filters.
   • Enable saving and sharing custom reports.
2. Interactive Data Filtering & Slicing:
   • Provide flexible filtering and slicing capabilities, allowing users to analyze data from different perspectives.
   • Implement dynamic chart updates based on filter selections.
3. Data Export & Sharing:
   • Enable users to export data in various formats (e.g., Excel, CSV, PDF) for further analysis and sharing.
   • Implement report sharing via email.
4. What-If Analysis:
   • Allow users to simulate the impact of changes to key variables on financial outcomes.
   • Enable scenario planning and sensitivity analysis.
5. Real Time Alerts:
   • Setup alerts that trigger when certain financial thresholds are met. Example: when a profit center goes below a certain profit margin.

AAD Integration & Security:

1. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC):
   • Leverage AAD to implement granular RBAC, ensuring that users only have access to the data they are authorized to view.
   • Define roles based on company code, profit center, and functional area.
2. Single Sign-On (SSO):
   • Integrate with AAD to provide seamless SSO, eliminating the need for users to remember multiple logins.
   • Increase user experience.
3. Audit Logging:
   • Log user activity and data access for audit and compliance purposes.
   • Track changes to reports and data filters.
4. Data Encryption:
   • Ensure that all data is encrypted at rest and in transit, protecting sensitive financial information.
   • Leverage Azure's security features.
5. Conditional Access Policies:
   • Implement conditional access policies to enforce security requirements, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and device compliance.
   • Control access based on user location and device type.

By implementing these use cases, you can create a powerful and user-friendly analytics application that empowers finance users to make data-driven decisions.