Due Process A software program brings more of McCoy’s employees into the budgeting process.
Two years ago, Rick Neal, CFO for McCoy’s Building Supply, told Rick Bell, his budget manager, that the San Marcos, Texas–based pro dealer should start using budgeting software. The dollar amount Neal gave Bell dictated what he could purchase, he recalls. “We were looking for something entry-level and relatively inexpensive so we could minimize our commitment if it didn’t meet our expectations.”
Bell rejected two programs he evaluated because of their prices. A third didn’t make the cut because it had a proprietary database and, at the time, wasn’t Web-enabled, which Bell says McCoy’s wanted in order to avoid licensing fees as it added users. The dealer’s IT department also preferred software that would work with an off-the-shelf database because it would be easier to maintain.
The 84-store dealer finally chose a “business performance management” product from Host Analytics for a number of reasons, says Bell. Cost was certainly a factor, as was the fact that the software uses a SQL (sequence query language) server, a Microsoft product the dealer knew. McCoy’s wanted to minimize the amount of training that would be needed to get this system up and running, and Host’s product, says Bell, could interface with and resembled Excel in terms of transferring files among users.
Installation commenced in August 2005 and took six months to complete. The product was phased in first to regional managers, vice presidents, and the corporate staff, then to the accounting department. Last summer, McCoy’s started working its stores into the network, says Bell.
The software lets the dealer’s corporate office see the actual financial performance of each store and weigh that against its budgeted performance. The software also allows McCoy’s to aggregate and evaluate data from four levels—stores, divisions, regions, and corporate. Bell wouldn’t comment on the software’s price tag, but he says it’s working as advertised. “We had no process at all, initially, just a top-down budget. Now, it’s more collaborative” because it brings McCoy’s operational people into the budgeting process.
