Shopmonkey Streamlines Financial Planning with Google Sheets App

Introduction

Shopmonkey is a cloud-based, all-in-one auto repair shop management platform that allows shop owners to streamline their workflows and better understand their business. Shopmonkey is designed to modernize the entire auto repair shop process, from customer service to parts inventory to workflow management and more. It's used across the full spectrum of auto repair service specialities including general auto, tire and wrap, and detail.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley and trusted by more than 3,500 auto shops across the U.S. and Canada, Shopmonkey has grown to a team of 200+ members worldwide, all working to help auto shops take their businesses into the fast lane.

Situation

The Shopmonkey finance team used Workday Adaptive Planning for budgeting, forecasting, and reporting but faced data entry and reporting challenges. The team often relied on manual data exports, which led to inefficiencies.

"I have to export reports from Workday Adaptive Planning into Excel and then copy and paste them into Google Sheets for our functional leads to view. It's a manual and cumbersome process that spanned over 16 departments, so it took an entire day to do," said Daimeng Sharpe, Senior Finance Manager at Shopmonkey.

Challenges:

Manual Processes: The Shopmonkey team had to manually export data from Workday Adaptive Planning, which was time-consuming.
Limited Reporting Flexibility: Although Workday Adaptive Planning provided robust reporting capabilities, the team needed more customized reports that could be easily manipulated and shared with departments and functional leads.

Solution

Shopmonkey was looking for a more efficient solution and discovered DataBlend's Google Sheets App. After discussing their use case with DataBlend, Shopmonkey implemented DataBlend's Google Sheets App, integrating seamlessly with Workday Adaptive Planning.

DataBlend's solution allowed Shopmonkey's finance team to:

Automate Data Transfers: The Google Sheets App enabled data transfers between Google Sheets and Workday Adaptive Planning. This automation reduced manual entry, ensuring data accuracy and saving time.
Enhanced Reporting: With the integration, the finance team could directly pull data from Workday Adaptive Planning into Google Sheets. This allowed them to create and analyze customized reports and share insights easily.

Results:

"We worked directly with DataBlend's Founder + Chief Product Officer, Ethan Carlson. The implementation was amazing. I've never had a software implementation where my problems were actually being solved and I was actually being listened to. The new and improved DataBlend version of what I was doing is significantly better than my ad-hoc process. It not only looks better, but it is also automated with less effort. What used to take 8 hours is now completed in just a couple of hours."

In addition to feeling heard, Shopmonkey saw results across the board, including:

Increased Efficiency: By automating data transfers, the finance team reduced the time spent on data entry by 120%, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks.
Improved Accuracy: Reducing manual data entry minimized errors, leading to more reliable financial reports and forecasts.
Improved Formulas: DataBlend created custom formulas to help with format reporting.
Better Decision-Making: With more flexible and customized reporting capabilities, Shopmonkey's leadership team could make more informed decisions based on real-time data.

"There are numerous use cases where we can implement DataBlend. I have already used DataBlend for various purposes. For example, we used to maintain an Excel model using Office Connect to Excel. However, with DataBlend, we have basically moved away from that. We also have a corporate metrics deck that contains presentation graphs and charts. I have recently linked it directly to Workday Adaptive Planning using DataBlend. This way, the data flows into sheets, populating all of our charts, and we no longer have to maintain the Excel model."

Conclusion

Integrated with Workday Adaptive Planning, DataBlend's Google Sheets App transformed Shopmonkey's financial planning processes. The solution provided the finance team with the tools to automate routine tasks, enhance reporting capabilities, and improve overall efficiency. As a result, Shopmonkey was better equipped to manage its growth and make strategic financial decisions.

"With the time savings that I gained with DataBlend, I've been able to work on higher-value tasks. With DataBlend, I have added a whole new function to my job."

What's next?

"Rolling out the reporting functionality within DataBlend compared to our current custom Pivot tables. It will be even faster!"

Shopmonkey Streamlines Financial Planning with DataBlend's Google Sheets App and Workday Adaptive Planning

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