Mfg – Benchmarking

What is a Benchmarking Dashboard? Benchmarking dashboards are considered competitive comparison tools and are used by CFOs and Executives to analyze internal KPIs against those of the manufacturing industry. Some of the main functionality in this type of dashboard is that it enables the user to select which companies (including the industry average) and year to use in the analysis, and then it will provide graphical comparison. The dashboard includes quarterly data for: 1) EBITDA, 2) Gross Margin, 3) Profit Margin, and 4) Revenue Growth. You find an example of this type of dashboard below.

Purpose of Benchmarking Dashboards Manufacturing companies use Benchmarking Dashboards to make executives aware of- and accountable for the company's performance in comparison to other businesses and the industry average. When used as part of good business practices in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) departments, an organization can improve and speed up its strategies, and it can reduce the chances that the company falls behind competition because it is only measuring itself against internal targets.

Who Uses This Type of Dashboard? The typical users of this type of dashboard are: Board members, executives, CFOs, analysts. Other Reports Often Used in Conjunction with Benchmarking Dashboards Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) departments sometimes use several different Benchmarking Dashboards, along with profit & loss reports, balance sheets, cash flow statements, KPI dashboards and other management and control tools.

Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Acumatica, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional xFP&A solutions.

Built for manufacturing finance teams and aligned with Solver's xFP&A platform, this Solver report template connects directly to your ERP data via the Solver Data Warehouse, enabling near real-time analysis with minimal setup. Designed for QuickStart deployment, it can be activated rapidly so your team can focus on analysis and decisions — not data preparation.

What is the Mfg – Benchmarking in Solver? The Mfg – Benchmarking is a pre-built xFP&A report template in Solver designed for manufacturing organizations. It delivers key financial and operational metrics in a single, easy-to-use interface — purpose-built for manufacturing finance workflows.

Who uses this Solver report template? Finance leaders at manufacturing organizations — including CFOs, operations managers, and manufacturing finance teams — use this template to get fast, reliable answers without waiting on IT or building custom reports. It supports both day-to-day monitoring and strategic decision-making.

Where does the data come from? Data is sourced automatically from your ERP system through the Solver Data Warehouse, which integrates with platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics 365 Finance, Acumatica, Sage Intacct, and other leading ERP solutions. Once connected, the template updates in near real-time with no manual data entry required.

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