Mfg – Inventory Analysis

What is an Inventory Analysis Dashboard for Manufacturing Companies? Inventory Dashboards are considered operational analysis tools and are used by COO’s, production managers, and inventory managers to monitor monthly inventory changes. Some of the main functionality in this type of dashboard is that it offer analysis from four different perspectives, including: 1) Change in inventory value per month, year and item category, 2) Annual change in inventory value compared to prior year, 3) Monthly trend in inventory value versus last year, and 4) Monthly figures for available quantity, sold quantity, net stock quantity (backlog) and percent. You find an example of this type of dashboard below.

Purpose of Inventory Analysis Dashboards Manufacturing companies use Inventory Analysis Dashboards to give managers an important big picture view of changes in inventory and monthly trends. When used as part of good business practices in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) and operations departments, an organization can improve its strategies as it relates to production volumes, inventory, sales and pricing, and it can reduce the chances that the business runs into regular inventory-related problems.

Who Uses This Type of Dashboard? The typical users of this type of dashboard are: COOs, inventory managers, sales managers, purchasing managers. Other Reports Often Used in Conjunction with Inventory Analysis Dashboards Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) and operations departments sometimes use several different Inventory Analysis Dashboards, along with inventory reports, sales forecasts, production plans, sales dashboards, backlog reports, open order reports 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 – Inventory Analysis in Solver? The Mfg – Inventory Analysis 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? Cfos, operations managers, and manufacturing finance teams in manufacturing organizations rely on this Solver report template to replace manual spreadsheet-based processes with automated, near real-time analysis. It is especially useful during month-end close, budget cycles, and board reporting.

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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