Mfg – Materials Cost Analysis

What is a Materials Cost Analysis Report? Materials cost reports are considered production analysis tools and are used by production- and plant managers to analyze monthly trends in the various material costs involved in their manufacturing process. Some of the main functionality in this type of dashboard report is that it is parameter driven and has charts on the top of the report and figures below that (not visible in screenshot below). There are four KPI charts, each with monthly cost trends: 1) Raw materials inventory trend, 2) Intermediate inventory trend, 3) Work in progress trend, and 4) Finished goods trend. You find an example of this type of dashboard report below.

Purpose of Materials Cost Reports Manufacturers use Materials Cost Reports to easily monitor trends in the costs going into product manufacturing. When used as part of good business practices in a Production department, an organization can improve its production efficiency and data collection as well as reduce the chances that lack of benchmarking and analysis lead to competitive disadvantages.

Who Uses This Type of Dashboard report? The typical users of this type of dashboard report are: Production  managers, product managers. Other reports Often Used in Conjunction with Materials Cost Reports Progressive Production departments sometimes use several different Materials Cost Reports, along with production dashboards, inventory reports, costing reports, benchmark 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 – Materials Cost Analysis in Solver? The Mfg – Materials Cost 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? 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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