Nucor, the largest steel producer in the United States, purchased GL Connect back in 2014. At that time, I was the Pillard head and product owner of GL Connect. For fun I also gave training on-site for all Finance and Accounting clients for all solutions including GL Connect. I went to South Carolina, to train on GL Connect in a very small city named Darlington, population 6,000+.
A Small Town with Big Surprises
The city is so small that the best restaurant based on Nucor’s recommendation was in a gas station across the road. Don’t be fooled by the place, it was one of the best southern foods I’ve ever had. Whoever was at the back of the kitchen is a chef! That’s how good it was!
On the day of the training there were 6 Nucor team members, all from Finance and Accounting, plus Dave, the Project Manager. They were all with their laptops. GL Connect Training was scheduled for 4 hours. Normally, trainees with their laptops either follow or work on production issues. As a trainer I understand that when production issues arise there is not much anyone can do to hold their attention during training. People need to understand that Finance and Accounting departments are on the clock. Any delays could delay processes across all departments inside of the Company, it is critical. I planned to train them on the basics of GL Connect in the first hour, after that I was ready to lose 50% of their attention. What happened next BLEW MY MIND AWAY!
The Moment That Changed Everything
In the first 45 mins the basics of GL Connect was covered, then I remember saying “With this knowledge of GL Connect you can begin building Oracle Financial Statements in Excel”. For the next 15 mins and just before break the Finance Manager stands up and says: “Dave, I’m done with my requirement of converting the FSG into a GL Connect report. She hands the papers to Dave and says: “could you please sign off?”, mind you we still have 3 hours of training. I stood there in awe and didn’t say anything for a minute…while the
Finance Manager handed the papers to Dave at that moment, I realized that GL Connect was something special, but I didn’t see it that way until that day.
Darlington South Carolina not only had one of the best southern foods from a gas station, but they also had the smartest people I’ve ever met coming from a small town. And, to learn GL Connect in less than an hour and submitting their requirements is something I could never dream of doing in my Accounting and Finance career.
One may ask, how much time it saved for building financial statements in Excel? How easy is GL Connect over Oracle’s FSGs? How does GL Connect help other clients? What is the ROI using GL Connect? The use case is different per client. For Nucor it was a game changer. Their requirements met on the day of training; this is unheard of!
Too Good to Be True, or Just GL Connect?
Users say all the time: “I’ll have questions when I get my hands on it”. “It looks too easy”, “Too good to be true”, “That looks pretty cool”. All these comments by Oracle business users sound like a compliment. However, Nucor made it look easy, it was too good to be true for Dave’s eyes, and it was a cool feeling that they met their requirements. I want other GL Connect Users to experience the same. Don’t be deceived by the simplicity of GL Connect, it packs many features for different use cases. Once you experience the solution you will also understand why you are able to do what you’ve never done before GL Connect.
Ready to Make Reporting Work on Your Timeline?
Talk to our experts today to see how GL Connect fits into your financial close strategy.
Rafael Torres
Director of Financial Reporting
Rafael Torres directs Financial Reporting at SplashBI. With over 25 years in Accounting, Finance, and 13 years in IT, he stands at the crossroads of tech and finance. Starting with Oracle in corporate accounting, Rafael found a zeal for simplifying processes. He’s the Product Owner of GLConnect and GL Connect. Fluent in three languages, he aids global businesses, liaises with sales and marketing teams, and is keen on sharing knowledge to maximize business operations.
