Point of View

Analytics guides
for manufacturers.
No filler.

Practical frameworks and deep-dives on pricing, procurement, inventory, and operations analytics, written for the teams who actually run these numbers.

Pricing & Margin
Procurement
Inventory
Operations
ERP Data
PE & M&A
Data Quality

All articles

12 published · More coming
Pricing & Margin
What is Price-Volume-Mix Analysis? A Manufacturer's Guide

PVM analysis separates every revenue or margin change into three forces: price, volume, and product mix. Here is what each component means, how the data flows from your ERP, and a worked manufacturing example.

8 min read Read
Pricing & Margin
Gross Margin Analysis: Your ERP Tracks Both Sides. Most Tools Only Show You One.

Margin erosion is rarely one thing. It is material cost creeping up, burden rising as volumes dip, and a volume slope quietly discounting your best accounts. Here is how to see all of it at once.

9 min read Read
Procurement
ERP Procurement Analytics: The Eight Signals Hidden in Your Purchase Order Data

Real-time PPV alerts, demonstrated lead time, supplier scorecarding, AI contract capture, and IQ Insights monitoring. All of it from ERP data your team already has.

11 min read Read
Inventory Analytics

Inventory Days on Hand by SKU: The Metric Every Manufacturing Ops Team Is Missing

Your ERP reports 45 days of inventory on hand. Somewhere in your warehouse, there are bearings with 700 days of supply three aisles from a control relay four days from a stockout. Here is the SKU-level framework that changes every inventory decision you make.

10 min read Read
ERP Reporting

The 7 ERP Reports Every Manufacturing CFO Needs (and Why Your ERP Doesn't Build Them Automatically)

Your ERP captures every transaction. It almost never surfaces the seven cross-entity, cross-module reports your CFO needs to run the business. Here is what those reports are and how to get them.

12 min read Read
PE & M&A

ERP Data Consolidation After an Acquisition: The 100-Day Playbook for PE-Backed Manufacturers

Three plants, three ERPs, no common data layer, and a board expecting operational visibility inside 100 days. How to get there without touching a single ERP.

11 min read Read
Data Strategy

Self-Service Analytics Promised to Put Data in Everyone's Hands. It Didn't. Here's Why AI Finally Gets It Right.

I spent years as a certified Tableau trainer during the self-service analytics movement. I believed in it completely. Here's what I actually learned from the training room, and why AI changes the picture in a way that drag-and-drop never could.

6 min read Read
PE & M&A

The Five Analytics Questions Every PE Operating Partner Should Ask at Portfolio Companies

Gross margin by product line, price realization, working capital, customer margin ranking, and one version of the numbers. The five questions — and what ERP data actually answers them.

12 min read Read
Inventory Analytics

My Favorite Workstream: The Inventory Data Model That Has Answered Every Question for 15 Years

The star schema underneath Inventory IQ. Why InventoryTransactionFact and ItemPlanningDim together answer 80% of the questions a buyer or planner asks every single day, across any ERP.

7 min read · Paul Ausserer Read
Finance Analytics

Accounts Receivable Aging Analysis for Manufacturers: Beyond the ERP Bucket Report

Your ERP groups overdue invoices into 30-day buckets. Those totals do not show customer concentration risk, DSO trends, or which invoices need a collections call today. Here is the AR analytics framework that actually shortens collection cycles.

8 min read Read
Inventory Analytics

Inventory Analytics for Multi-Site Manufacturers: Why Plant-Level Reporting Is Not Enough

Plant A is 4 days from a stockout. Plant B holds 140 days of the same part under a different item code. Neither ERP surfaces the transfer opportunity. Here is how multi-site inventory analytics closes that gap.

9 min read Read
Data Strategy

One Power BI Developer Is Not a Data Strategy (And Neither Is Your New AI Tool)

You walked into Costco for a TV and left with nothing because you didn't know what you needed. Businesses do the same thing with data. Here is why buying an industry-aligned platform beats building, and why the right division of labor actually works.

9 min read Read

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