Idu-Concept Software

Pros

Up to date reporting info everyday within GL accounts.
Ease of budgeting process.
Data in easy to read format.

Cons

Speed improvements on SQL queries, loading of data, and capturing data. 13 Companies in total consolidated.

IDU has made reporting, budgeting & forecasting an administrative dream for my department. I would highly recommend IDU for any business, big or small.

Pros

Easy to use for non-financial users.
Ability to adapt and customize system to suit our business on a continuous basis.
Easy to understand system & use it in our day to day business for reporting & decision making.
Admin ability to create, change or update anything, without depending on IDU consultants.
Feedback & assistance from Helpdesk & Consultants are always fast & effective!

Cons

That I cannot see 'back-end' rules to make sure it is in line with my expectations.
IDU is very fiscal set restricted (causing duplication of work & errors to occur).
Structures is also very specific, again duplication of work (would be nice to have a 'main' set up where all structures feed from).

The system is not very user friendly when working with many cost centers and an expense account across all needs to be reviewed. The changing and creating of reports also needs to be simplified. On certain functions, the number of import files required is very time consuming.

Pros

The structure of the system is good and the multi-user function allows overall teamwork. The different account types contribute to overall control and accuracy of input.

Cons

The percentage allocation option can become very complicated with the levels of calculations required.
The balance sheet and cash flow options have served no purpose due to setup and training.

For years the budgets were done on an Excel Spreadsheet. With 3 Companies, multiple divisions and about 9 branches, it was a constant nightmare to keep everything in sync. Spreadsheet were send to branch managers to modify. These spreadsheets were then sent back for finance to incorporate it into the main spreadsheet, Sometimes there were multiple versions of the spreadsheets and just maintaining the Main spreadsheet was a challenge.

Using IDU now allows all users to work on the budgeting software at the same time. Costs that cannot be broken down into IDU are done on a spreadsheet and referred to from within IDU. The time it now takes to complete the budgets has drastically reduced. Comparisons to live data as well as the past year makes complete sense when users are trying to complete their budgets.

I have been working on the IDU programme/software for the last four years and i am impressed with the programme and all the functions that are offered. We mainly use it for our budgeting process and i am quite happy with how everything is structured. We recently upgraded to the latest version of IDU and there are some features that are no longer available and most people struggled to find their way on how to go about using the programme but the overall experience has been awesome and the wonderful team at IDU KZN has been very helpful.

Pros

The reports, i think they a have been designed in such a way that they even if a person has never worked on the IDU programme, one can easily interpret the information.

Cons

We always have to email our queries and not communicate our queries over the phone. I think IDU should introduce team viewer to be able to see on our screens what issues we have.

IDU Budget Concept is a tool that helped us be able to view actuals from our Sage ERP against Budget. The tool has good segregation of data such that you only view the cost centre you are entitled to. It is a great product. It however,just like other software solutions, requires to be introduced carefully in an organisation with good training and refresher training for high acceptance of the software by many users in an organisation.

Pros

The Software is ease to use and has an appealing User Interface.

Cons

- Custom reports are not so easy to design - You always have to rely on the Consultants

None

Pros

I find IDU intuitive and easy to use. Everything is where you expect it to be and also works in the way you expect it to.

Cons

No Cons. With the ever changing landscape, there are always opportunities for enhancements in functionality

Started using the system in 2014. It is a user friendly system with amazing functionalities. It has really made our work processes more efficient. The support/helpdesk is very efficient as Users' needs/queries are addressed as soon as possible.

Pros

The analytical reporting and the Recodes and Accruals are excellent functionalities available on idu Version 5. The idu-Concept Administrator is very user friendly which makes it easier for any person to manage the admin environment, no IT/system developing skills required hence no support agreement is needed.

Cons

No cons that I can think of, the system offers functionalities that meet the needs of businesses. It is responsive to business needs especially the latest Version 5 has made a significant move in addressing business needs. The system provides value for money and its implementation cost is reasonable.

Advice to Others

It is worth finding out more about this software and am sure you will end up implementing it because it offers functionalities that every business requires. The system is really user friendly and you do not need a maintenance/support agreement, you basically maintain your own system which is a huge cost saving to the business.

The product has been very useful for my organisation and because its integrated with excel it makes it all even better.

Pros

Ease of use

It is unusual to find a budgeting system that caters for budgeting and reporting. IDU offers the solution.

Pros

The ease of use and integration capability.

Cons

It is not specifically designed for the public sector, and its presentation design is largely private sector based.

Advice to Others

Rather ask for a demo first, to see the functionality and features.

Been using it for a year. Great support, good product

Pros

Ease of budget and forecast consolidations. Ease of integration with ERP

IDU enables us to really automate the budget process (in so much as it is possible) by providing multiple approaches that work together.

Advice to Others

There are so many ways to reach the desired result- speak to other users or your consultants. The advice is invaluable.

Wonderful product with vast applications and functionalities

Pros

It's adaptability - we are not a cookie cutter type business and IDU could still adapt to meet our needs.

Cons

The admin side can be a bit confusing for users.

Advice to Others

It is an awesome tool and can be used for budgeting and reporting.

We use this product for forecasting and budgeting. We can now forecast to our head office using the latest information that is available.

Pros

Made our lives easier. Very easy to use. Different forms of budgeting accounts cater for everything. Helps us understand what is happening in all our branches.

Idu-Concept provides smart budgeting, forecasting, and reporting tools with easy-to-use modules which can be modified as per the business type it is being used in. It is an easy to use software which does not require too many hours of training and can be used by personnel with or without any background knowledge of accounting.

Pros

The software can be used on windows as well as mac devices.
Transparency between departments which reduces confusion by reducing redundant data and errors in spreadsheets.
Easy to use interface and to generate reports as well.

Cons

Idu can be used on-premise only as of now. I think Idu should work on designing the software to work on mobile devices as well.

Advice to Others

I would suggest medium to large businesses to use this software. It is a cost effective software which does budgeting and forecasting efficiently.

Likes Best

That each cost centre manager can access their actual spend against their budget, and it is user friendly for any employee.

Likes Least

Can currently not assist with a few of our other type of business requirements, an IDU team is looking into it.

Recommendations

Ensure that you have your requirements upfront ready and what the system can do now for you and what it will be able to do in the near future.

Likes Best

The user interface is easily understandable and requires minimal training of staff to understand. This does however assume the staff has basic computer skills.

Likes Least

The administration of the product is a bit cumbersome and the vast number of settings available is a bit daunting at times.

Recommendations

If the focus of your budgets is for collation and accountability at HOD level then it is an excellent product. If you looking for more advanced features which is standard in some budgeting tools then this one is not for you. The other huge benefit is the price and that it is a locally developed product which means support at all levels including development is a local phone call away.

Likes Best

The budget and forecast application is user friendly and supports driving responsibility for managing budgets to the budget owners, and assists the Finance team to effectively monitor budgets and forecasts accurately. The IDU team have the right skill sets & knowledge / experience, understand the budget process, and, full and speedy support is available from day one of the implementation process.

Likes Least

The e-mail functionality currently does not support a hosted shared environment requiring user ID and password, as it uses a generic name: anonymous.

IDU are currently looking into the situation.

Recommendations

It is important to fully understand your needs and requirements before implementation.

Likes Best

Ease of Budgeting & Forecasting. Managing monthly actuals against budget.

Likes Least

Nothing really, wish I had more time to spend on IDU to see what it has to offer, that we don't use. Unfortunately I hardly get that time.

Recommendations

Make the administrator side more user friendly. I find it not as user friendly and the client side..

Asset module, gives issues from time to time, we need to attend to this, it's not consistent..

Likes Best

Product is flexible, easy to use, , easy to customise, excellent import/export capabilities.

Vendor is always available and understands the user's needs. Quick turnaround time on resolving issues.

Likes Least

The system does not have a facility which performs checks and balances. We experienced issues with fiscal sets.

Recommendations

Understand your needs and requirements before implementation.