Exchequer Health Check: 7 Things Worth Reviewing

If you’ve been using Exchequer for a long time, there’s a good chance it has simply become part of the furniture.

People join and leave, responsibilities change, new PCs are introduced and processes gradually evolve. Meanwhile, the way Exchequer was originally configured can easily stay exactly the same.

That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. But every so often, it’s worth giving your setup a quick health check to make sure it still reflects the way your team works today.

You may already have all seven of these areas covered. If you do, great. If not, you might spot one or two relatively simple things worth reviewing.

1. Are Your Users and Permissions Still Right?

 A good place to start is with the people who can access Exchequer.

Think about what has changed since user accounts and permissions were originally set up:

• Have employees left the business?
• Have people changed roles?
• Does anyone still have access they no longer need?
• Have new responsibilities been added without permissions being reviewed?
• Are more sensitive functions limited to the right people?

This doesn’t need to become a major permissions project. It’s simply good practice to periodically check that access still reflects each person’s current responsibilities.

There are also individual Exchequer permissions that can have a significant effect on how the system is used. For example, within SPOP there is a specific permission controlling whether users can allow negative stock levels, which HBP recommends reviewing carefully and restricting where appropriate.

A quick user review can therefore help make sure that historical access hasn’t simply carried on indefinitely.

2. Is Everyone Closing Exchequer Down Properly?

This sounds simple, but it can prevent some frustrating problems.

Users should fully exit Exchequer at the end of the day, along with any applications connected to it, such as:

• Excel OLE spreadsheets
• Importer
• Exchequer Mobile

Leaving sessions open can result in record locks or so-called “ghost” sessions, which can then cause problems for other users.

One practical check is the Logged In User Report. At the end of the working day, this should return “No users detected”, confirming that all Exchequer sessions have been closed correctly.

If open sessions are a recurring issue, it could be worth reminding users of the correct shutdown process rather than simply resolving each individual lock when it happens.

3. Are the Same Workstation Problems Cropping Up Repeatedly?

An occasional technical problem is one thing. The same problem appearing again and again is worth investigating.

For example, if a particular user regularly experiences crashes, missing transactions or unusual behaviour, the cause may sit outside the transaction itself.

HBP’s Exchequer guidance recommends several useful checks when investigating recurring issues, including:

• running the Exchequer Workstation Setup;
• reviewing the Exchequer LOGS folder;
• checking Bugreport.txt;
• looking at Windows Event Viewer; and
• considering whether workstation or network connectivity could be contributing to the problem.

Windows updates and changes to the workstation environment can also occasionally mean the Exchequer workstation installation needs to be rerun.

You don’t necessarily need to diagnose these issues yourself. The useful health-check question is simply:

Are you repeatedly working around the same problem instead of finding out why it keeps happening?

If so, it may be worth getting the HBP Exchequer support team involved.

4. If You Use SPOP, Are Your Stock Controls Still Working for You?

This one won’t apply to every Exchequer customer, but if you use Sales and Purchase Order Processing (SPOP), it’s worth periodically reviewing the way stock is being managed.

Small process gaps around purchase orders, deliveries and invoices can eventually lead to issues such as:

• negative stock;
• incomplete postings;
• missing transaction lines; and
• stock valuation inconsistencies.

HBP recommends carefully controlling the ability to allow negative stock and using the Insufficient Stock warning where appropriate. Regular stock checks can also help identify discrepancies before they develop into more difficult valuation problems.

Another point worth checking is how transactions are being processed when multiple people use the system. Having more than one user editing the same transaction during processing can increase the risk of missing lines or incomplete postings.

If your stock processes have changed over time, make sure the settings and permissions around them have kept up.

5. When Did You Last Check Your Backup and Recovery Arrangements? 

A finance-system health check shouldn’t stop at what users can see inside Exchequer.

It’s also worth speaking to whoever manages your IT and confirming that the data and infrastructure supporting Exchequer are being protected appropriately.

Useful questions include:

• Is the Exchequer environment included within your current backup arrangements?
• Are those backups being monitored?
• Where are they stored?
• Who is responsible for them?
• Do you know what the recovery process would look like if you needed it?

The important point here isn’t simply “we have backups.”

It’s knowing that the organisation has a clear, current recovery plan for a system containing business-critical financial information.

Your exact arrangements will depend on how Exchequer is hosted and how your wider IT infrastructure is managed, so this is one to review with your IT provider rather than making assumptions from within Exchequer itself.

6. Have Manual Workarounds Gradually Crept into the Process?

This is another area that can easily go unnoticed.

A workaround gets created because somebody needs information quickly. Then it gets repeated the following month. Before long, it becomes “the way we do it”.

It’s worth asking whether your team is regularly:

• copying the same information between Exchequer and Excel;
• manually updating large numbers of records;
• recreating the same reports each month;
• maintaining spreadsheets because the original report no longer quite fits; or
• carrying out repetitive tasks that weren’t part of the original Exchequer process.

Sometimes those workarounds are entirely sensible.

But sometimes functionality already available around Exchequer could make the process easier.

For example, Exchequer OLE can pull Exchequer information into Excel and, where the appropriate functions are available, write certain updates back into the system. Exchequer also has Visual Report Writer for creating and adapting reports around specific requirements.

So rather than asking “What new software do we need?”, it may first be worth asking:

Could we make better use of what we already have?

7. Does Your Current Exchequer Setup Still Fit Where the Business Is Going?

Finally, take a slightly wider view.

Exchequer moved into extended support, which means Advanced reduced ongoing investment in new product development and shifted the roadmap towards essential maintenance, legislative changes and security work. Importantly, HBP continues to support Exchequer customers, and moving into extended support did not mean existing systems suddenly stopped working.

So this isn’t a reason to replace Exchequer simply because it has been around for a long time.

If it continues to do everything your business needs, there may be no immediate reason to change.

But requirements do evolve.

It may be worth starting a wider conversation if you’re increasingly looking for things such as:

• greater automation;
• more sophisticated reporting;
• tighter integration with other business systems;
• more flexible access;
• broader ERP functionality; or
• functionality that isn’t part of Exchequer’s future development roadmap.

The purpose of that conversation isn’t necessarily to start an ERP replacement project.

It’s simply to understand whether the system you have today still lines up with where the business wants to be in the next few years.

A Quick Exchequer Health-Check Checklist

So, when you next have a few minutes, it may be worth asking:

• Are our Exchequer users and permissions still appropriate?
• Is everyone properly closing Exchequer and linked applications?
• Are recurring workstation problems being properly investigated?
• If we use SPOP, are our stock controls and processes still right?
• Are our backup and recovery arrangements understood and current?
• Have any unnecessary manual workarounds crept into our processes?
• Does Exchequer still comfortably support what we need from it?

You don't need to find a problem for the exercise to be worthwhile.

If everything checks out, you have the reassurance that your setup still reflects the way your business works today.

And if you do spot something that could be tightened up, it may be much easier to deal with it as a small improvement now than wait until it starts causing problems later.

Need a Hand Reviewing Your Exchequer Setup?

If any of these points have made you question something in your own setup, speak to your Account Manager or the HBP Exchequer support team.

Whether it’s a permissions question, a recurring technical problem, an SPOP process or simply something your team is doing manually that you think could be easier, we can help you take a closer look.

And if your requirements have changed more significantly and you’re beginning to wonder whether Exchequer is still the right long-term fit, you can also explore the ERP systems HBP works with today and the different types of businesses and requirements they’re designed to support.