Max Havelaar 

Until recently, Max Havelaar used Excel for its budget process. This had several disadvantages: the data could only be processed by one person at a time and the budget figures were only visible after the entire budget process was complete and were therefore not very transparent. In addition, the budget and evaluations ran separately in different files, which made manual transfers necessary..

Max Havelaar commissioned 2BIT to redesign the budget and evaluation process and transfer it to state-of-the-art tools. The aim was also to integrate the budgeting process into the reporting.

The core of Max Havelaar's new budget and reporting solution is Microsoft Power BI. Thanks to the "2Writeback Visual" extension solution developed by 2BIT, all relevant data, including comments or notes, can be easily and centrally entered into Power BI and then used comprehensively. The data itself is stored in an Azure SQL database.

With the new solution, several people can now work on the budget at the same time. In addition, the data can be viewed immediately and at any time by all those involved in the process. This enables direct feedback throughout the entire budget process and not just at the end. Likewise, the analysis of budget and actual figures is now integrated into one tool, without a tedious and error-prone manual interface. The comparability of budgets over time has also been improved.

About Fairtrade Max Havelaar: The Fairtrade Max Havelaar foundation awards a seal of quality to products throughout Switzerland that are produced and traded according to Fairtrade standards. The aim of Fairtrade Max Havelaar is to improve the living and working conditions of small farmers and workers in countries that are disadvantaged by unfair global trade structures.

The added value of the solution implemented by 2BIT:

• Fast, uncomplicated budgeting and evaluation.

• Analysis and feedback possibilities at any time.

• Higher data quality thanks to centralised, one-time input.

• Reduction of the time required.