When Tally stops being enough

Tally is accounting software, and it does that job well for many Indian businesses. It stops being enough when the business needs more than books: stock by batch, orders against capacity, dispatch, approvals and one view across sites. The signal is usually a growing set of spreadsheets next to the accounts. This article lists eight signs, a way to score them and the choices that follow.

Eight signs

1. A side spreadsheet has appeared. Someone keeps a workbook for stock, orders or dispatch because the accounts cannot hold it. Others rely on it.
2. The stock figure never agrees with the physical count. Each audit finds differences, and nobody can trace them to a transaction.
3. Rate changes cannot be traced to a person. Price lists and discounts change, and the record of who changed what and when is thin.
4. People wait for each other. Two staff cannot work on the same job at the same time without a handover by message.
5. Month-end has stretched. Closing used to take days. It now takes more than a week because figures must be matched across sheets.
6. Delivery dates are promised from recall. Sales promises a date without seeing what production or stores can supply.
7. Reporting means exporting. Every management report starts with a download and ends in a manual workbook.
8. Business rules sit in one person's head. Credit terms, special rates and exceptions sit in one employee's head or in one file.

Score it with four counts

Take the four counts described in custom ERP or off-the-shelf: maintained spreadsheets that drive a decision, points where data is retyped, working days to close the month, and workbooks with a single owner.

A few small numbers suggest that tidy-up and training will do. Large numbers, or a single count that keeps growing, suggest that the system no longer fits the business. That article also shows how to price them.

The mistake nearly everyone makes

The usual plan is to rebuild the Tally process in a bigger system. That carries over every workaround along with the useful steps. The better first step is to map the work as people perform it, keep what the business needs, and drop what existed only to fit the old tool. Habits and legal duties look the same in a spreadsheet, so separate them first. Why projects fail before any code is written lists the questions to ask.

When to switch

Plan the switch around the books and not around the project plan.

• Cut over at a month-end at the earliest, so opening balances are clean.
• Many companies prefer a financial-year boundary, because one set of books then ends in the old system and the next begins in the new one.
• Avoid the weeks around a return filing or an audit.
• Run old and new side by side for one full close before you stop using the old one.

Opening balances need care: party-wise receivables and payables, stock by item and location, and bank balances. See moving data into a new ERP.

What decides the effort

The effort of moving depends on four things.

• Process variance. How far your steps depart from a textbook order-to-cash flow.
• Integrations. Banks, tax portals, weighbridges, biometric devices, payroll. For GST documents, read connecting an ERP to the GST portals.
• Data condition. Duplicate items and parties, and blank fields that the new system requires.
• Users and sites. More people and locations mean more roles, training and rollout waves.

Their effect on price is in the five cost drivers of a custom ERP.

What to ask before you decide

Take these questions to the people who run each department.

1. Which report do you rebuild by hand every month, and from which sources?
2. Which number do you not trust, and who tells you the real one?
3. Which step would stop if one particular colleague left?
4. What do customers wait for that the system could have told you?

Write the answers down. They become the first draft of the requirements list for any route below.

Three routes

Extend what you have

If only one or two signs apply, add the missing piece. A payroll module, a billing tool or a reporting layer can close a gap while Tally stays as the ledger. For payroll rules, see what an HRMS must handle for Indian payroll.

Add a billing and light accounting product

If the pain is invoicing, GST returns and stock for a smaller business, a cloud billing and light accounting product may be enough. Look for GST billing, stock across warehouses and return filing support.

Build an ERP around your process

If four or more signs apply, and the process is how you earn your margin, a custom ERP gives stock, orders, dispatch, approvals and accounts in one system. Build it in phases, starting with the module that hurts most. See the custom ERP implementation guide.

Questions buyers ask

How do I know Tally is not enough?
When spreadsheets carry decisions, stock does not match the count, month-end takes longer each year and nobody can trace a rate change.

Can I keep Tally for accounts and add an ERP for operations?
Yes, if the ERP posts to the ledger by integration. Decide which system is the record for each figure.

When should I switch?
At a month-end or a year boundary, after a full parallel close.

Where Brihat Infotech fits

Brihat Infotech builds custom ERP systems and sells Brihat Books for GST billing and light accounting with multi-warehouse stock. Start a conversation.