Enriching the Treasury Function.

Does your treasury function need access to data in easy-to-manipulate formats? "Look no further than your banks' standard information reporting systems," suggests Don Shaurette, managing director of the technical marketing/consulting division of SunTrust Banks Treasury Management Services, based in Orlando. "These applications act as readily accessible repositories or databases of bank transaction detail."

In a typical transaction, such as a wire transfer to a supplier, elements of the exchange reside within the accounting function. "But the information supporting the transfer, such as issues pertaining to reconciliation and transaction validation, are tagged and carried along with the transaction," Shaurette explains. "The information resides in the bank's own systems. The key is how to harness the data to support those business processes with which treasury has no direct tie."

Procurement cards are another case in point. "Information relating to a specific purchasing transaction can be captured at the point of purchase, then handed back to support the financial reporting and control environment that's required in many organizations today," he says. "Regardless of format, here's readily accessible information that can be leveraged, truly setting the stage for meaningful integration opportunities. ERP and 'open systems' for many financial applications, which are premised on the whole notion of an integrated architecture, support the import and extraction of data in easily usable formats." He also suggests looking into Internet-based or private network-delivered access, which use web-browser interfaces.

A Wealth of Information

"Today's typical corporate treasury department spends relatively little time integrating the systems that manage the dataflow...