Two leading retail brands — Hering and GUESS — needed a unified way to track and compare their financial and operational performance across stores. Data from payroll systems, attendance software (AhGora), and sales spreadsheets were isolated, making it difficult to evaluate productivity and cost efficiency.
Sapphire Business Tech developed a comprehensive Excel automation solution, centralizing all data into a single analytical model. The result: an end-to-end dashboard that tracks financial performance, foot traffic, and workforce cost efficiency in real time.
Project Highlights
- Project: Integrated Operational and Financial Performance Analysis System
- Industry: Retail & Apparel
- Departments Impacted: Finance, HR, Operations, and Executive Management
- Saved Hours: 50+ hours per month
- Technology Stack: Excel 365 + VBA + Power Query (Power BI-ready)
- Core Features: Consolidated financial and HR data, automated dashboards, KPI analytics (Revenue, Labor Cost %, Foot Traffic), and multi-store performance comparison (Hering × GUESS)
Development Story
Before automation, management teams from both Hering and GUESS spent hours consolidating sales reports, attendance data, and headcount costs manually. The lack of a unified view caused discrepancies between operational and financial analyses.
Sapphire Business Tech designed and implemented a fully automated Excel 365 system, powered by Power Query for ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes and VBA macros for control and validation.
The system integrates three primary data sources: – Sales reports (daily and monthly revenue per store and category);
– Attendance & HR data (hours worked, absences, and overtime from AhGora);
– Payroll and cost sheets (fixed and variable staff costs per unit).
The result is a dynamic model that automatically updates KPIs such as: – Revenue per employee;
– Labor cost as % of revenue;
– Foot traffic conversion rate;
– Store comparison (Hering vs. GUESS) by performance tier and period.
Dashboards display operational and financial insights at both micro (store-level) and macro (network-wide) scales — enabling leadership to take data-driven actions quickly.
Dashboards & Features
Excel Analytical Dashboards
- Financial Overview: Monthly and annual revenue trends per store.
- Labor Efficiency: Labor cost vs. sales ratio by store and department.
- Foot Traffic Analysis: Number of customers vs. conversion rate.
- Comparative Dashboard: Real-time performance comparison between Hering and GUESS.
- Dynamic Filters: By store, date, region, and brand.
Automation Features
- Automatic Data Consolidation: Imports CSV and Excel exports from AhGora and financial systems.
- VBA-Controlled Updates: One-click refresh process that recalculates all KPIs.
- Validation & Error Prevention: Automated data checks for missing or duplicated entries.
- Power BI-Ready Model: Structured dataset ready for integration and visual expansion.
Key Points
- Unified HR, finance, and sales data across two major retail brands.
- Reduced manual data processing by over 80%.
- Enabled near real-time performance tracking and inter-brand benchmarking.
- Improved accuracy and visibility for executive reporting.
- Built on Excel — scalable, maintainable, and Power BI-ready.
Industry Impact
Sector: Retail and Apparel Management
Result: The automation turned complex, disconnected datasets into a single management intelligence hub. Leadership now monitors costs, sales, and efficiency KPIs from one consolidated view, ensuring operational agility and financial precision.
Technical Deep Dive
System Architecture: Excel 365 + VBA + Power Query
– Data Sources: Sales (CSV/Excel), HR (AhGora export), Payroll (Excel).
– Data Flow: Source → Power Query Transformation → Excel Data Model → VBA Refresh → Dashboard.
– Key Metrics:
– Labor Cost % = TotalLaborCost / Revenue
– Revenue per Employee = Revenue / Headcount
– Conversion Rate = Sales / FootTraffic
– Automation Logic: VBA scripts handle file import, KPI recalculation, and visual refresh.
– Error Validation: Checks for missing store IDs or duplicated records.
– Dashboard Engine: Dynamic tables with pivot charts and Power Query refresh buttons.
– Scalability: Power BI integration via shared dataset for multi-brand comparison.
