I am building a model for a start up. They will be adding headcount incrementally for the next 2-3 years. Rather than using the current Modano S&W module which calculates avg staff*avg annual base salaries, etc, the company wants a spreadsheet which will add one person at a time to the relevant dept. A spreadsheet with columns such as name, title, dept, bse, start date, end date, base, annual leave, superannuation, etc.
I was thinking to insert an empty module on top of the S&W module (I am using the SaaS scenario template with COA number 6) which will then feed the results into the S&W module. Is this the most effective way?
Thanks
Cornell
Hi Cornell,
The approach recommended by Jun is the correct approach - i.e. always try to refactor an existing module without touching the links before considering building a module from scratch.
You're correct in noting that our Salaries & Wages (Drivers) module is complex. We built it many years ago as a one-size-fits-all module, which is no longer an approach we adopt, instead always erring towards simplicity as a starting point. We will be releasing a range of simpler salaries & wages modules going forward to address this.
Having said that, we do now have a training course which goes through the salaries & wages module in detail, which you can access here:
www.modano.com/resources/learning/financial_modeling_2/salaries_wages
As a general comment, there are 2 ways to successfully leverage Modano if you're wanting to customize modules rather than just use our content libraries off-the-shelf:
The "getting angry emails from the Modano crew" you've mentioned are almost certainly a result of you not having chosen one of these proven paths. Out team's frustration does come through at times when our users don't invest sufficiently in training, refuse to purchase support credits, then ask for help doing quite complex things. It leaves us in a no-win situation, as we either assist and lose money, or don't assist and let our users fail, which if they're advising clients is brand damaging for us. Hence the frustration you may have sensed (not really anger).
Our subscription pricing is insanely cheap compared with any other comparable financial modeling solution provider in the world today - if one even exists - and our business model is based on only charging our users for what they need as they need it. But it assumes that there is an openness to purchase modelling support, which is why we haven't made our base subscription cost higher.
You're always welcome to try the forum, but we pride ourselves on giving our users a very strong ROI from their Modano investment, even when purchasing more support, so I'd recommend considering using our support platform more, or doing more training, if you really want to excel at Modano.
Michael