Overview

Lumel is a leading provider of no-code, self-service data solutions designed to leverage modern data platform investments. Lumel's flagship product, PowerTable,

enables business users to build no-code, writeback-enabled data apps on Microsoft Fabric. PowerTable connects live to cloud data warehouse tables in platforms such as Fabric SQL, Azure SQL, and others, allowing for real-time data interaction and collaboration

Lumel's solutions are designed to integrate planning, reporting, and analytics on a single platform, helping organizations make better, faster decisions. The platform supports various use cases, including managing master data, building tabular apps, and facilitating user data input and writeback

Lumel along with it’s implementation partner DataCrafters, implemented a solution combining Microsoft Fabric, Power BI and Lumel Power Tables to solve a complex business and technology problem for Canlak Coatings. Canlak Coatings is a North American manufacturer specializing in industrial wood coatings. The company operates across multiple business units and systems, focusing on providing high-performance coatings and finishes

Supernova Award Category

Data to Decisions

The Problem

Canlak Coatings faced a highly fragmented financial reporting environment with three separate ERP systems, including one that was over 40 years old. The lack of a unified chart of accounts meant that financial reports had to be created manually in spreadsheets, requiring extensive data gathering, mapping, and reconciliation. This process delayed the month-end close by up to two weeks. The complexity and regulatory sensitivity of finance demanded a more accurate, transparent, and automated approach

The Solution

In partnership with Lumel and DataCrafters, Canlak Coatings implemented a comprehensive digital transformation strategy to enhance their operational efficiency and customer engagement. Canlak adopted Microsoft Fabric as their Data, AI, and Analytics Platform. Leveraging Microsoft's Unified Analytics Platform enabled Canlak to transform their business using advanced analytics and AI-driven insights to optimize their supply chain and production processes.

Microsoft Fabric as the foundation for a centralized, automated financial reporting system transformed Canlak's financial operations. Data from all three ERP systems now flows into a unified model that refreshes daily. Lumel's PowerTables native fabric application is used to manage mappings and post adjustments with full version control and approvals, while Power BI provides executives with drill-down dashboards. This modernization resulted in faster month-end closes, greater accuracy, and on-demand insights.

The results

Before the project, Canlak Coatings faced fragmented financial systems with three separate ERPs, manual data processes, and delayed month-end closes by up to two weeks. Decision-making was hindered by the lack of real-time financial data.

After the implementation of Lumel PowerTables native app in Microsoft Fabric along with Power Tables the benefits were as follows:

Centralized System: Unified data from all ERPs into a model that refreshes daily.

Automated Processes: Managed mappings and adjustments with full version control and approvals.

Efficiency and Accuracy: Faster, more accurate month-end closes with real-time insights.

Enhanced Decision-Making: Executives now have access to drill-down dashboards in Power BI.

This transformation brought real-time insights and operational agility to Canlak's finance function, significantly improving decision-making and operational efficiency.

Metrics

• Faster reporting: The monthly close process, which previously took up to 2 weeks, has been shortened dramatically thanks to automated data pipelines and daily-refresh dashboards.Up to 85% reduction in time required for month-end close (from ~10 business days to 1–2 days with automated, daily-refresh data).
• Efficiency: The finance team now saves more than 20 hours per month, previously spent on manual data gathering and spreadsheet reconciliation.
• Increased confidence: Executives rely on accurate, up-to-date dashboards available on demand, leading to improved responsiveness and faster decision-making.
• Audit readiness: PowerTables automatically logs every mapping and adjustment with version control and role-based approvals, simplifying compliance and audit preparation.
• Executive visibility: Finance leadership now uses Power BI drill-down dashboards with row-level security, replacing static Excel reports.

The Technology

Canlak used Microsoft Fabric as the platform to build a centralized, automated financial reporting system. Data from all three ERP systems flows into a unified model that refreshes daily. Lumel PowerTables are used to manage mappings and post adjustments with full version control and approvals. Power BI provides executives with drill-down dashboards. All transformation logic resides in Fabric to ensure consistency and auditability.

The solution demonstrates the ability of solution providers such as Lumel to build native applications on the Fabric platform and provide value to customers within a single pane of glass. The ability to build a native application provides an integrated experience for customers using the platform with complete access to data security, lineage, and auditability.

Disruptive Factor

The disruptive factor in Canlak Coatings' solution is their innovative use of Microsoft Fabric and Native Apps. By integrating Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, and Lumel's PowerTables, they created a centralized, automated financial reporting system. This system automated manual processes, reduced month-end close times, and ensured greater accuracy and compliance. AI-driven analytics provided real-time insights, improving decision-making and operational agility, setting Canlak apart from competitors

Shining Moment

We are most proud of the significant transformation we achieved in our financial reporting processes at Canlak Coatings. By partnering with DataCrafters and leveraging Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, and Lumel's PowerTables, we built a centralized, automated financial reporting system that integrates data from three separate ERP systems. This modernization has not only streamlined our month-end close process, reducing it from two weeks to just a few days, but also provided real-time insights and improved decision-making capabilities. The successful integration of AI-driven analytics has brought a new level of operational agility and accuracy to our finance function, setting us apart from competitors and demonstrating the wide-scale disruptive potential of our project