About a year ago in an article on IT Toolbox I asked whether the “End of Year Rush” was really necessary. I concluded that “Change the business culture – from one of ad-hoc, last-minute requests to proper planning of the work is essential”. One year on and this question continues to have relevance with some of my customers. The power of the computer is in the ability to complete repetitive tasks as an when they are required. From a business perspective we need to be able to show the system how-to once and have it repeat the process every day, month, quarter, year etc.

Closing of year-end accounts should simply be part of a business process that includes both automation and human input. There should be no special requests to process. We know that there are often changes to the statutory reporting rules but having an annual deadline of 31st October (with a change board meeting on in the first week of November) seems eminently sensible and gives adequate time to respond. Asking for a change on the 11th of December is not acceptable, especially for an IT department that has been trimmed to the bone.

The message that needs to be learnt this year is that any process we create in the next few days needs to be repeatable next year and that we should always be planning ahead. This is a matter of leadership and planning for future need rather than responding at the last minute.