column5 reference library. quick facts lionsgate reduces budget time and enhances performance...
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QUICK FACTS
Lionsgate Reduces Budget Time and Enhances Performance Reporting with SAP Planning and Consolidation
Challenges & Opportunities Required a more sophisticated tool to
help manage the challenge of complex planning and forecasting processes
Needed better access and visibility into dynamic company data for improved decision making
Objectives Improve management of the “ultimate
schedule” for production and distribution prevalent in media industry
Increase accuracy and visibility to company data
Provide an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use tool for staff
Implementation Highlights User since 2000, version 4.2 with plan
to upgrade to 5.2 (Q2’08) and then 7.1 Initial implementation complete in less
than two weeks Synchronize data and metadata with
SAP ERP and BI/BW
Why SAP Solution flexibility, power, and ease-of-
use Stability of platform and future
direction of solution Excel user interface allows new users
to leverage application with little or no training
Upgrade plans are a result of successful implementation that has been widely accepted by accounting and planning departments
Benefits Budgeting process shifted from basic
tasks to value-enhancing activities Significantly enhanced ability to
analyze and forecast revenue and cost on individual titles from theater and DVD to iPod and television
Able to dynamically analyze plan vs forecast data to react to buyer response and better ensure expected revenue stream
Instant and accurate ad-hoc reporting on over 10,000 individual films
“Using SAP’s Planning and Consolidation,
the budgeting process was reduced from
weeks to days. We’ve also developed a
richness in our performance reporting that
has significantly enhanced our ability to
predict revenue and therefore improve
relationships with our distribution
partners.”
Ulrik KnapSVP, Planning and AnalysisLionsgate
Lionsgate Location: Santa Monica, California Industry: Media Products and Services: Producer and
distributor of independent films, and producer of television programs
Revenue: $976 million Employees: 400 Web Site: www.lionsgate.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP
Planning and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
QUICK FACTS
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Leverages BPC 10.0 to Streamline the Reporting and Planning Process
Challenges & Opportunities Upgrade from BPC version 7.0 to BPC
version 10.0 (Microsoft Platform)
Objectives Technical Stability Convert all Reports and Input
Templates from EVDRE to the EPM Add-In
More efficient process to complete the Salary Planning
Migrate Template-based Logic to Business Rules and Logic
Streamline the Reporting and Planning Processes
Why Column5 Experience and Best Practices dating
back to product inception Full Services Firm - Technical
Services, EPM Academy, Consulting / Advisory Services, Center of Excellence, Project Management Organization
Methodology and Knowledge Transfer from Day 1
Why SAP Ease of use/Microsoft Office Suite,
Microsoft Excel Software’s ability to eliminate rekeying
and reduce errors Ability to access data from multiple
sources/years within a centralized interface
Unified Platform provides expansion capabilities for future phases and business needs
Benefits Foundation for more flexible Financial
Reporting and Analysis Single Version of the Truth Integrated multiple sources Automated interfaces Reduces / Eliminates manual errors Large Deployment (350) / User
Friendly for variety of users
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Location: Cincinnati, OH Industry: Healthcare Products and Services: 557 bed pediatric
hospital Web Site: www.cinicinnatichildrens.org SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
About CCHMC 3rd in the nation among all Honor Roll
hospitals in the 2012 U.S. News & World Report survey of best children's hospitals
2nd highest recipient of grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for pediatric research
3rd best Department of Pediatrics at a US medical school, in U.S. News & World Report 2012 survey of best graduate schools
QUICK FACTS
United Pipe and Supply improves performance management with SAP Planning and Consolidation
Challenges and Opportunities Replace manual, time-consuming
processes for planning, budgeting, and reporting
Gain control over accuracy and reliability of corporate data
Acquire ability to create reports and generate financial analyses
Objectives Unify and centralize all performance
and financial data Automate reporting and analysis Give managers control over
performance drivers down to the branch level
Implementation Highlights Focused on financial reporting and
budgeting activities Completed 3-phase implementation
in 6 months
Why SAP Single product that offers
complete functionality Ease of use and rapid adoption due to
familiar Microsoft Excel interface Simplified maintenance
and administration
Benefits Reliable source of corporate data Automated report generation Rapid adoption due to Excel-
based interface Greater control over performance
drivers – which translate into higher employee accountability for performance
Enhanced collaboration via bottom-up and top-down budgeting processes
64% pretax rate of return in first 9 months – with a 15-month payback period
United Pipe & Supply Name: United Pipe & Supply Co. Inc. Location: Portland, Oregon Industry: Wholesale distribution Products and services: Pipe, drainage,
rotors, valves, pumps, and heating, venting, and air-conditioning equipment
Revenue: Over US$200 million Web site: www.unitedpipe.com SAP Solution and services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation application Partner: Column5 Consulting
“We have better control of our information
and can harness it to make good business
decisions. Quite simply, SAP Planning and
Consolidation has greatly improved how
we manage performance at United Pipe &
Supply.”
Cheryl SummersControllerUnited Pipe & Supply Co. Inc.
QUICK FACTS
Orrick Sets the Foundation for more Flexible Reporting and Analysis
Challenges and Opportunities Heavy use of VBA in reports resulted in
high reliance on IT for report maintenance
Little to no ability to drill-down or across dimensions for further analysis
Objectives Automate the reporting and planning
processes Empower the finance team to write the
reports versus having IT support teams write reports
Improve the flow of data across Orrick’s data sources to allow for more frequent data refreshes in an automated fashion
Drive an increase in forecast accuracy Allow Orrick to be self reliant in the
support of BPC
Why SAP Ease of use/Microsoft Office Suite,
Microsoft Excel Automated import/export interfaces to
both internal and external data sources
Ability to access data from multiple sources/years within a centralized interface
Unified Platform provides expansion capabilities for future phases and business needs
Why Column5 Experience and Best Practices dating
back to product inception Full Services Firm - Technical
Services., Training, Center of Excellence, Project Management, Advisory Services
Methodology and Knowledge Transfer from Day 1
Benefits Quick time to value – less than 5
months to go-live Reduced monthly reporting time by
60% Ad hoc analytic capabilities
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Location: San Francisco, CA Industry: Professional Services Products and Services: Legal Services Employees: 1100+ Web Site: www.orrick.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
Orrick is a leading global law firm with a
particular focus on serving companies in
the technology, energy and financial
sectors. We are recognized worldwide for
delivering the highest-quality, commercial-
orientated legal advice and for our culture
of innovation and collaboration.
QUICK FACTS
IATA: Flying to New Heights of Reliable, Streamlined Financial Reporting
Challenges and Opportunities IATA's budgeting, forecasting and
consolidation requirements are extensive. IATA staff must develop annual budgets and monthly forecasts for 650 profit centers.
Consolidation reporting is conducted globally by five regional hubs that consolidate financial data from 135 separate internal organizations.
Objectives Implement a more efficient process for
creating budgets, forecasts and consolidated reports to accelerate timelines and streamline validation
Ability to drill-down to transaction details
Implementation Highlights Involvement of key business process
owners throughout the build facilitated learning and lead to lower training costs and increased user adoption
600 global users
Why SAP Integration with existing SAP
landscape at IATA. Modeling capabilities of BPC Ease of use of the Office interface with
BPC
Why Column5 Knowledge of EPM solutions Flexibility and professionalism
exhibited throughout sales and implementation cycles
Benefits Drill-though to transaction detail has
enabled a significant simplification of the review process.
Business users now enjoy unprecedented flexibility with BPC as they can track budgets and expenditures across multiple dimensions.
Streamlined monthly consolidation reporting.
International Air Transport Association Location: San Jose, California Industry: Transportation and Logistics -
Airlines Products and Services: Global trade
organization representing, leading and server the air transport industry
Members: ~240 airlines Web Site: www.iata.org SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“Our business users are having a great
time visualizing performance metrics in
SAP Dashboard Design software using data
pulled from SAP Business Planning and
Consolidation.”
Tim GrosserHead of SAP Business SystemsIATA
QUICK FACTS
Allergan Delivers More Detailed Financial Reports to Executives — and Does It Faster
Challenges and Opportunities Delays in the financial close process
were frustrating to finance department and the executives waiting for the ‘numbers’
A major Acquisition highlighted the fact that the time had come to evolve from manual processes
Objectives Faster Close Process More update data throughout the
month Ability to load planning data More self-sufficient users running their
own reports
Implementation Highlights Improved analysis with more detailed
and transparent data Enhanced ability to balance
intercompany transactions Improved reporting: “Excel on steroids” Decentralized reporting process from 1
report writer to hundreds
Why SAP What were the compelling reasons for
selecting SAP? Examples include clarity of platform/product direction, competitive evaluation vs. Oracle or other competitors, previous successful SAP implementations, industry focus, industry/solution references, partner network, etc.
Benefits 35% reduction in financial close cycle
times Easier, faster, and less manual effort
for remote sites to submit data Faster and more automated data loads Load times reduced from 1–2 hours to
under 15 minutes
Allergan Location: Irvine, California Industry: Healthcare products Products and Services: eye care,
neuroscience, obesity management, medical aesthetics, dermatology, and urology
Revenue: $5.4b Employees: 11000 Web Site: www.allergan.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP
NetWeaver BW. SAP Planning and Consolidation
Partner: Column5 Consulting
“After a major acquisition — when we had to integrate many different types of high-level financial data — it became clear how manual our processes were and that it was time for a change.”
Elizabeth ElmoreDirector of Corporate Financialand Management Reporting SystemsAllergan
QUICK FACTS
Northern California Public Broadcasting – Creating a performance-based culture
Challenges and Opportunities 5 month Planning Cycle consumed
management and staff 600 Excel spreadsheets, from nearly
200 business units, were used to prepare budgets
Consolidation took approximately 6 weeks and included painstaking manual intercompany balancing
Objectives To minimize cycle time and effort
involved in developing, reviewing and approving “budgets” – reduced to one hour of analysis and update each month.
To provide managers with a consistent, accessible tool to communicate plan changes from the bottom up, so that an accurate picture could be seen.
Implementation Highlights Automated balancing of
interdepartmental charges Minimized staff resources for
implementation Aggregated data across axes of
department as well as projects
Why SAP Ability to budget multiple line items for
individual accounts Ability to add comments by line item to
document assumptions Good negotiating partner on terms and
conditions
Benefits Payback within three months, due to
ability to react to market, cutting costs and generating more revenue ahead of downturn
Consolidation cycle time reduced from 6 weeks to a few seconds
Kept spreadsheet front end, but locked and controlled to maintain integrity of data input template/process
Payroll forecast accuracy was increased, to within 0.1%
NCPB Location: San Francisco, California Industry: Entertainment and Media Revenue: $60m Employees: 275 Web Site: www.ncpb.com / www.kqed.org SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“[With SAP BPC] we’ve cut many weeks off our budgeting and forecasting process, providing important time for value-added analysis. I would estimate the softwareprovided a four-fold ROI.”
Jeff NemyChief Financial OfficerNCPB
QUICK FACTS
G4S- Making Business Processes Work Smarter with BPC
Challenges and Opportunities Manual keying in of financial data from
multiple spreadsheets into account system was labor intensive and time consuming.
If changes were required it would take weeks to complete the revised numbers
Objectives Increase the ability to produce
forecasts more quickly Increase the data transparency and
minimize risk of errors Driver-based modeling
Implementation Highlights Driver-based demonstration module
was developed in 4 weeks Reducing manual entries to 12 from
400
Why SAP Users of OutlookSoft since 2007 Strong consulting partner in Column5
Benefits BPC has greatly reduced the number
of manual calculations numbering in the 1000’s across the organization.
An application for the meter -reading function for example, replicates the results that would previously have come from analyzing spreadsheets containing thousands of calculations, and can produce revenue, headcount requirements, even standard cost per person. This allows G4S Utility Services to interrogate present data, look at the implications of contract or cost changes across the business, and identify areas of risk or opportunity.
G4S Location: Surrey, United Kingdom Industry: Security, facilities management,
utility services Revenue: £6bn Worldwide, £1bn UK
&Ireland Employees: 600,000 WW, 33,000 UK &
Ireland Web Site: www.g4s.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“New opportunities are discovered
across the division, every month”Andrew BushRegional BPC Development ManagerG4S
QUICK FACTS
Altera Standardizes on SAP to Run Better
Challenges and Opportunities Altera's performance management
landscape was a hodgepodge of systems – BAAN (ERP), Panorama (BI),Oracle-Hyperion and manual Excel resulting in inefficient processes and a lack of visibility to take action in a timely manner.
Objectives Lower TCO by standardizing on one
platform for ERP, EPM and BI. Altera standardized disparate systems on SAP.
Faster and more informed decision making.
Implementation Highlights BPC implementation became Altera's
single version of the truth for actual and plan data.
Leveraging BPC for Consolidations, Financial, Sales, Opex, Capex , HR planning
Why SAP Built on SAP’s Netweaver platform
leveraging existing Assets Drill thru into BW & ECC allowing
rigorous analytics capability Ability to handle Consolidations,
Planning and Reporting within BW as a single unified solution
Powerful logic engine and options for deploying F/X Conversions, Business Rules, Allocations and Calculations logic
Leverage native Finance and IT skill set centered around SAP solutions
Integration between strategic, financial, capital, operational and resource planning
Benefits Real-time access to data Increased business ownership Automation of Consolidations and
Integrated to ECC Moved Planning from de-centralized
Excel files to centralized planning system
Altera Location: San Jose, California Industry: Semiconductor Manufacturing Products and Services: Semiconductors
and integrated circuits Revenue: $2b Employees: 2900 Web Site: www.altera.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
CURRENT BPC USES:Annual Plan, Monthly/ Quarterly Forecasts, and Interim Plans Consolidated Month-end Results Complex Allocations Commercial P&L Plan and Forecasted: Income Statement Balance Sheet Cash Conversion Cycle Metrics HR Workforce Plans Capital Spend and Depreciation Plan Other outputs
QUICK FACTS
Northern Arizona University – Raising the Grade for Budgeting
Challenges and Opportunities Complex, error prone budget and close
cycles. Strict process for tracking how grant
money is spent and transferred
Objectives Unify performance data to more
effectively plan, analyze and report budget data
Provide budget managers an accurate, up-to-date view of their financial position
Implementation Highlights NAU was able improve and refine their
business processes Rolled out to 170 campus budget
managers Training of end-users and
administrators were key to a successful implementation
Why SAP Familiarity with SAP’s products already
in production at NAU Ease of use and low learning curve
with BPC’s Excel front-end Ability to load data from multiple
sources
Benefits 50% reduction in budget preparation
time. From 3 months to 6 weeks. More timely budget data due to
reduction in cycle Ability to quickly make adjustments
and see the impact immediately. No more manual adjustments and updating of multiple spreadsheets
75% reduction time to create of state mandated financial reports. 2 months to 2 weeks.
Northern Arizona University Location: Flagstaff, Arizona Industry: Higher Education and Research Products and Services: undergraduate and
graduate education, professional programs and research
Faculty & Staff: 3,800 Students: 17,000 Web Site: www.nau.edu SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“With SAP Planning and Consolidation, we now have access to consistent, accurate, and reliable information – and that means more robust management of our educational resources.”
Bjorn FlugstadBudget DirectorNorthern Arizona University
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Revolutionizing Budgeting and Planning with SAP Software
Challenges and Opportunities Version control was a constant issue.
There were multiple versions of the truth.
Maintaining ESSBASE was very painful Integration of ESSBASE and PeopleSoft for both IT and Finance was time consuming.
The business users wanted more control over the planning processes
Objectives Reduce the total planning process
cycle to allow for increased frequency (of forecasting for the calendar year
Provide a user friendly interface to gather plan data while maintaining consistency in the planning templates across the organization
Ensure data integrity and accuracy by reducing human errors throughout the entire process
Implementation Highlights All Daily, Periodic, Quarterly and
Annual Reporting requirements now leverage BPC as single data source
Expansions have cut down time required to “update” static P&L’s for changes within the account and entity hierarchy
Franchise Sales Reporting has been consolidated from 6 independent applications to 1
Why SAP Impressive customer references Software ease of use Support for business process flows Ability to run the application on a Microsoft technology platform.
Benefits Consolidate company-wide data within
hours Reduce the budget cycle by one-third Manipulate and segment data in
numerous ways Meet financial planning deadlines by completing consolidated financial
reports in a short period of time
CKE Restaurants, Inc Location: Anaheim California Industry: Restaurants, Food Services Products and Services: Fast food and
Quick service restaurants (Carls JR, Hardees)
Revenue: $1.2b Employees: 2000 Web Site: www.ckr.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“The SAP application allows us to respond as needed to a changing economy and business environment.”
Ryan HanawaltManager of FinanceCKE Restaurants Inc.
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Discovery Communications Centralizes Processes for Reporting and Analysis
Challenges and Opportunities Reporting process involved disparate
sources and technologies, plus manual manipulation
Finance and Accounting time was spent collecting, consolidating, and reconciling data rather than analyzing it
Manual processes susceptible to errors Data in separate systems with varying
dimensions and difficulty consolidating to one version of the truth
Difficulty reporting on intercompany versus intracompany eliminations, and analysis by brand, geography, etc
Objectives Improved business insight through
multidimensional analysis Self-service reporting Lower TCO by standardizing on SAP
Why SAP Single solution that could handle
multiple EPM processes like reporting and forecasting
Already using SAP ERP and BW and looking for tight integration
Why Column5 Company management and field staff
have long experience with the SAP BPC product
Solid customer references Believed Column5 could help
Discovery maximize the value of its investment
Benefits Centralized management information,
creating confidence in accuracy and reliability of the data
Enabled meeting reporting needs of becoming a public company
Less time spent by resources on data collection and collation
Streamlined the month-end reporting process, as well as forecast collection and analysis
Discovery Communications Location: Silver Springs, MD Industry: Entertainment & Media Products and Services: TV program
production and distribution Revenue: $4b Employees: 4600 Web Site: www.corporate.discovery.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“The successful implementation of
SAP BPC as a reporting tool has been
instrumental in significantly enhancing
Discovery’s ability to analyze and
report on the performance of its
business units in an efficient manner.”
Simon Robinson
Senior VP
Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis
QUICK FACTS
Pilgrim’s Pride – Fast and Flexible Planning and Forecasting
Challenges and Opportunities Replace an outdated reporting system
based on hundreds of spreadsheets and legacy software
Implement a planning and forecasting process that would allow what-if scenarios and ongoing adjustments as needed
Objectives Faster and less labor-intensive closing
cycles Centralized enterprise data that provides
transparency to management and investors, and reduces auditing costs
Improve efficiency of planning, forecasting, and consolidation processes
Implementation Highlights PPC is now able to do what-if scenarios in
realtime. Both top-down and bottoms-up adjustments can be made, and the impacts seen within a matter of minutes, not weeks.
The end result: a business that can adapt to changing conditions in markets and the economy, to ensure ongoing profitability.
Why SAP Ability to quickly consolidate and report on
results Familiar Excel interface and integration
with MS Office Powerful but easy-to-use multi-
dimensional analytics to give insight into the business
Why Column5 Depth and breadth of experience with
SAP BPC Ability to understand business
requirements and develop a financial application that supports the objectives of the business
Reputation and proven track record with customers across industries
Benefits Ability to plan at a level of detail that gives
visibility into the effect of business drivers on financial results
Ability to re-forecast as needed to adapt to changing market conditions
Pilgrim’s Pride Location: Pittsburg, Texas Industry: Food Production & Distribution Revenue: $7.5b Employees: 39,500 Web Site: www.pilgrimspride.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is one of
the largest chicken companies in the
United States and Mexico. A Fortune
500 company, PPC operates 31
chicken processing plants and 8
prepared-foods plants. Twenty-nine
feed mills, 39 hatcheries and about
5,000 poultry growers support these
plants.
QUICK FACTS
The Show Must Go On – Live Nation uses BPC to keep Its Finger on the Pulse of the Business
Challenges and Opportunities Large data volumes Fluid, constantly changing organization Support for worldwide operations Stringent requirements for performance
and up-time Auditing and SOX compliance.
Objectives Support for audit and Sarbanes-Oxley
compliance requirements Enhance visibility to better ensure
expected revenue streams Rolling forecasts can be produced
using the latest actual data
Implementation Highlights Integration to Oracle Financials Built applications for: Finance (GL),
HR (Payroll), CAPEX (capitol projects), Event (Show by Show), Sponsorship (Alliances)
Why SAP Advanced, easy to use analytic
capabilities Ad hoc development of reports Excel interface and MS Office
integration Expandability and scalability Adaptability to constant change
Why Column5 Confidence: The depth of experience
of the Column 5 team members and the company as a whole gave Live Nation a high confidence level
Reputation: Live Nation knew of Column 5’s reputation for quality work
Benefits Faster closing times allow for greater
market agility Ease of analysis allows managers to
find the data and comparisons they need quickly
Managers are now able to do analysis on a daily basis
Live Nation Location: Los Angeles, California Industry: Entertainment Products and Services: Producer of live
concerts Revenue: $5.3b Employees: 6600 Web Site: www.livenation.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“SAP BPC is a very dynamic tool and
allows the data to be cut in multiple
ways, which is great advantage over
systems which have only canned
reports. So you can find what you
need in 5 minutes by building one
report rather than running 20 canned
reports.”
SVP Finance / International Music, Live Nation
QUICK FACTS
Warehouse Giant Hisco Inc. Expands Productivity Through SAP Planning Services
Challenges and Opportunities Manual Excel-based operational
reporting process Limited security, flexibility, and
scalability Non-standardized application of key
performance indicators (KPI’s) by the field
Large volume of spreadsheets and data sources
Limited visibility and flexibility in reporting.
Objectives Reduce the time required for reporting
and analysis Create a unified database with detailed
sales data and standardized metrics Reduce the level of effort required to
produce reports and scorecards
Why SAP Easy to use Excel interface Centralized database Strong reporting and analytical
capabilities
Why Column5 Proven expertise in SAP BPC Local presence Solid, enthusiastic references
Benefits Reduced number of spreadsheets that
had to be maintained Reduced number of points of failure;
increased accuracy and reliability Improved visibility into financial and
operational performance Enhanced analytical value of financial
data Increased satisfaction of senior
management
Hicso Inc. Location: Houston, Texas Industry: Distribution and Warehousing Revenue: $200M Employees: 300 Web Site: www.hiscoinc.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
SAP BPC enabled HISCO to automate
their financial reporting processes,
which not only saves them time and
effort, it gives them confidence in the
reliability of the data, and the ability to
see and understand what is going on in
the business in a timely fashion.
QUICK FACTS
Consolidation that supports the strategic vision
Challenges and Opportunities Eight different underlying systems were
in place as a result of rapid growth organically and through acquisition.
Finance struggled to pull together data in a timely fashion as they manually consolidated groups of spreadsheets to come up with a single, accurate set of reports.
Objectives Reduce the amount of time spent on
consolidating and validating data and more time providing insight
Review and improve processes rather than replicate and automating as is processes
Implementation Highlights Created a reporting platform that can
grow with the business. Financial information is available 2
days earlier with much less risk associated with it.
Why SAP BPC met the immediate need for a
consolidation and reporting application NG Bailey was impressed with the potential for other uses such as CRM and Customer analytics
Why Column5 Rather than just asking us “what do
you want?” column5 helped us get the answers we needed, based on their experience with the product, and not answers imposed by it.‟
Benefits No additional finance staff needed
despite rapid growth and complexity of consolidation process. In fact, NG Bailey was able to redeploy a member of the finance team elsewhere within the business, leading to a real cost saving.
Speed at which data can now be accessed has lead to timely decision-making.
NG Bailey Location: Ilkley, West Yorkshire, UK Industry: Building systems and services Revenue: £600m Employees: 4000 Web Site: www.ngbailey.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“Rather than spending the majority of
time checking that numbers add up
and are consistent, there is now time to
look more deeply at why the numbers
are changing and what they say about
the direction of the business.”
Ian ParkProject ManagerNG Bailey
QUICK FACTS
Automated Management Reporting, Detailed Budgeting & Forecasting
Challenges and Opportunities Management received reports only
once a year Data from many sources had to be re-
keyed to MS Excel The budget process consisted of
emailed spreadsheets
Objectives Ability to drill down through financial
information at all levels More time available for analyzing the
data and explaining variances Improve internal customers’ satisfaction
level Improve senior management’s
satisfaction level
Implementation Highlights Achieved rapid implementation via
clearly defined requirements and keeping to defined scope
Started with OutlookSoft 4.1 and upgraded to SAP BPC 7.0
Why SAP Excel interface for usability and high
user acceptance Easy consolidation of the data MS SQL back end which matched in
house expertise Drill through functionality Unified platform: buying one solution
could meet all needs
Why SAP Long time experience with OutlookSoft
and SAP BPC Rapid implementation methodology Expertise in process improvement and
optimization
Benefits Improved reporting: key reports are
done monthly, not quarterly Increased accuracy: “BPC is Right” Ability to drill down through financial
information at all levels Shortened the planning/reporting cycle
time Increased data visibility and reliability
Southwest Securities Location: Dallas, Texas Industry: Banking, Securities Revenue: $478M/$11B in assets Employees: 1200+ Web Site: www.swst.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
Southwest Securities had an inflexible
financial reporting and planning
process that required rekeying of data
into Excel, with management receiving
a new reporting package just once a
year. Now with SAP Planning &
Consolidation, management gets
monthly reports and can accurately
forecast the business.
QUICK FACTS
Qwest Communications – Driver-Based Planning with BPC
Challenges and Opportunities Budgeting was being done using a
home-grown Excel tool that relied heavily on macros and Excel-based calculations
With no centralized database, the system was difficult to maintain and control, with limited visibility into how numbers were derived
Traditional budgeting approach did not focus the company on how key business indicators drive the budget
Objectives Gain understanding of what levers
need to pulled to impact the business – i.e. the business drivers
Automate the process of budgeting and forecasting, reducing the cycle time for these tasks and improving business agility
Implementation Highlights Built a multi-dimensional model to allow
planning by product line, sales channel, region, etc.
Changed internal processes and measurements to support the new way of thinking
Why SAP Centralized database functionality Excel interface provided by SAP
Planning and Consolidation Support for business rules/logic based
approach .
Why Column5 Industry leading implementation
partner within SAP toolset Depth of knowledge, thanks to a mix of
Finance and IT professionals Sufficient staff to scale up to meet the
needs of a large project Professional management capability
for a large scale implementation, including process, procedures, and risk reduction
Benefits Provided a fully integrated model that
allowed managers to see the full impact of a driver change on the bottom line
Developed driver trees that show how input-level drivers impact higher level calculated and aspirational drivers .
Qwest Communications Location: Denver, Colorado Industry: Telecommunications Revenue: $13.4b Employees: 31,000 Web Site: www.qwest.com SAP Solutions and Services: SAP Planning
and Consolidation Partner: Column5 Consulting
“Having SAP BPC as an enterprise
planning platform has given us the ability
to develop budgets that actually
drive us towards fulfilling on our strategic
objectives.”
Sandy Rogers
Director of Financial Systems,
Qwest Communications