Business Challenges
- Inefficient and Inconsistent Processes – Eliminations, Equity Pick up, and Account Reconciliation processes conducted during the financial close were sub-optimal
- Lack of Automation – Lacked automated, driver-based employee planning for back office, and thus, unable to quickly perform what-if analysis
- Cumbersome, Offline Process – Consolidation of 275+ source inputs for Budgeting and Forecasting often presented issues
- Complex Allocation Process – Limited reporting capabilities and lacked visibility into multi-step allocations
Solution
- Hybrid Cloud Solution – Replaced an Essbase-only environment with on-premise Hyperion Planning, HFM, and ARM and Profitability and Cost Management Cloud Service (PCMCS) and Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC)
- Standardized Account Reconciliation Process – Increased accountability of balance sheet controls
- Driver-Based Models – Developed advanced models for revenue, direct comp, and indirect cost models with automated sourcing of revenue and compensation drivers through Financial Data quality Management Enterprise Edition (FDMEE)
- Distributed Planning Model – Implemented to gather inputs from about 80 users globally to streamline consolidation and reporting
- Centralized Dashboard Reporting – Leveraged OAC with capabilities to drill from account to vendor and customer detail
- Allocations in PCMCS – Improved transparency and self-maintenance for the FP&A team
Impact
- Centralized Automated Process – Optimized eliminations and equity pick-up processes
- Streamlined Consolidation, Budget Reporting, and Forecasts – Reduced time for consolidation and planning process by more than 50% by leveraging driver-based models
- Improved Traceability of Allocation Formulas – Analyzed and improved over 1,500 formulas to rationalize costs allocated to target cost center owners
- Faster, More Informed Decision-Making – Drill-downs from account to vendor details provided new analytical abilities
