Column5 Reference Library

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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