CASE STUDIES
IMPLEMENT A NEW DATAMART TO HANDLE BACK OFFICE FOR A SCALING ONLINE INSURANCE BROKER
Growing pains for a scaling FinTech business outgrowing its existing back-end finance systems platform, overwhelmed with data errors.
Challenges
An online Fintech business’s customer base was growing at double digits
Home-grown Australian business built from the ground up with finance system built in-house
Back office finance system wasn’t invested to scale with the business’s growth
Complex transactional use cases due to inconsistent treatment of insurers
Constant daily struggle with data integrity – short cuts were developed to patch errors
Introduction of monthly payment option made the number of errors balloon on daily basis
Solution
Spent a period of time diagnosing the main problem, gathering data and interviewing the key SMEs
Decided to re-build the finance system with key triggers built around key business processes and accounting definitions
Planned out a number of Sprints to build out a MVP Finance System
Mobilised a team of SQL developers, BA’s, QA and Product Owner
Broke out the project based on key business processes and lines of business
Delivery of a new database
Added Value
The number of errors previously experienced has disappeared through good data governance & well documented transactional triggers
The project was designed and led with a finance lens as opposed to a pure IT focused solution
The business matured its approach using agile methodology over time
The business learned about its financial exposures and inconsistencies
The business is now able to scale with confidence the data mart will handle all types of scenarios
SELECTION OF KEY FINANCE SYSTEMS POST MERGER FOR LARGE TELCO
Indecision and lack of strategic direction post merger of two Telco’s finance systems
Challenges
Two large Telco’s merged into one group
Various different systems and business processes existed
Misalignment of business process and practices existed
New group was motivated to realise its merger synergies
Key ERP systems for both organisations were at end of life and on-premise
Solution
Diagnosis and inventory of the various systems was conducted
Detailed business requirements were gathered and agreed upon
Roadmap of systems and approach was mapped out
SI partners and other vendors were invited to propose a solution and RFP process was undertaken
Global commercial contracts were reviewed for any favourable software deals
Oracle Cloud ERP was selected and design workshops were undertaken
Added Value
Decision making was facilitated by a methodical approach across stakeholder groups within both organisations
Stakeholders were provided with adequate opportunity for consultation and raising any concerns
SI Partners and Software Vendors were given adequate opportunity to explain product features, challenges and fit
Key business risks were identified through the process and an action plan to address
Newly formed group has a clear direction and pathway to cloud with a blueprint to execute the implementation
LARGE FACILITIES MAINTENANCE PROVIDER RELIANCE ON SPREADSHEETS
Lack of focus and investment in certain functional platforms left a newly formed JV struggling to consolidate results and was drowning in spreadsheets
Challenges
No single view of people metrics with three different approaches for a workforce of 6,000+ employees and contractors
People data maintained manually on dozens of excel workbooks
Inconsistent definitions between business units
Many sources of truth
Significant time to produce reports and a consolidated view
Solution
Initial diagnosis and deep dive on various people related metrics and definitions
Designed and Built a people data cube to maintain headcount, leave, diversity & other people sensitive data for HR teams
Re-defining of key HR terms, definitions and key business metrics on people data
Alignment across various HR teams
Designed dashboard reporting and rolled this out for board reporting and cost centre managers
Added Value
One source of the truth for reporting on people
Highlighting gaps on contracts in areas of diversity, leave, absenteeism and paygrades
Ability to make more strategic decisions
Assurance of an accurate dataset for purposes of planning and reporting
LARGE TELCO WANTING A BETTER ROI ON ITS EXISTING EPM PLATFORM
Previous attempts at developing its EPM platform left many incomplete models and a lot of consulting dollars spent for little result
Challenges
Previously had used multiple developers to build out its TM1 environment
Inconsistent coding standards and customisations
No clear strategic direction of finance systems
Many offline models within individual spreadsheets existed
Limited tools to do planning
Solution
Inventory of existing solutions developed and any documentation
Enquiry with key stakeholders around the business
Gathering of key models offline
Steering committee prioritisation
Development of Roadmap
Delivery of dozens of TM1 models to support Consumer Commercial
Added Value
Cutting down processing time of large calculations
Central source of truth for a team of 200 analysts and commercial staff
Reporting refreshed within seconds
Confidence within the business of data and financial reporting
Automation of many manual tasks
INVESTMENT BANK WANTS TO MODERNISE ITS ERP SYSTEM INTO THE CLOUD
End users were so engrained into ‘business as usual’ there was no bandwidth to focus on a pathway to cloud for their end of life ERP system.
Challenges
Previous version of Microsoft ERP was end of life with reliance on one vendor nationally for support
Limited features were available or never implemented making certain processes very timely and manual
Month end felt like a never ending cycle
Limited internal capabilities to run large and complex software projects
Solution
Problem was articulated with a clear project charter
Business requirements were clearly defined
SI partners were selected
Project Plan developed for D365
New Chart of Account developed
Implemented D365 and migrated data
Added Value
Continuing upgrades available through D365
Mainly ‘out of box’ features utilised to minimise any customisations
Integrations setup to other platforms such as for banking and expense management
Platform accessible via the web through any device