Case Studies

Discover how we've transformed businesses across industries with innovative technology solutions and strategic implementations.

Workforce Planning, Financialisation and Reporting

Client
British Multinational Oil and Gas Company
Oil & Gas

Requirements & Challenges

  • Business wanted to automate Workforce Planning across different business areas and regions
  • Business was forecasting costs using Region specific Excel Workbook Templates
  • Process involved manual collation and reconciliation of workforce headcount data
  • Previous process resulted in significant manual effort
  • Did not provide standardised, secure, or transparent method to support data reconciliation
  • Validation of results was complex and time-consuming

Technology Stack

Workday SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
SAC Scripting & Data Actions
Azure / Databricks
Data Import APIs from Workday to SAC
Data Export APIs from SAC to Azure/PowerBI
Cost Management Tool

Solution Highlights

Created end-to-end automated solution to support standardised Workforce Planning and Financialisation process across the business

Automatically scheduled and imported Workforce data and planning assumptions from Databricks into SAP Analytics Cloud using a Data Import API

Use SAP Analytics Cloud Input Layouts (Stories) and calculation logic to generate forecasts based on different scenarios and planning assumptions

Leverage SAP Analytics Cloud based Dashboards and Reports to review, validate and reconcile local regional forecasts

Export updated Workforce forecasts from SAP Analytics Cloud to SAP Business Warehouse and Azure/PowerBI using Data Export APIs

Business Benefits

Process Automation
Automated planning and reporting process providing better insights of current and future workforce requirements, allowing the business to anticipate and expedite changes to workforce numbers and skills mix
System Integration
Full integration with source system ensuring workforce data and status updates can be reflected quickly for planning and forecast purposes
Dynamic Planning
Dynamic and flexible planning solution which supports governance and systemised controls for all Workforce Planning & Forecasting phases / activities
User Experience
Quick and easy access to the planning tool with a comprehensive set of Reports and Dashboards. Also supports intuitive and stable user front-end with simple navigation and customisable reporting features

Business Planning and Reporting

Client
British Multinational Oil and Gas Company
Oil & Gas

Requirements & Challenges

  • Business had several distributed systems and templates for Financial planning and reporting covering P&L, Balance Sheet & Cash Flow data
  • Actuals were being sourced and adjusted in flat files and without standardised data models
  • Actuals data was consolidated and predictions were being made using third-party solutions and bespoke tools
  • Before data was loaded to SAP Business Warehouse for reporting and final adjustments, using planning enabled Analysis for Office workbooks
  • Existing process resulted in a lot of manual effort, including potential data gaps in reconciliation process and oversight
  • Data security concerns, and non-standardised procedures

Technology Stack

SAP Business Warehouse
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
SAC Scripting & Data Actions
Data Import APIs from SAP Business Warehouse to SAC

Solution Highlights

Agreed with the business to fully automate the existing process based on SAP BW as the source of data and SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning, Forecasting and Reporting

Automated workflow is used to first consolidate the data in SAP BW and then import into SAC for Forecasting and Reporting

Uses robust process and reporting features to allow users to complete their existing planning and forecasting activities seamlessly and with full automation

Leverages SAC calculations and prediction capabilities to enrichment data with additional KPIs, transformations and currency conversions

Business Benefits

Standardised Solution
Provide a single one-stop solution for standardising and automating Forecasting, Reconciliation and Reporting across different financial data flows
Manual Intervention Elimination
Eliminate need for any manual intervention and provides standardised and flexible WEB UI for reviewing and adjusting P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash-flow data
Self-Service Capability
Provides full self-service capability for users to support updating of planning assumptions, rates and master data
Security & Governance
Security and role assignments in SAP Analytics Cloud ensures users can only review and update their own data. Audit capability allows tracking of what changes and updates a user has made. Ensures effective Governance & Compliance across the solution

Business Insights Reporting

Client
British Multinational Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Company
Pharmaceutical

Requirements & Challenges

  • The customer implemented SAP PaPM solution for recharges and allocations for shared corporate cost lines
  • PaPM has limited data reporting and visualisations capabilities, hence calculation and allocation results were written back to the SAP Business Warehouse on a periodic basis for user reporting
  • However, data latency in PaPM created reporting delays in SAP Business Warehouse and impacted on the month-end close schedule
  • Business wanted a solution with real-time data availability where calculations and allocation results from PaPM would be available immediately for business review and month-end processing

Technology Stack

SAP PaPM
SAP Hana Database & Calculation Views
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
SAC 'Live' Connections
SAC Interactive Visualisations & Dashboards

Solution Highlights

Business decided to implement live reporting in SAP Analytics Cloud, which offers dynamic dashboards, drill-downs, and interactive visualisations

Implemented in SAP Analytics Cloud a 'Live' connection to the SAP Hana database where calculations and allocation data generated by PaPM system was stored

Eliminated data latency ensuring that users had access to real-time data from PaPM in a standardised and flexible reporting environment

Provided comprehensive suite of reporting tools in SAP Analytics Cloud to support full drilldown and reconciliation capabilities

Business Benefits

Real-Time Access
Improved user productivity and speed of month-end close as data available for business reporting 'real-time'
Immediate Availability
Any adjustments / reruns made in PaPM immediately available in SAP Analytics Cloud ensuring that data in the two solutions are aligned and reducing need for full reconciliation
Customisable Reporting
Customisable reporting available in SAC allowing users to define their own report layouts for analysis
Integrated Solutions
Solution leverages key strengths of both PaPM and SAP Analytics Cloud applications (i.e. Allocations v's Reporting) and provides seamless integration ensuring data is consistent, timely and up-to-date

Power BI G/L Reconciliation Report

Client
British Multinational Oil and Gas Company
Oil & Gas

Requirements & Challenges

  • The customer has been loading both Genera Ledger Balance and General Ledger Line-item documents from the SAP ERP (FICO/PSEG) and S/4Hana (ACDOCA) systems into Azure for business and month-end reporting
  • They were using Power BI Reports to support users with analysis of data and provide ability to drill down to appropriate level of granularity for investigation and audit queries
  • However, they found significant issues with value differences between the G/L Line Items in the source SAP ERP system and the G/L Balance and Line-Item amounts reported in the Azure tables
  • The requirement from the business was to build a PBI Reconciliation report that would compare the G/L Balance & Line-Item information stored in the Azure tables

Technology Stack

Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Power BI
SAP ERP

Solution Highlights

Built a single PowerBI Reconciliation Report which sources data from the SAP G/L Balance and SAP G/L Document Line-item storage tables in Azure

Defined standard layout in the PowerBI report to summarise key figures based on Company Code and G/L Account dimensions

Provided key figures for reconciliation such as G/L Balance Amount and Total Amount based on G/L Line Items. As per SAP convention, the G/L Line-Item total should be the same as the G/L Balance for the selections made

Due to the volume of data to be reconciled, filters were also provided to select data based on: Source ERP System Name, Fiscal Year, Fiscal Period and Company Code

Business Benefits

Accessible Reconciliation
Intuitive and easily accessible Reconciliation Report allowing users to quickly identify differences between G/L Balance values and Total Line-Item amounts in Azure for their respective Company / Accounts
Customisable Analysis
Customisable report allowing users to change dimensions in report layout and add filter values based on their specific reconciliation needs
Comprehensive Reconciliation
Reconciliation report can be used as part of the wider reconciliation process by identifying the G/L Balance Items in the SAP ERP source system and Azure that need to be compared to identify differences. An excel workbook has been developed to upload the line-item data from SAP ERP and Azure and quickly compare, creating a list of the line items which don't match SAP ERP but missing from Azure