
AIT were approached to look at two related
business functions supported by the Ellipse
Project Module:
 Project Financial Management, Forecasting and
Reporting
 Cost Management and Capitalisation

It was initiated due to the frustration felt by
the users due to poor reporting and
information captured.




Interview stakeholders and capture high level
requirements and current gaps.
Gain an understanding of the current Ellipse
technical environment.
Perform a gap analysis using the findings from
the stakeholder interviews.
Produce a report of recommendations including
quick wins and medium to long term system and
business process improvements.

The review looked at the current Project Cost
Collection and Asset Capitalisation process
form a functional perspective, as well as
focusing on:




Ellipse capabilities and uptake,
Reporting and data extraction connectors,
Ellipse load connectors and
Current roles and responsibilities


There is no set or consistent approach to the
cost collection and capitalisation processes.
Ellipse is under utilised with a majority of
users reliant on connector tools or manual
data manipulation done by Finance.

Finance users are spending excessive
amounts of time extracting and manually
manipulating data in various ways for
individualised business unit requirements.


There is a shortage of resources allocated to
the upfront classification and assignment of
work orders raised.
Poorly maintained historical records and the
lack of a formal costing structure, which
increases the reliance of Finance and the
manual data manipulation.

A very manual approach is taken to record
actual versus budget costs.

From a technical view point there exists a
level of user frustration regarding the number
of reports, connector scripts, data extraction
processes and continued data manipulation
to perform adequate project tracking.
Recommended Change

Ellipse Configuration
Business Benefit




Changes to Ellipse Configuration
will create a framework for more
flexible reporting and data
extraction from the Ellipse
Projects Module.
These changes will remove the
need for maintenance of external
spreadsheets to assist with
reporting.
There will be significant
improvements in the accuracy of
costing due to correct
defaulting.
Less reconciliation effort will be
required.
Recommended Change

Existing report and
script changes to
support configuration
changes
Business Benefit


This will enable current reports
and scripts to be run at with the
appropriate level for efficient
analysis by each project
manager. Many reports are
currently being run several times
& appended to retrieve all the
required information.
Less manual data manipulation
will be required
Recommended Change

Initiate a change
culture to the costing
process
Business Benefit


The benefit of this change will
be ongoing. These will be
more accuracy in the costing
process and the identification
of capital expenditure.
Implementation of this
recommendation will ensure a
consistent approach to the
management of project costs
across the organisation.
Recommended Change

Develop new project
management and fixed
asset capitalisation
connector tools
Business Benefit






Development of these tools will
ensure a consistent approach to
project management.
Reporting will be able to be
performed at any time without end of
month restrictions.
Project Managers will be able to
control reporting without the need
for finance to perform ad-hoc
reporting and manual data
manipulation.
Reduce maintenance of external
spreadsheets to assist with reporting.
Significantly Reduced reconciliation
effort will be required.
Significant savings in the finance area
with less follow up of project/work
order closures, reduced ad-hoc
reporting & less reconciliation effort.
Recommended Change

Continue to deliver a
change culture to the
costing process
Business Benefit


The benefit of this change will be
ongoing. These will be more
accuracy in the costing process
and the identification of capital
expenditure.
Implementation of this
recommendation will ensure a
consistent approach to the
management of project costs
across the organisation.
Recommended Change

Continued roll out of
Projects Module and
Management tools
Business Benefit

This process will ensure in the
long term all project management
performed will follow a similar
process.
Recommended Change

Continue to deliver a
change in culture to
the costing process
Business Benefit


The benefit of this change will be
ongoing. These will be more
accuracy in the costing process
and the identification of capital
expenditure.
Implementation of this
recommendation will ensure a
consistent approach to the
management of project costs
across the organisation.