Optimizing the Close Process with a
Source-to-Report View of Financial Data
David Watson
Concentric Solutions
Agenda
1
Introduction
2
Enterprise Performance Management
3
The Road to Fast Close Reporting
4
Client Perspectives
5
Creating a Source-to-Report View of Financial Data
About Concentric
company profile

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) consultancy formed in 2005 with offices
in the UK and Germany

Experts in Financial Close solutions, Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting solutions
and Executive Dashboard applications

Qualified accountants, certified IT professionals, Oracle Hyperion Specialized
consultants

Recognised by our customers
-
UK Oracle User Group Silver Hyperion Partner of the Year 2011-12
-
UK Oracle User Group Gold Hyperion Partner of the Year 2010-11
-
UK Oracle User Group Gold Hyperion Partner of the Year 2009-10
Enterprise Performance Management
The EPM Vision
 Integrated management processes
 Operational decisions are linked to
strategic goals
 Consistent, reliable insights that
drive action
 A lower cost of reporting and
reduced system complexity
 A single version of the truth
Set
Goals
Model
Report
Insight
Performance
Action
Analyze
Plan
Monitor
The Challenge of Corporate Reporting
 Fast close vs data quality
 Fragmented reporting supply chains
 Autonomy vs accountability
 Decentralised vs single stream
 Audit controls vs flexibility to keep pace
with change
 Too many spreadsheets….
Accounting irregularities have
brought financial reporting
into the spotlight
The Challenge of Corporate Reporting
PwC survey of FTSE350
16% Base reporting on strategy
27% Clearly explain underlying
revenue drivers
 Compliance-driven approach to
external reporting
 Focus on financial measures to the
detriment of non-financial reporting
 Increasing pressure of timely
reporting to investors and markets
35% Align KPIs to strategy
 Governance more important than
transparency?
19% Link external drivers to strategic
choices
 Finance overwhelmed by factors not
aligned with the reporting risks
7% Communicate detailed
commentary across reporting
models by segment
Source: PwC Competitive Edge Survey 2011
The Challenge of Corporate Reporting
Average
Collect data
World Class
<2 Days
6 Days
Close
12 Days
Adjustments
Report
Currency
I/C
Subsidiaries
Management
Legal
External
6 Days
More time!
Collect Close Adjustment Report
Source: Hackett Group Benchmarking-Solutions Book of Numbers
Analyze and Forecast
Analyze
The Road to Fast Close Reporting
Optimizing the Financial Close Process
Close sub ledgers
into GL (AR, AP, FA,
etc.)
Sub Ledger Close
General Ledger
Close
Gather and validate
complete data sets to
support all financial
reporting needs
Data
Assurance
Perform Reconciliations
and Post Accruals
Consolidation
Deliver self
service
financial
reporting to the
organization
Internal
Management
Reporting
Automate consolidated
financial reports
leveraging multiple
hierarchies and
calculations
External
Financial
Reporting
Automate and
deliver
external &
statutory
filings
Filing
Create external
reports with
disclosures and
financial data
Optimizing the Financial Close Process
Best Practices
Get it right first
time!
 Apply a corporate close calendar for feeder systems to G/Ls.
 Automate allocations and accruals in the G/L.
 Standardise reporting formats for reliable data and faster review.
Central Finance
efficiency
 Perform intercompany reconciliations ahead of month end.
 Use phased submissions to act on availability of site data.
 Create automated ledger integrations for fast load of financial data.
Intelligent review
 Design hard and soft validations to facilitate one-touch reviews.
 Streamline the approval process – focus on what matters.
 Use process controls to minimize post-close entries.


Consolidation &

Reporting

Automate top-side adjustments and equity eliminations.
Build consolidation hierarchies that match cycle requirements.
Use exception reporting with drill through analytics.
Integrate financial and management reports as production packages.
Client Perspectives
Merlin Entertainments Group
A client perspective
Bruce Moyes, Merlin Entertainments Group
Client Success: Corus
Deployment of HFM reduces close by 2 weeks
£12 Billion t/o service and steel
manufacturing company
“The new Group Reporting System
successfully merges multiple reporting
models across the group, improving
the efficiency of our consolidations. We
have reduced our monthly closing
cycle by around 2 weeks and save 30+
man days of time at head office.”
Group Financial Controller
Tata Steel Europe
Tata acquisition of Corus
imposed fast close challenge
Concentric business process
review ensured project focus on
key drivers for change
Global deployment in 8 months
Single stream, centrally
architected solution cuts 2 weeks
from closing cycle
4000 spreadsheet reports
replaced with 300 HFM reports
Creating a Source-to-Report View of
Financial Data
Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management
SOURCE
SYSTEMS
GUIDED WORKFLOW USER INTERFACE
DATA
PREPARATION
SERVER





Excel
G/L
ERP, EBS, JDE
Flat files
ETL
repositories
 Data cleansing
and
transformation
 Task scheduling
 Text and
document archive
 Audit review
 Data staging
BPM Adapters
 Prepackaged integration
 Data loading including
supplemental data, line
item detail
 Dimensional mapping
verification
 Process management
EPM
SYSTEMS
 Hyperion
Financial
Management
 Hyperion Planning
 Hyperion Essbase
 Hyperion
Enterprise
 Data Marts
Data Integration with Hyperion FDM
 Source data files & Import Format
- Load Any Source Data file
- Load Any data direct from data base
- Load data from EBS, JDE, PeopleSoft, Other DB’s
 Source to Target Maps & Validation
- Map source dimensions to target
 Validation Check Report
- Show post-load and calculated results from target
 Target System Results
- Show load results in target
Data Integration with Hyperion FDM
Data is exported to HFM
with a post-Export
Validation Report as
proof
Load data from file or
direct from data base
Multiple
Data
loadEntities
results displayed in
imported
in a single
EPM
Workspace
after load
Validation
of
source
to
phase, with scaling
targetasaccounts
takes
applied
data is read
place
and missing maps
from
source
are flagged
Import Results
 Import results are
displayed on the Import
Screen after the user clicks
the Import button.
 FDM allows drill-back to
source files at any time,
now or in the future,
offering a complete audit
trail.
 If data is sourced from a
DB, the drill-back will
display the query used to
retrieve the source data
 All files are archived on the
FDM server which also
allows attachments to data
loads.
Source to Target Maps & Validation
 FDM allows for online map
changes and warns the
user if any maps are
invalid/duplicated.
 Once the data is mapped it
will be validated and ready
to load to the target
application.
Validation Check Report
 Checks Target
application after data
load and returns postload and calculation
results for all entities
within current data load.
 Allows for system to
prompt user for more
data, and can be fully
customised to include
any account.
Target Application results & Drill-back
 FDM loads all data in data load file/DB
table to Target application, in this case
HFM.
 Target adapters exist for HFM,
Planning, Essbase, HSF, Enterprise,
Custom Systems
 Drill-back is available for the
Workspace, Financial Reports and
SmartView for Excel
Hyperion Financial Management
Client
Browser/Windows/Smart View
Data Entry &
Consolidation
MS Office
Integration
Formatted Reports
Server
Fail-Over and Load Balancing
GAAP
IFRS
Compliance
Rules Engine
Inter-Company
Processing
Dashboards
Currency Translation
Journals
& Eliminations
Process
Management
Line Item
Management
Role-Based
Security
Custom &
Predefined
Dimensionality
Data
Data Import/Validation
Meta Data Repository
Security
Documents attachments
Cell text
Interoperability
Logs
Audit
Tracking
Hyperion Financial Management
Hyperion Financial Management
Hyperion Financial Management
Hyperion Financial Management
Hyperion Financial Management
Hyperion Financial Management
Hyperion Financial Management
Hyperion Financial Management
Dashboards on an iPad
Dashboards on an iPad
Dashboards on an iPad
Questions?
Contacts
UK & Ireland

99 Gray’s Inn Road
London
WC1X 8TY
t: +44 (0)203 411 0140
w: www.concentricsolutions.com
Germany & Austria

City-Office
Zenettistrasse 2
D-80337 Munich
Germany
t: +49 (0)89 72 99 77 74
20-23 Woodside Place
Glasgow
G3 7QF
t: +44(0)141 582 1397
Thank you
David Watson
dwatson@concentricsolutions.com