Practice and user experiences
Ensto’s FPM project
5/2017: Kick-off meeting
6/2017: Solution specification days, installation training
9/2017: Creating basic data: Organization structure and periods, implementing account chart and input templates.
10/2017: Interfaces: transferring history data, account conversions, transferring data from GC7.
11/2017: Interfaces: transferring actuals from the ERP system, functional account conversions, balance units, other special processes.
2/2018: Deployment on February 1st, 2018
6-11/2018: Implementing estimate input: drill-down input template, transferring estimates from the ERP system.
Relevant issues in the specification phase:
- In addition to expense-based income statement, Ensto wanted to have a functional-based income statement. There were two possible ways of implementing this: with a dimension or the account chart. Ensto decided on the account chart solution.
- Ensto Group uses several source systems. With automatic data transfer, it was decided that transfer data is only generated from the global ERP system.
- In MA reporting and hierarchies, business unit -specific and other business reporting were taken into consideration.
Because of the functional-based reporting needs, some special processing was implemented in the interface. For example, extra fields were created in the transfer data to make sure that the data is valid. In the end, the interface implementation and data transfer functionality worked well.
In addition to the FPM project, Ensto had some big ERP system changes in progress at the same time which created challenges for interface testing and FPM deployment. Additions of new units and conversion table updates were taken into consideration when implementing the transfer data, so that Ensto can modify them independently in the future. Regarding reports and manual input templates, Ensto’s FPM environment is fairly straightforward.
Global FPM deployment was done via Skype meetings and written instructions.
Experiences
According to Ensto, the FPM project went smoothly despite simultaneous major ERP system changes. In a user survey (5/2018), feedback was mostly positive.
During the project, only minor changes and additional work were included. The biggest changes were caused by the delay in interface testing which resulted from the ERP implementation. One of the most significant risks in the project was the validity and availability of transfer data: because of the ERP implementation, the data needed for testing was not available by the originally scheduled time.
There were some challenges in the first reporting round, mostly due to the source data and changes in the process, not the system. According to the user survey, the biggest challenge for users was the change in the reporting process which meant reporting on a more detailed level, as the source systems of all subsidiaries do not support the desired level of reporting.
Future and goals
Next steps
- 1st estimate round with automatic transfers, Oct 2018
- 1st financial statement, Dec 2018
- Improving the input process and deployment of new transfer companies
- The Dynamic Reporting (DR) Excel tool to be utilized more efficiently
- 1st version update during the spring of 2019
Internal trainings at Ensto will continue regularly, and a new user survey will be sent after the financial statement process in 2019.
Lessons learned & tips
- In the offer and planning phase, it is important to keep in mind what the main purpose the system will be. Careful planning pays off in general: the Ensto project stayed within the limits of the original cost estimate and even under the estimated project hours.
- If the schedule or resources are too tight, unexpected absences may have a great effect on the progress of the project. In the Ensto project, the same project team was involved from start to finish.
- Other system projects at the same time (e.g. ERP changes) will present challenges to interface testing. In the Ensto Group, major changes were happening in other systems at the same time, but big surprises were avoided and continuous reporting has been successful since the implementation.
