Paper based packaging

OUR CLIENT

This FTSE 100 company is a world leader in paper based packaging.  The business operates in 36 countries and has revenues in excess of €10 billion.  UK Finance chose Profit& to implement Anaplan to replace their spreadsheet application for forecasting and scenario planning. 

BUSINESS CHALLENGES

The process of collecting data in multiple spreadsheet formats from 37 UK plants to complete the quarterly forecast was time-consuming and prone to error.  Information submitted included formulae to calculate cardboard purchase prices, transport, revenue, and yield per customer.  Finance spent a lot of time making manual adjustments and overrides based on central assumptions. It was a long process to reconcile paper and board prices to calculate margins across all customers.

As the process generated different versions of the same data in spreadsheet models, consolidating, checking, and creating reporting packs consumed too much time from the central Finance team and the potential for errors was too great.  There was also the final step of manually uploading the consolidated forecast to the ERP system.  Scenario planning involved issues with version control and difficulties with the traceability of the results, leading to a lack of trust in the data.

This process was unsustainable, so the business selected Profit& to implement Anaplan as their chosen platform for planning. 

SOLUTION

Profit& helped the business to move their quarterly forecasting process from MS Excel onto the Anaplan platform.  Thanks to our agile and build-together approach the first phase was delivered in just 8 weeks.  This included discovery, design, build, test, and UAT.  This approach has ensured that the Finance team is familiar with the model structure and calculation logic, so are confident in maintaining and changing the model to meet future business needs.

At the start of the process, actuals are loaded to Anaplan from the ERP system, removing the setup work that Central Finance previously had to undertake.  Workflow triggers each business unit to access the system and develop their forecasts following a standard process, calculations, and a common data set on the Anaplan platform.  Once forecasts are submitted, corporate review and assumption setting is triggered. Workflow controls the process easily across the 37 manufacturing sites and when this is completed, the forecast is uploaded to the group consolidation tool.

Having all plans on the Anaplan Platform means that scenarios can be run faster, giving management information to support key decisions at the right time.

BENEFITS

Quarterly forecasting now takes a fraction of the time, reduced from weeks to just a few day days!  With all forecast data in a single central database, Finance now has access to reliable, accurate, and trusted data that gives teams across the business the ability to collaborate more effectively and take key decisions, on pricing for example, with greater confidence.  They also have the tool they need to negotiate effectively with customers.

Central Finance now has access to a single source of accurate, reliable data for scenario planning.  They are now able to assess the impact of variables such as possible changes to paper prices and the impact on customer profitability.  This means that they have more time to add value to the business in the role of business advisor.  Collaboration between central Finance and business units has improved as they have reliable data to test and review scenarios and agree on the most advantageous course of action.

Thanks to the flexibility and expandability of Anaplan, this business is planning to leverage the foundation that we have built to expand this out to capital expense planning, contract agreements, and workforce planning.  Beyond that, they will replicate and adapt the UK model in other European operations.