Improving the Planning Process with OneStream Implementation
The Situation
A for-profit vocational education company’s growth trajectory required that the performance of the finance function be evaluated. Working with Accordion, the Company identified four key priorities: timely & accurate reporting, improved business partnering, scalable technologies, and more dynamic planning & forecasting. The risks identified in the implementation included: adoption challenges for legacy team members, poor change management that could result in inaccurate financial plans, resistance to new reporting tool, and personnel workload management.
Services
Advisory, Management and Project Management
Training Development and Execution
Transition Execution and Future State Planning
The Execution
- Partnered with the Company on the implementation of OneStream to move from a static and manual Annual Planning process to a dynamic monthly rolling forecast.
- Collaborated with another OneStream partner on the configuration and testing of the technology, as well as provided the management, advisory, and training for the overall execution of the project – including key deliverables and transition.
- Ensured that the core planning functions successfully enabled through the project included:
- Financial Planning model (P&L)
- NTE Tuition Revenue and Student Stats
- Employee based Labor sub-model
- Instructor Overtime Model
- Asset based Capital sub-model
- Driver-based Planning & Adjustment input forms
- Budget & Actual Variance Reporting
The Results
As a result of the engagement, the Company was able to successfully utilize the OneStream planning application to complete the annual planning process and is currently expanding the focus to the dynamic monthly rolling forecast process. This project was part of a broader, Accordion-led, finance transformation. Our team was pivotal in ensuring that the benefits from the OneStream implementation aligned with the objectives of the transformation to ultimately improve business partnering capabilities of the FP&A function. The training executed by Accordion resources received many accolades from Company management and the other OneStream partner engaged on the project.