Another exciting and successful Go-Live for OneStream and Finit. Our client is a $5.4B real estate firm ranked in the Fortune 500 and handles all types of real estate services from helping landlords find tenants to helping renters find the right location and deal structure.
Why OneStream?
The client previously relied on Hyperion Enterprise (HE) for their global consolidation, reporting and analysis. Hyperion Enterprise is no longer supported by Oracle as it requires server software no longer supported by Microsoft, and it is not compatible with the current version of Citrix. Since adopting Hyperion more than 15 years ago, there have been dramatic improvements in consolidation software technology and capabilities.
To find a replacement for Enterprise, the client looked for an easy-to-use product that is web-based and can be supported primarily within the Finance organization. After a thorough evaluation and selection process of several options, OneStream XF emerged as the preferred solution.
What is being changed?
One of the main objectives and driving forces for the project was to transform and redesign how reporting is handled throughout the company. They were not looking to just lift and shift HE to OneStream XF, they wanted to greatly transform how they performed their close processes and performed their analytics. Some of the transformational changes that were a part of this project included:
- Redesigning the Chart of Accounts to more closely align to their PeopleSoft GL system.
o The Chart of Accounts in OneStream now is more granular than what was in HE, and provides greater GL level detail for their users for easier analysis.
o This client has 3 main instances of PeopleSoft, but use the same GL Chart of Accounts. Putting more granular account detail inside OneStream provided more reporting access to users than having to use 2 systems like they did in their old state (HE for some and GL reporting for other detail).
- Adding new detail into user defined dimensions to provide reporting intersections / detail never available previously.
o One of the biggest changes was to add Business Unit detail to their application and OneStream XF now has 565 business units in the system, which provides reporting access that was not available in HE.
- Simplifying the structure / detail
o HE was comprised of a very large number of org structures, which made it very confusing for users to find data. As a part of the implementation, the Finit team worked hard to design and deliver a solution which reduced the number of organization rollups down to 3, while utilizing custom dimensionality to provide the analytical capabilities needed. This was a very challenging problem to solve as the setup of the PeopleSoft GL did not align to how they reported and PeopleSoft has 3 main instances, where each one can use some of the GL code blocks differently. In the end, the Finit team did a great job coming up with the most elegant and efficient design possible.
- Changing the process to push more off of the corporate team down to users
o Lastly, in HE, the corporate systems team was responsible for loading data. As a part of the OneStream XF rollout, responsibility for loading data and certifying it was pushed down to users in the field. A total of 122 Trial Balance workflow profiles were setup to push this responsibility down to a lower level and the process now involves load and certification throughout the process.
Who is affected?
More than 300 professionals globally who are involved with close/consolidation activities – or those who relied on Hyperion reports – began to use OneStream XF on the go live date. Historical applications will be archived for SEC requirements.
What are the future Plans?
Our client has some “Phase 2” items they will complete in coming months. Those Phase 2 items include:
- Ability to load Budget 2017 data from PeopleSoft
- Re-working the supplemental data load to pull directly from PeopleSoft
- Re-organization of their internal reporting structures to align with business changes coming later this year
- Integration of IFRS rule change adjustments into a separate scenario