Breakaway Technologies Produces a Rock-Solid Solution
for an Aggregate and Chemical Manufacturing Giant
As one of the foremost producers of construction aggregates in the United States, this company
needed to introduce a consistent, enterprise-wide budgeting, reporting, and forecasting methodology
to improve performance management practices within the organization. Breakaway Technologies
consolidated and reengineered their data-collection processes—increasing consistency, accuracy, and
efficiency with Cognos TM1.
Challenge The company’s budgeting and forecasting
processes had become cumbersome and prone to error because they required
significant manual effort at both the corporate and the operating-unit levels. Primarily using
Excel spreadsheets and email, the Finance Department collected annual budget reports
from its 400 different cost centers, each using their own format to fit their specific unit.
The data collection, validation, consolidation, and re-consolidation processes had
become time consuming, so there was little opportunity for analysis. There were also
insufficient controls in place, resulting in an increased opportunity for erroneous data, as
well as a mismatch between the granularities of data being submitted.
The aggregate and chemical manufacturing giant needed a system that would
provide consistency, accuracy, and increased efficiency across the company. In addition to
a new budget process, the company wanted to introduce an enterprise-wide forecasting
methodology to increase performance management practices within the organization.
The challenge was to provide valid, closed, actual data for the operating units all
the way down to the 300+ quarry entities.
Solution Breakaway deconstructed the company’s budgeting and forecasting processes,
identified issues affecting quality and consistency, and laid out a better business
practice. Part of the solution was to leverage TM1, Cognos’ OLAP engine, which served as
a centralized database that created a single version of the truth for the entire organization.
Breakaway developed and integrated a set of templates that submitted data directly to the
database, which satisfied the need to consolidate and allowed for faster and more consistent
data collection.
Cognos TM1’s unique in-memory engine provided the company with real-time data
consolidation, automating the effort at every level throughout the organization. The
solution Breakaway came up with gave the company the control and consistency employees needed on the budget side and
helped convert the manual process into an automated one.
Breakaway also automated the quarterly forecast creation process, reducing the time
it previously took one person about two days to report—to fewer than 10 minutes. And it
features more detailed, error-free information. The forecast is now collected at the
company’s Performance Summary level of detail, which helps support a top-side view of
key income statement accounts. This allows the forecast to be run more frequently and
enables the corporate office as well as the operating units to be in more regular communication
with the quarries. With active communication, decisions are made on a
timelier basis by either adjusting to or taking advantage of particular market conditions.
Return on Investment “We were able to roll out an entire enterprise-wide solution with
minimal impact to the plant managers,” says the organization’s Manager of Financial and
Planning Analysis. “Breakaway helped us customize the application to look like the
familiar Excel spreadsheets. We received a lot of positive feedback from the field on the
new solution.” And the company is already realizing the benefits of the new process. “Our previous system does not even
compare,” he raves. “When changes are made at any stage, the system automatically
runs them through the entire model, making consolidation a no-brainer for
our department.”
Breakaway significantly improved the company’s long-range (five-year) Strategic
Plan as well. Before, it took one employee an entire week to create the plan using Excel—
and that person had to develop it before the final numbers from the business units were
available. Now, it can be created in about 30 minutes. In addition, reporting to the
executive team has become much easier, as each executive has his or her own application
folder in Cognos TM1 and employees are able to quickly update their specific folders
with the appropriate reports.
“Breakaway has a good handle on our operations,” says the organization’s Manager
of Financial and Planning Analysis. “Our deadline is their deadline and they have
bent over backward for us. They are easily accessible, really listen to us, and address
issues promptly, which was critical in gaining acceptance by the field. We met every
goal we set out for this year,” he says. “We will look to Breakaway to help us with
additional projects.”
Success Metrics
• 95% reduction in the manual effort
needed to compile the long-range
(five-year) Strategic Plan
• Eliminated 80% of the templates,
making the budget process consistent
and efficient across the
enterprise
• Nearly 100% reduction in the time
needed to consolidate and/or
re-con solidate the budget: it
occurs
in real time
• Real-time data updating for the
company’s standard report book—
just hit F9!
About Breakaway Technologies, Inc.
Breakaway delivers superior business solutions by using and recommending
technologies that add value to our clients’ business decision process, while
providing the scalability that enables growth. We focus on solutions and results,
and are constantly identifying ways to help our clients gain a competitive
advantage, reduce operating costs, and assess performance across the enterprise.
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