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11
NEWS
June/July 2012 www.esb.ie/em
Marion Quane, FiTP’s Information Lead said “The key changes include the development of five year financial plans and quarterly 24 month rolling forecasts. This will support a continuous forward looking focus for the business.”
“Planning and forecasting will be performed at the level appropriate to manage business performance which will enhance management accountability for business performance,” added Nuala Moloney, Process Lead, FiTP.
Another item of work undertaken by the Programme, as part of their overall look at performance management, was the development of a new Report Catalogue – a catalogue of all financial reports either produced or reported by Finance. The ‘As Is’ Report Catalogue was compiled in late 2011 and listed a large number of reports produced or reported by Finance across the Group. Through a series of workshops, a significant proportion of these reports have been identified as suitable for automation through the use of new or existing technology, which will deliver greater resource efficiency for the business.
Technology – a key enabler
With the large number of process and system improvements being implemented through the Programme, the introduction of new technology or the enhancement of existing technology is seen as a key enabler for the Programme.
In late April a number of technology improvements went ‘live’ which increased the efficiency and accuracy of certain finance processes primarily in the Order to Cash area.
“It was great to see the first set of improvements go live in April, but we have quickly moved onto the next series of system improvements which are scheduled for release in July. Planning and design of these is currently underway, before build and testing commences shortly,” said John Forde, FiTP’s Technology Manager.
In terms of new technologies, the Programme has selected SAP’s Business Objects Planning and Consolidation (BPC) application to support Finance’s new approach to business planning, budgeting and forecasting.
Additionally a new Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) module in SAP is being implemented to support the new finance processes and preserve the segregation of duties amongst finance users.
Dave Halpin, FiTP’s Governance Lead believes “GRC will bring about lasting benefits to ESB in terms of best practice governance. The system will complement our existing controls by automatically highlighting and ultimately preventing access risks.”
Next up for the Programme
Over the coming months the new finance processes will begin to be rolled out across the businesses. Additionally, changes to the planning, budgeting and forecasting process will be implemented on a phased basis, beginning with the introduction of standardised reporting packs from Q3 onwards.
With the proposed introduction of the new processes and systems, Finance will be able to focus on improving effectiveness, supporting strategic business decisions and providing value-added finance services.
“A considerable amount of work has already been achieved by the Programme and the businesses in the first half of 2012, but there are many more milestones to come for the remaining half of the year including the deployment of new processes, technology, reporting and associated training, communications and human resources support. These will deliver further transformation within the finance organisation and realise additional business benefits for the entire ESB Group,” said Niall Dineen, FiTP Programme Manager.
“I would like to thank everyone across ESB for their continued support of the Programme, which is now really beginning to deliver for the business and transform ESB’s finance function. With access to better tools and more efficient ways of working, the Finance organisation will continue to be an essential part of ESB,” added Donal Flynn, Executive Director, Group Finance & Commercial.
