We Make Energy Happen! AWS
We Make Energy Happen! Oracle EPM client success story at Williams Prepared by: David Wells, Manager FP&A
Session ID: 10269
We Make Energy Happen! • Oracle EPM client success story at Williams Abstract: After an enterprise-wide reorganization, the FP&A group was faced with growing business requirements, slow and outdated systems, missed deadlines, and frustrated users. Learn how Williams super-charged its EPM environment using Planning, Essbase ASO, and Dodeca to cut processing times from 4 hours to 15 minutes and increase data capacity by over 10 times. With the system bottlenecks removed, the Finance organization is not only meeting deadlines, but performing more-comprehensive analyses and other projects neglected previously due to system restraints.
Presenters: • David Wells – Williams FP&A Manager | [email protected] • Larry Vitt – Williams Business Analyst Consultant |
[email protected]
• Joe Etter – Williams Senior Business Analyst | [email protected] April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
2
Williams today: Energy infrastructure leader More than 31,000 miles of pipelines; 21 Bcf/d gathering capacity; 7 Bcf/d processing capacity Corporate headquarters in Tulsa; major offices in Salt Lake City, Houston and Pittsburgh
Over 5,000 employees
We move over 30% of the nation’s natural gas
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
3
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Purgatory” “The Intervention” • • •
• •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
2016
“The Next Chapter” • •
Deals falls through More improvements with Hyperion Upgrade
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
4
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
2013
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
5
“The Life Change”
Williams – Pre 2013
• Company comprised of autonomous, very different business units. • Common Oracle ERP and tool sets, but little consistency in use of code block, modules and reporting tools. • Each business unit built and maintained their own Hyperion reporting and planning systems. • Common HFM application for consolidations and SEC reporting. Consolidated information only available at summary level. • Any need for detailed information only available by requests to business unit reporting groups.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
6
“The Life Change”
Williams – Pre 2013 Consolidated Forecasting
Regulated Gas Pipelines Financial Expense
Capital
Gas Gathering and Processing
Corporate Expenses and Other
Financial Expense
Capital
Expense Planning
P&L Planning
Expense
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
7
“The Life Change”
Williams – Reorganization
• Group assets into geographic regions. Groups combined portions of former business units. • Combined engineering and various support functions in a centralized shared services organization. • Created need for • detailed operating reports across former business units with disparate data. • a system capable of rolling up detailed information to enterprise level. • Challenges • Organization announced late November for January implementation. • Internal Hyperion resources spread across organization. • Change in IT outsource provider.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
8
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
2013 “The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
9
“The Duct Tape Era”
Williams – Reorganization
Reconfigure existing business unit systems to meet immediate needs of new organization Consolidated Forecasting Phased Out Capital
Financial
P&L Planning
Capital
Financial
(ASO) Expense
Expense Planning
Expense Planning
Expense Planning
FDW
Expenses April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
10
“The Duct Tape Era”
Processing Times Forecast Cycle
Financial Close 11pm3am 3am7am 7am8:30am
• Ledger extract • FDW build • Hierarchy and data load • Cube calcs • FR report batches run • Ready for accounting close
• Any delay in overnight processing directly impacted accounting’s ability to meet close deadlines. • No ability to update data during day. • No ability to deploy to correct cube issues.
• Planning Cube Calcs • Mostly Aggregation
2 hr
1.5 hr
1.5 hr
• FR report batches
• Analysts verify data and make corrections for next run
• Scheduled calcs to run 4 times a day. • Horribly inefficient for planning analysts to validate / correct data. • Limited the number of forecast versions. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
11
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2013
2014
“The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
12
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
User Process Workshops
• Two Day workshop with end-users in both FP&A and accounting groups. • Honest communication of pain points, frustrations, and needs. • Examined timelines, key deliverables, and deadlines. • Reviewed Senior Management and Board information needs • Focused on information redundancy and how it’s used across organization. • Conclusions/problems: • System performance continues to decline. • Current model is unsustainable. • Manual data uploads hard to manage. • Solution Requirements: • SPEED. • FLEXIBLE AND SCALABLE. • SINGLE REPORTING APPLICATION. • ORGANIZED / STRUCTURED DATA. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
13
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013 “The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
14
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
ASO solution • Engaged consultants to evaluate alternatives. • Selected consultant to build prototype by converting existing BSO to ASO. • Determined formulas would convert to MDX. • Storage capacity of the ASO cube was exponentially greater than BSO. • No need for lengthy calc scripts! • Needed drill-through functionality, but discouraged by Essbase Studio issues. • Discovered Drill-Bridge alternative was feasible • Chose to use our existing investment in OBIEE to provide drill through • (Also enabled drill through function within Dodeca). • Determined an Essbase ASO design would address speed and scalability goals and provide opportunity to merge planning and accounting close functions within single application. • The ASO cube would be our game changer! April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
15
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
“Dumb” Planning App • Need efficient ‘front end’ to load planning and other inputs. Hybrid not an option (Hyperion 11.2.1) • Build ‘dumb’ Hyperion Planning application with the sole purpose to capture inputs and create automated data transfer to the ASO cube. • Currency translation is achieved by dynamic formulas. • No other calcs are needed. • Hierarchies are shared with ASO cube via EPMA. • Data transfers runs in 3 minutes with minimal disruption to ASO retrievals. • Proposed the use of Hyperion Planning to capture various actual statistics and other reporting topsides. • Utilized a ‘source’ dimension to avoid overwriting data and identify source of data within the application. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
16
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
Dodeca Reporting Tool • Frustration with Hyperion FR (Financial Reports). • Everyone wants reports in Excel. “fully-formatted” isn’t “fully-formatted”. • Need to batch and maintain individual reports for various areas. • Dodeca met our needs for an FR replacement and offered many more possibilities. • Eliminated our need for lengthy batching of reports. • Eliminated need to maintain individual reports for each area. • Allowed us to build various headcount reports against relational tables. • Uses Excel formatting and graphing functions. • Leveraged MDX queries for faster report rendering. • Gives users ability to explore data and reports without being a Smart View expert or intimately familiar with our Essbase cubes. • Quick implementation. We went live within 30 days of initial training. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
17
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
Design and proof of concept completed in January 2015.
Dodeca
Initial build to begin in February for a Q3 go-live. Reporting (Essbase ASO)
Engaged two consultants to augment our staff: • Dean Haraguchi – ASO Expert • Chris Rothermel – Planning / ODI Expert
Input Cube (Planning) Actuals Web Form
FDW
Forecast Web Form
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
18
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
19
“The Curve Ball”
Implementation Curve Ball
• Senior Management and our Board requests we change our primary reporting metric from Segment Profit to “Adjusted EBITDA”. • Adjusted EBITDA includes the proportional share of revenues, costs, (and volumes) of our non-consolidated joint ventures as well as the exclusion of non-recurring transactions. • To accommodate this requirement, we leveraged our ‘source’ dimension to capture the proportional amounts and the non-recurring adjustments. • Meets our need to have organized data. “Everything has a home.”
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
20
“The Curve Ball”
Implementation Curve Ball
• Identifies source of the amounts. • Allows isolation of any topsides • Traditional reporting uses “GAAP Reporting” • Proportional Investment contains results of proportional calculation • Segment Adjustments are captured in individual members.
• Connects the Adjusted EBITDA amounts reported in SEC filings back to ledger. • Script extracts partnership data and reloads to proportional source and utilizes member formulas to apply our ownership percentage.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
21
The “Every 30 Minute” Calc Batch Job to apply all necessary data transfers and calculations • Runs every 30 minutes during an open forecast period. • Completes in 6 minutes. 1. Data push. Use an MDX extract from planning database via a JAVA API. The resulting text file is then parsed using JAVA to create a file that gets loaded to the ASO cube. 2. Post Processing within the ASO cube. Report scripts used to extract data from the ASO cube, manipulated, then loaded back to the ASO cube. • Actuals copy - actual month’s data copied from the actuals to the current forecast scenario. • Proportional logic - Extracts 100% partnership data and reload to the investment source after applying our ownership percentages. 3. Apply ASO aggregation. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
22
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
23
“The Go-Live”
Benefits Realized Before
After
Closing Reports
9 am
4 am
Forecast Cycle
3 hour
30 minutes
Midday Refresh
Not Possible
Possible
200
40
# Forecast Versions
4
30 and counting
Adjusted EBITDA
Manual Spreadsheets
Automated and Standardized
Ability to make corrections
Calc or restructure times prohibited timely corrections
No calcs, no dense restructures. Corrections timely
# Reports
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
24
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Purgatory” “The Intervention” • • •
• •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
2016
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
25
“The Purgatory” • •
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
Post Go-Live Stress Test
• Within months of our go-live, Williams entered a prolonged merger agreement that ultimately was never consummated. During this period, demands for financial data and forecasts grew exponentially. • The newly-designed applications were tweaked to allow several concurrent forecast versions. • The ASO cube continued to perform at the same level despite the growing number of forecasts stored in the application. • The new applications allowed the finance organization to meet the demands of the Board and other parties that could not have been met with the old system.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
26
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Purgatory” “The Intervention” • • •
• •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
2016
“The Next Chapter” • •
Deals falls through More improvements with Hyperion Upgrade
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
27
“The Next Chapter” • •
Deal falls through More improvements with Hyperion Upgrade
Continued Improvements
• With the merger cancelled, our improvements resumed. • Upgraded our Hyperion environment to 11.1.2.4. Calcs on our traditional BSO applications improved dramatically. • Replicated ‘dumb’ planning app and ASO model with our capital and expense applications. • Consolidating expense planning applications to single application.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
28
Lessons Learned
• Speed cannot be undervalued. A fast, efficient application adds significant value to an organization. • Find the right consultants for your projects. Understand the specific skills required from a consultant for your project. OAUG provides a great opportunity to increase knowledge, but also to network and meet consultants with various expertise. • Use consultants to teach your team, not just complete the project. No better training than to work through a project with a knowledgeable consultant.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
29
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Session ID: 10269
Q&A
Session ID: 10269
We Make Energy Happen! • Oracle EPM client success story at Williams Abstract: After an enterprise-wide reorganization, the FP&A group was faced with growing business requirements, slow and outdated systems, missed deadlines, and frustrated users. Learn how Williams super-charged its EPM environment using Planning, Essbase ASO, and Dodeca to cut processing times from 4 hours to 15 minutes and increase data capacity by over 10 times. With the system bottlenecks removed, the Finance organization is not only meeting deadlines, but performing more-comprehensive analyses and other projects neglected previously due to system restraints.
Presenters: • David Wells – Williams FP&A Manager | [email protected] • Larry Vitt – Williams Business Analyst Consultant |
[email protected]
• Joe Etter – Williams Senior Business Analyst | [email protected] April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
2
Williams today: Energy infrastructure leader More than 31,000 miles of pipelines; 21 Bcf/d gathering capacity; 7 Bcf/d processing capacity Corporate headquarters in Tulsa; major offices in Salt Lake City, Houston and Pittsburgh
Over 5,000 employees
We move over 30% of the nation’s natural gas
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
3
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Purgatory” “The Intervention” • • •
• •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
2016
“The Next Chapter” • •
Deals falls through More improvements with Hyperion Upgrade
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
4
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
2013
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
5
“The Life Change”
Williams – Pre 2013
• Company comprised of autonomous, very different business units. • Common Oracle ERP and tool sets, but little consistency in use of code block, modules and reporting tools. • Each business unit built and maintained their own Hyperion reporting and planning systems. • Common HFM application for consolidations and SEC reporting. Consolidated information only available at summary level. • Any need for detailed information only available by requests to business unit reporting groups.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
6
“The Life Change”
Williams – Pre 2013 Consolidated Forecasting
Regulated Gas Pipelines Financial Expense
Capital
Gas Gathering and Processing
Corporate Expenses and Other
Financial Expense
Capital
Expense Planning
P&L Planning
Expense
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
7
“The Life Change”
Williams – Reorganization
• Group assets into geographic regions. Groups combined portions of former business units. • Combined engineering and various support functions in a centralized shared services organization. • Created need for • detailed operating reports across former business units with disparate data. • a system capable of rolling up detailed information to enterprise level. • Challenges • Organization announced late November for January implementation. • Internal Hyperion resources spread across organization. • Change in IT outsource provider.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
8
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
2013 “The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
9
“The Duct Tape Era”
Williams – Reorganization
Reconfigure existing business unit systems to meet immediate needs of new organization Consolidated Forecasting Phased Out Capital
Financial
P&L Planning
Capital
Financial
(ASO) Expense
Expense Planning
Expense Planning
Expense Planning
FDW
Expenses April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
10
“The Duct Tape Era”
Processing Times Forecast Cycle
Financial Close 11pm3am 3am7am 7am8:30am
• Ledger extract • FDW build • Hierarchy and data load • Cube calcs • FR report batches run • Ready for accounting close
• Any delay in overnight processing directly impacted accounting’s ability to meet close deadlines. • No ability to update data during day. • No ability to deploy to correct cube issues.
• Planning Cube Calcs • Mostly Aggregation
2 hr
1.5 hr
1.5 hr
• FR report batches
• Analysts verify data and make corrections for next run
• Scheduled calcs to run 4 times a day. • Horribly inefficient for planning analysts to validate / correct data. • Limited the number of forecast versions. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
11
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2013
2014
“The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
12
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
User Process Workshops
• Two Day workshop with end-users in both FP&A and accounting groups. • Honest communication of pain points, frustrations, and needs. • Examined timelines, key deliverables, and deadlines. • Reviewed Senior Management and Board information needs • Focused on information redundancy and how it’s used across organization. • Conclusions/problems: • System performance continues to decline. • Current model is unsustainable. • Manual data uploads hard to manage. • Solution Requirements: • SPEED. • FLEXIBLE AND SCALABLE. • SINGLE REPORTING APPLICATION. • ORGANIZED / STRUCTURED DATA. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
13
Williams EPM Timeline “The Life Change” • •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013 “The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
14
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
ASO solution • Engaged consultants to evaluate alternatives. • Selected consultant to build prototype by converting existing BSO to ASO. • Determined formulas would convert to MDX. • Storage capacity of the ASO cube was exponentially greater than BSO. • No need for lengthy calc scripts! • Needed drill-through functionality, but discouraged by Essbase Studio issues. • Discovered Drill-Bridge alternative was feasible • Chose to use our existing investment in OBIEE to provide drill through • (Also enabled drill through function within Dodeca). • Determined an Essbase ASO design would address speed and scalability goals and provide opportunity to merge planning and accounting close functions within single application. • The ASO cube would be our game changer! April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
15
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
“Dumb” Planning App • Need efficient ‘front end’ to load planning and other inputs. Hybrid not an option (Hyperion 11.2.1) • Build ‘dumb’ Hyperion Planning application with the sole purpose to capture inputs and create automated data transfer to the ASO cube. • Currency translation is achieved by dynamic formulas. • No other calcs are needed. • Hierarchies are shared with ASO cube via EPMA. • Data transfers runs in 3 minutes with minimal disruption to ASO retrievals. • Proposed the use of Hyperion Planning to capture various actual statistics and other reporting topsides. • Utilized a ‘source’ dimension to avoid overwriting data and identify source of data within the application. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
16
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
Dodeca Reporting Tool • Frustration with Hyperion FR (Financial Reports). • Everyone wants reports in Excel. “fully-formatted” isn’t “fully-formatted”. • Need to batch and maintain individual reports for various areas. • Dodeca met our needs for an FR replacement and offered many more possibilities. • Eliminated our need for lengthy batching of reports. • Eliminated need to maintain individual reports for each area. • Allowed us to build various headcount reports against relational tables. • Uses Excel formatting and graphing functions. • Leveraged MDX queries for faster report rendering. • Gives users ability to explore data and reports without being a Smart View expert or intimately familiar with our Essbase cubes. • Quick implementation. We went live within 30 days of initial training. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
17
“The Enlightenment”
Solution Design and Plan
Design and proof of concept completed in January 2015.
Dodeca
Initial build to begin in February for a Q3 go-live. Reporting (Essbase ASO)
Engaged two consultants to augment our staff: • Dean Haraguchi – ASO Expert • Chris Rothermel – Planning / ODI Expert
Input Cube (Planning) Actuals Web Form
FDW
Forecast Web Form
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
18
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era” • •
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
19
“The Curve Ball”
Implementation Curve Ball
• Senior Management and our Board requests we change our primary reporting metric from Segment Profit to “Adjusted EBITDA”. • Adjusted EBITDA includes the proportional share of revenues, costs, (and volumes) of our non-consolidated joint ventures as well as the exclusion of non-recurring transactions. • To accommodate this requirement, we leveraged our ‘source’ dimension to capture the proportional amounts and the non-recurring adjustments. • Meets our need to have organized data. “Everything has a home.”
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
20
“The Curve Ball”
Implementation Curve Ball
• Identifies source of the amounts. • Allows isolation of any topsides • Traditional reporting uses “GAAP Reporting” • Proportional Investment contains results of proportional calculation • Segment Adjustments are captured in individual members.
• Connects the Adjusted EBITDA amounts reported in SEC filings back to ledger. • Script extracts partnership data and reloads to proportional source and utilizes member formulas to apply our ownership percentage.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
21
The “Every 30 Minute” Calc Batch Job to apply all necessary data transfers and calculations • Runs every 30 minutes during an open forecast period. • Completes in 6 minutes. 1. Data push. Use an MDX extract from planning database via a JAVA API. The resulting text file is then parsed using JAVA to create a file that gets loaded to the ASO cube. 2. Post Processing within the ASO cube. Report scripts used to extract data from the ASO cube, manipulated, then loaded back to the ASO cube. • Actuals copy - actual month’s data copied from the actuals to the current forecast scenario. • Proportional logic - Extracts 100% partnership data and reload to the investment source after applying our ownership percentages. 3. Apply ASO aggregation. April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
22
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Intervention” • • •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
23
“The Go-Live”
Benefits Realized Before
After
Closing Reports
9 am
4 am
Forecast Cycle
3 hour
30 minutes
Midday Refresh
Not Possible
Possible
200
40
# Forecast Versions
4
30 and counting
Adjusted EBITDA
Manual Spreadsheets
Automated and Standardized
Ability to make corrections
Calc or restructure times prohibited timely corrections
No calcs, no dense restructures. Corrections timely
# Reports
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
24
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Purgatory” “The Intervention” • • •
• •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
2016
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
“The Enlightenment” • • •
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
25
“The Purgatory” • •
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
Post Go-Live Stress Test
• Within months of our go-live, Williams entered a prolonged merger agreement that ultimately was never consummated. During this period, demands for financial data and forecasts grew exponentially. • The newly-designed applications were tweaked to allow several concurrent forecast versions. • The ASO cube continued to perform at the same level despite the growing number of forecasts stored in the application. • The new applications allowed the finance organization to meet the demands of the Board and other parties that could not have been met with the old system.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
26
Williams EPM Timeline “The Curve Ball”
“The Life Change” • •
• •
Williams 2012+ Reorganization
Proportional Rptg Adjusted EBITDA
“The Purgatory” “The Intervention” • • •
• •
Process workshops Pain points Confirm requirements
2014
2013
2015
“The Duct Tape Era”
“The Go-Live”
•
• •
•
Reconfigure existing systems Keep wheels on
“The Enlightenment” • • •
Proposal to sell company Ultimate stress test for new system
ASO solution Minimal Planning App Dodeca
Benefits Realized Speed, Organization, Scalable, One App
2016
“The Next Chapter” • •
Deals falls through More improvements with Hyperion Upgrade
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
27
“The Next Chapter” • •
Deal falls through More improvements with Hyperion Upgrade
Continued Improvements
• With the merger cancelled, our improvements resumed. • Upgraded our Hyperion environment to 11.1.2.4. Calcs on our traditional BSO applications improved dramatically. • Replicated ‘dumb’ planning app and ASO model with our capital and expense applications. • Consolidating expense planning applications to single application.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
28
Lessons Learned
• Speed cannot be undervalued. A fast, efficient application adds significant value to an organization. • Find the right consultants for your projects. Understand the specific skills required from a consultant for your project. OAUG provides a great opportunity to increase knowledge, but also to network and meet consultants with various expertise. • Use consultants to teach your team, not just complete the project. No better training than to work through a project with a knowledgeable consultant.
April 2-6, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV USA
#C17LV
29
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Session ID: 10269
Q&A
