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Finance transformation restarted from the data model when the programme has stalled.
We take the data and systems half of a stalled programme, read the model the design assumed, and fix the price on what we find.
Finance transformation is what a group is doing when it replaces its finance systems, its close and often its operating model in 1 programme. Constancia, an EPM consultancy, takes the data and systems half of it for multi-entity groups, including the programmes that have stalled.
- Takes on
- The data model, the consolidation, the planning model and the systems they run on.
- Leaves
- The operating model, the ERP and the people workstreams, with their dates recorded in our plan.
- Starts with
- A survey of the model the design assumed, then a fixed price for the rebuild.
A stalled programme leaves 6 marks, and the survey reads each of them before the restart.
The survey takes the programme as it stands, with the design frozen for the weeks it runs.
- 01
The design document
The design usually exists in 3 versions on 3 drives, and we establish which version the build team has been working from.
- 02
The data model the design assumed
The design names 1 chart of accounts and 1 entity list, and we check whether either exists yet in any system.
- 03
The mappings built so far
The build team has mapped some entities and parked others, and we list which are done, which are parked and why.
- 04
The workbooks that appeared during the build
A programme that stalls grows spreadsheets around the new system, and we count them and name who runs each one.
- 05
The parallel run
We read whether a parallel close has been run, and where the old and new numbers disagree, by entity and by account.
- 06
The change orders
The change orders raised so far show where the data turned out worse than the design assumed, and we read all of them.
The 6 readings go into 1 list of findings, each with an owner and a place in the restart sequence.
A restart reopens the data model, because the design was written before anyone had read it.
Constancia's consultants have read the data model before the build on 58 implementations over 35 years, and a restart reads it again.
Where 4 of 11 entities are live after 2 years and a workbook bridges the 2 sets of numbers, the model has stopped the design.
The restart reads the 7 remaining ledgers before any more configuration, and reprices the rest of the build on what those ledgers hold.
We take the data and systems half of a finance transformation, and the other half keeps its own owner.
Both halves of the programme keep 1 plan between them, and each half owns its own dates in it.
In scope
The data model, the consolidation, the planning model and the platform they run on.
We rebuild the entity list, the group chart and the mappings first, then bring the remaining entities on in the order their ledgers allow. The consultants who read the model in the survey stay for the rebuild.
- The entity list, the group chart and the mappings, rebuilt first
- The remaining entities, in the order their ledgers allow
- The parallel run, dated, with the old numbers kept until the 2 agree
- A fixed price for the rest, set after the survey
Out of scope
The operating model, the ERP replacement and the shared service centre.
A finance transformation usually carries 3 or 4 workstreams beside ours, and each keeps its own lead and its own plan. Our roadmap records the dates we depend on from them and the dates they depend on from us.
- Organisation design, roles and the shared service centre
- ERP selection and reimplementation, which we read and never run
- Management consulting on the target operating model
A programme restarted from the plan and 1 restarted from the model part ways at 5 points.
The board sees the same go-live in both cases, and the second one reaches it with the ledgers already read.
| Restarted from the plan | Restarted from the data model | |
|---|---|---|
| The first task after the restart | A replan of the remaining phases against the original go-live. | A survey of the entities still to come, ledger by ledger. |
| What happens to the design | The current version is reissued with new dates. | The design is rewritten where the model cannot carry it, and the rewrite is dated. |
| The workbooks that grew during the build | They stay, because the plan has no line for them. | Each is listed, given an owner and a retirement date in the sequence. |
| The price of the rest | The original estimate, plus change orders as each ledger is opened. | A fixed price set after the survey, with the ledger surprises already in it. |
| Who explains the next slip | The sponsor who signed the original business case. | The fixed price absorbs it, because the survey put the ledger risk on our side. |
The roadmap comes before a restart and the OneStream build comes after it.
Finance roadmapping
The dated sequence, written after the model has been read, that a restart is planned against.
Read about roadmappingFinance process optimisation
The close redrawn as it runs, once the model has settled the disagreements between systems.
Read about processesOneStream implementation
The build on OneStream (EPM software) that most restarted consolidation programmes end in.
Read about implementation
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