Case Study: M+W Group
“Tagetik’s intercompany matching features are a huge advantage for us because there are so many different relationships within our group. Now, our subsidiaries just report their internal transactions in the exact currency during the standard data entry process. After adjusting the balances in the integrated cockpit, we can already use this data for other processes.” Renate Jaeger - Project leader and financial accountant at M+W
The objectives
The cooperation between the M+W Group and the pmOne / Alper & Schetter consultant teams was first limited to developing an IT and business concept for the solution. After passing this ‘test’ in just a few weeks, the project team extended its contract and decided to launch the project in March 2009 following the production of its 2008 financial statements.
In the next few months, the company was able to implement an all-in-one solution for consolidation, planning, reporting and project controlling based on Tagetik. "We wanted to go live with our half-year results,” recalls Jaeger. “Our timeline was quite ambitious, but we made it.”
Results
All subsidiaries of the M+W Group are now connected to the new system and over 100 users worldwide have been trained to date.
Before using Tagetik, the finance and accounting departments spent a considerable amount of time verifying the data in Excel sheets or faxes. Since the previous system had no built-in validation rules, this process was highly prone to errors.
With Tagetik, the users manage this process from an integrated, Web-based intercompany
matching platform. This feature alone considerably reduced the local and central workload.
"Tagetik’s intercompany matching features are a huge advantage for us because there are
so many different relationships within our group,” adds Jaeger. “The reconciliation process
is now completely paperless and so much easier. Our subsidiaries simply report their
intercompany transactions in the exact currency during the standard data entry process.
After adjusting the balances in the integrated cockpit, we can already use this data for other
processes."
Tagetik’s built-in rules support a very stringent consolidation process, which has significantly
improved the overall data quality. The workflow has profited as well because many validations
are now already built into the data entry and approval processes. The days of passing spreadsheets
back and forth multiple times are now finally history.
All stakeholders in these processes have benefited from Tagetik. They have virtually eliminated the
double work in internal and external reporting. As hoped, the streamlined processes and organizational
improvements have also lead to faster consolidation and reporting cycles. The new system also
brought about organizational improvements as well. The two departments have since grown into one.
Last but not least, the management team is satisfied that the reporting has improved in terms of speed,
detail and quality.
M+W Group has since extended the solution to include functionality for project controlling. Its
subsidiaries now have a powerful solution for storing master data on all projects worldwide. In contrast
to the old, Excel-based version, the users now only have to change the status instead of reentering their
data multiple times. In addition, they gain clear information on costs, revenues and margin breakdowns.
Local users can perform analyses for their own companies while the group gains a consolidated view
of its activities worldwide.
The project team will soon get the opportunity to expand the system again. In the next phase, it will
integrate its treasury process in Tagetik as well.
