The Company

SSL Healthcare Italia, based in Bologna, is the Italian branch of SSL International PLC. It was created through the merger between two Italian companies, Seton Scholl Italia S.p.A. and Hatu commerciale S.p.A., which had belonged to two international groups, Seton-Scholl and London International Group.  Its mission is to develop, manufacture and distribute high-quality, high-profile brands and products in the healthcare and personal wellbeing sector. SSL Healthcare Italia has positioned itself in the distribution market as a key partner to satisfy the expectations of its own customers and consumers, guaranteeing the high quality of its products.

The project

SSL Healthcare Italia needed to implement an advanced Corporate Performance Management (CPM) system to manage budgeting, allocation and reporting within a single solution operating on a single database. Specifically, SSL Healthcare Italia wanted to manage the entire CPM flow, from the collection of profit-and-loss budget data and quarterly profit forecasts through the interim closing process and allocations to preparation of financial reports (both operating and management reporting).

The company needed to produce specific reports with a well-defined structure to send to the parent company (overall company reports and ad hoc reports for different business areas/brands). Budgeting/forecasting had to be developed in line with the company’s existing budget model, with particular emphasis on the values monitored in the financial reporting process. The first step involved a brand analysis exercise. Subsequently, the management control area entered the budget construction process with the inclusion of specific line items and the organization of data on a monthly basis in relation to forecast turnover.

With implementation of the Tagetik solution, the project will enable the company to implement more extensive management control over two principal aspects: products and product lines, broken down by division (Sauber Collants (hosiery), Mister Baby, rubber gloves, syringes...); and channels (macro-aggregation of customers: pharmacists and sanitary goods outlets, distributors, mass market etc.). In addition, the project enables extensive control over each cost center (i.e., product/channel aggregation). Automated data importing and the generation of specific reports have already greatly reduced the time required to produce closing statements for the parent company, with clear benefits for the management control area in conducting quarterly closings. The Tagetik solution is also a user-friendly tool (e.g., Excel report forms) that does not require users to have specific IT skills in order to produce content-rich, navigable closings and to plan the profit-and-loss budget in a more structured manner than before, guaranteeing improved management of this process.