FINANCE

Customer Perspective: Fast, Flexible Planning on SAP

August 30, 2006

The Swiss publishing company, WEKA Verlag AG, is a subsidiary of the Germany-based WEKA group. WEKA Switzerland has a portfolio of more than 100 publications in the fields of management, finance and tax, law, human resources, construction, technology, the environment, IT, medicine and education. WEKA's authors are proven experts with substantial practical experience, while for some of its publications WEKA cooperates with renowned institutes and institutions.

Thousands of corporate clients

The publisher's thousands of corporate clients, including the top names in the Swiss business world, cannot afford to spend time searching for information . They need integrated, high-quality complete solutions that are up-to-date and expertly structured.

Multiple sales channels bring planning challenges

WEKA offers its content in the form of subscriptions. To plan successfully for its subscription business and the associated production and financial development requirements, WEKA faced a variety of challenges.

In particular, the company's portfolio includes 300 products, distributed via six different sales channels using five different subscription models. Business from existing customers is handled completely differently from new business.

WEKA's billing models involved differing subscription periods, ranging from three months to one year. Also, the invoicing system was different for each update, with the number and frequency of updates varying.

It was important to plan out the profits and losses achieved from subscribers, the cancellation rates of existing and new customers, as well as the print run requirements. All of these factors are highly varied and extremely complex. And WEKA was unable to accomodate them with the capabilities of its SAP R/3 systems.

Financial tasks and billing processes are prepared at WEKA using the SAP R3 system, and until recently planning was carried out using a vast number of complicated, interrelated Excel spreadsheets. This resulted in a high risk of error, which meant that a great deal of work was required for monthly reporting, and led to maintenance difficulties and a degree of inaccuracy in the planning processes.

Flexibility important

Because of the requirements and constraints to which WEKA's new solution was subject to, the publisher needed to use SAP R3 data whilst replacing the many existing Excel spreadsheets with an integrated, centralised solution. Significant added value was also needed in the form of quicker results, reduced time spent on the job, and greater flexibility in introducing changes to the system.

Flexibility was important many ways. WEKA needed to be able to map out a variety of changing scenarios and also simulate and plan new business models. Requirements involved ensuring that the application was flexible enough to meet all of these challenges whilst allowing users to make changes themselves"

Complete implementation within two months

Following the prototyping phase conducted on the basis of a detailed project specification - a task that in itself represented valuable "on-the-job" training for the WEKA team, implementation was completed within two months.

WEKA now uses both Cognos Analyst, the analytical component of the solution, and Cognos Planning Manager, the latter for developing the models and metrics and for mapping out the performance drivers.

The products are designed for use by financial specialists and therefore require no expert IT knowledge. They allow complex models to be created, including calculations and cause/effect simulation analyses, as well as offering multidimensional flexibility so that any other relevant drivers can be identified.

Greater accuracy, better visibility

The project objectives were achieved on schedule, enabling operational budgeting for 2005 to get underway with the new system in September 2004. WEKA also benefited from greater accuracy and an improved overview of its whole planning process. The Management Accounting team were also able to build on this knowledge to introduce their own modifications.

WEKA has been convinced by the system's flexibility in allowing changes to be made to the business model and by its enhanced analytical and scenario-planning options. With Cognos, WEKA finally has a system for continuous planning.