Delivering a Streamlined Forecasting Solution for International Benefits Expenses
The Situation
The total rewards group within a large conglomerate was tasked with taking ownership for the benefits expense planning for international business units across all operating countries. Given the data was scattered and misaligned, the group had no insight into relevant high-level metrics. As a result of a successful implementation for a domestic planning function, the team decided to start a new process of international benefit expense planning directly in Anaplan – complementing the existing Anaplan model.
Services
Budgeting/Forecasting Solution Implementation
Reporting & Analytics
The Execution
- Developed a process to ingest the data needed for international benefit expenses and to create business logic to forecast out both a 12-month rolling forecast and a 5-year long-range plan.
- Created the ability to drill in on expense benefits on specific countries, policy types, and business subsidiaries.
- Automated feeds of benefits policy data into Anaplan, which is then transformed into digestible data to be used for reporting and driving forecasts.
- Leveraged existing FX data in another Anaplan model to eliminate duplicating activities.
- Ensured that this platform provided management with visibility into various spend categories throughout each country and entity.
- Guided system administrator on the structure of data feeds, allowing for minimal system maintenance through the model.
The Results
With Accordion’s assistance, the Company achieved its key objectives of developing a platform to forecast and report international spend. Our team developed a new process that allowed international spend to be consumed in a digestible manner by the organization. This solution now gives the organization a holistic view of international benefits spend that drives timely fact-based decision making and fosters a data-driven culture.