Optimizing Gross Margin and Product Profitability Plans Through Better Forecasting in Anaplan
The Situation
A global book publisher was relying on a mix of outdated, unsupported point systems and Excel spreadsheets to create their product P&Ls. In addition, the forecasting process was cumbersome, time consuming, and had no real link between operational and financial forecasting. The Company wanted to improve its financial decisions by streamlining revenue and gross margin forecasting in Anaplan.
Services
Budgeting/Forecasting Solution Implementation
Reporting & Analytics
FinTech Advisory
The Execution
- Worked closely with the Company’s FP&A and IT teams to develop a comprehensive framework and understanding of processes and data infrastructure.
- Calculated product-level revenue and expenses in a finance model to deliver gross margin plans on a rolling forecast basis.
- Enabled driver-based calculation methodology for key revenue and expense metrics, allowing planners to easily change and override variables.
- Utilized Anaplan calculation engine to achieve accurate forecasts for complex expense items such as author royalties.
- Built reports for teams to analyze results and perform what-if analysis at various levels of detail not previously available in legacy tools (ex. product, imprint, and division level).
The Results
With Accordion’s assistance, the Company achieved its key business goals of automated financial planning with a rolling forecast. Using Anaplan ow saves the Company’s FP&A team considerable time in planning cycles. The teams have also been able to introduce new methods in the planning process that were not attainable before due to limitations in legacy tools.