AIB Reduces Reporting Risk with Cloud Move

Overview

Allied Irish Bank delivers financial visibility and reduces risk by moving to cloud planning and budgeting.

AIB’s current process relied on large and complex Excel models used by its numerous business units. Moreover, the number of spreadsheet models made the consolidation of data very difficult and time-consuming. The underlying assumptions were not consistent and widely understood across the group.

The overall design and implementation of Oracle EPM Planning Cloud (PBCS) allowed AIB to address the issues that existed in the current models and processes. This began with a discovery phase to understand the challenges faced by each of the business areas (Mortgage, Credit, Deposit, Treasury, etc.) and legal entities (UK and US) to develop an “as-is” and “to-be” functional specification that ensured the solution delivered to fit the unique needs of AIB. Version 1 implemented the application using a “sprint-based” approach, releasing functionality every 3-6 weeks. The delivery was split across 7 Sprints, each sprint including weekly ‘Show & Tells’ and an end-of-sprint conference room pilot.

This engagement leveraged Version 1’s Journey to Cloud methodology to achieve their finance transformation objectives – a best practice approach that combines our deep industry and technical expertise to design, implement and manage your migration to the cloud.

Situation

AIB is a financial services group operating predominantly in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. AIB provides a comprehensive range of services to personal, business, and corporate customers in target markets and has leading market shares in banking products in the Republic of Ireland.

AIB recognized that improving its planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes was a key element in delivering the financial visibility required to drive its growth strategy within the bank’s appetite for risk. For this reason, long-term strategic planning and forecasts were an important area of focus in this engagement.

Cyril Brennan, Head of Financial Planning and Analysis said:

The things we will be able to do that we were not able to do before include streamlined loading of actual data, much quicker turnaround time for running a version of the plan, capability to do rolling forecasts in a streamlined and structured way while significantly cutting down the time to do it and significantly less operational risk than running a planning process in Excel.

Challenge

• Time-consuming and resource-intensive to run the Planning process.
• Lack of transparency of process and data.
• Only one user is able to work on one spreadsheet at a time.
• Risk of spreadsheet errors and file corruption.
• Time-consuming and complicated to implement process changes.
• Difficulty in managing version control for what-if planning, multiple submissions, and reporting on what-if variances.
• Unable to complete monthly Forecast at the required level.
• Time-consuming during the aggregation of data from all business lines into a consolidated view due to the number and size of spreadsheets.
• More time is spent managing the process than analyzing the data.
• Loading and managing source data in spreadsheets

Solution

• Implementation of Oracle EPM Planning Cloud Service (PBCS)
• Journey to Cloud Methodology to accelerate delivery to the cloud

Real Differences, Delivered

As a result of this engagement, the following benefits were delivered to AIB: 

• Improved data accuracy and user confidence in the Plans and Forecasts.
• Eliminated reliance on large complex spreadsheets and minimized the inherent issues spreadsheets brought.
• Reduced time in managing the process and more time to analyze data, the Planning tool does all calculations and aggregation of data.
• Reduced effort in completing the Planning process with the elimination of manual processes.
• Increased data transparency throughout the Planning process, Centre Team who have visibility of the Plans and Forecasts as they are created.
• Standardized assumptions drive the Plans and Forecasts for each product area and are understood by the business.
• Ability to create monthly rolling Forecasts at the required level.
• Processes aligned across Legal Entities, providing a common understanding of how Plans and Forecasts are created.

About Version 1

Version 1 proves that IT can make a real difference to our customers’ businesses. We are trusted by global brands to deliver IT services and solutions which drive customer success. Our team of difference-makers work tirelessly to provide independent advice and deliver impactful changes to help our customers navigate the rapidly changing Digital-First world we live in. Our greatest strength is balance in our efforts to achieve Customer Success, Empowered People and a Strong Organisation, underpinned by a commitment to our values. We believe this is what makes Version 1 different and more importantly, our customers agree.

Back to top ↑