topdown consulting adecco group case study

7/25/2019 TopDown Consulting Adecco Group Case Study

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Adecco Group North America Uses

TopDown Consulting to Implement OracleHyperion On Time, and on Budget

ADECCO GROUP CASE STUDY


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Hyperion Evolution

The company’s North American subsidiary, comprising of about 8,000employees, has undertaken a significant evolution in its use of Hyperionproducts since 2005. Initially, Adecco used Hyperion Enterprise 5.0running on one server with 12 total users — all with administratorprivileges — to manage P&L reporting. Next, in 2006, the company

updated to Hyperion Enterprise 6.3.1 to handle expanded needs likeB/S, supporting multiple divisions, providing access to more than 90users, and budgeting and forecasting. Despite the upgrade, Adeccowas still tied to a cumbersome data-gathering process that relied uponusing Microsoft Excel.

“Collecting data was too time consuming, and if there was an errorwe’d have to reload all the data,” said Bill McGarry, Vice Presidentof Financial Systems and ICOFR Compliance at Adecco Group NorthAmerica. “The end result was an Excel document with dozens of tabsthat made data analysis very difficult. We decided to put an end to‘death by 1000 spreadsheets,’ and began the process of upgrading toHyperion Planning 11.1.2.1.”

Selecting an EPM Implementation Partner

When the upgrade project was approved in 2011, McGarry beganlooking for an implementation partner that could help the companymake the transition to Hyperion Planning — supporting both thetechnical side as well as providing the necessary training and internalprocess changes needed for Adecco’s finance team to fully utilize thenew software. In addition to replacing Hyperion Enterprise 6.3.1 withHyperion Planning 11.1.2.1, the project requirements also included

centralizing and automating the data collection process, multi-currencysupport and training on SmartView.

“Our RFP went out to four vendors, and we were immediately impressedwith the response provided by TopDown Consulting. Using their strongcommand of this subject matter, and deep experience with Hyperionimplementations, they were able to recommend alternate timing andphasing of the project that would lead to a successful outcome,” saidMcGarry. “In what would become a hallmark of the project, TopDownshowed its ability to accurately assess our needs and identify the mostefficient ways to meet those needs.”

Adecco Group North America Uses TopDown Consulting

to Implement Oracle Hyperion On Time, and on Budget

About The Adecco Group

The Adecco Group, based

in Zurich, Switzerland, is theworld’s leading provider ofHR solutions. With more than33,000 FTE employees andover 5,500 branches, in over60 countries and territoriesaround the world, AdeccoGroup offers a wide varietyof services, connecting over700,000 associates with over100,000 clients every day. Theservices offered fall into the

broad categories of temporarystaffing, permanent placement,career transition and talentdevelopment, as well asoutsourcing and consulting.The Adecco Group is a FortuneGlobal 500 company.

Adecco S.A. is registeredin Switzerland (ISIN:CH0012138605) and listed onthe SIX Swiss Exchange (ADEN).



Working with TopDown Consulting

The project began with a collaborative planning session in which thenine-month project was scheduled into three main phases. During theearly stages of the project, any distinctions between the TopDownconsultants and the Adecco team quickly went away.

McGarry continued, “TopDown quickly learned our working styleand culture, and instead of being ‘us and them,’ we became aunified team.”

The collaborative work style helped the team manage severalchallenges throughout the project. One issue was the limited accessto executive stakeholders to review and sign off on progress atsignificant milestones. TopDown kept the project moving forwardby reconfiguring the schedule and workload to focus on prioritieswhenever a bottleneck was encountered. The team also experiencedsome problems with an outsourced data center, which led to issues

with the software installation. To counter this challenge, TopDownset up an offline development environment to continue with thedesign and build process.

Technology aside, change management was also a significantpart of the Adecco project. Despite the many downsides of theexisting software and process, there was hesitancy among companystakeholders to give up a familiar system for something unknown.Again, TopDown’s collaborative work style enabled them tosuccessfully work through Adecco’s change management challenges.Throughout the rollout process, key members of Adecco’s financialsystems team were always present during training sessions led by

TopDown. This, paired with constant communication throughout theimplementation about the system and its capabilities, establisheda strong core of knowledgeable advocates that could help thebroader financial team quickly adopt Hyperion Planning. The internaladvocates were so confident and knowledgeable about the systemthat they began running regular “lunch and learn” training sessionswithout any assistance from TopDown.

TopDown Consulting used its expertise withOracle Hyperion softwareand internal changemanagement to delivera successful deployment

of Hyperion Planning toAdecco Group NA, on timeand on budget. The project’ssuccesses include:

• Collaborative workingenvironment andunderstanding ofAdecco’s companyculture.

•

Successfully workedaround varioustechnological andlogistical challenges tokeep meet all projectmilestones on deadline.

• Hyperion Planning has letthe Adecco finance teamfocus on data analysisrather than on spending

unnecessary cycles ondata collection.

• SmartView is providingthe executive team witheasy access to data tohelp accelerate decision-making.



Planning delivers greater efficiency and accuracy toAdecco’s reporting process

Throughout the conversion to Hyperion Planning, TopDown

successfully managed a variety of technology and process challenges,and still completed the project on time and on budget. TopDown alsohelped the members of Adecco’s financial systems team become self-sufficient in working with the new software. As a result, the companyhas reduced its daily processing time significantly. They now can clear,load and aggregate info into the system in two hours — down fromthree hours — and only need to load the system once per day, insteadof three times. Also, data is rapidly cleared in just three minutes,instead of in 45 minutes with the previous system.

In addition to benefits in efficiency, Adecco now has greater visibilityinto its budgeting, forecasting and reporting process. SmartView has

enabled adhoc reporting and has provided centralized access to data.Senior management can now easily review financial reports via 18 newdashboards, giving them insights into the company’s data that they’venever had before, including: zoned view of regions, data by businessline, gross margins, costs by function, and more.

“We’ve raised the bar with this deployment, and now have a scalablesolution that can be deployed with a snap of a finger,” said McGarry.“TopDown did an excellent job of maintaining the schedule, andat end of day, hit every single target end-date of each phase, andcompleted the entire project under budget.”

“This was a successful project because Adecco collaborated withus from day one, working alongside the TopDown team to learnthe applications and become proficient in their use by the end ofthe implementation,” said Beverly Sentell, manager at TopDownConsulting.

“TopDown Consultingutilizes a solution-basedapproach while workingwith our clients —instead of just focusingon the technology. We

understand businessprocesses and howtechnology can supportand enhance thoseprocesses,” said JuanPorter, founder ofTopDown Consulting,and lead architect on theAdecco project. “Ourwork with Adecco is a

great example of howour tailored solutionsmeet our clients businessneeds, both from atechnology standpointand in accommodatingtheir unique culturalrequirements.”



© 2012 TopDown Consulting Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.TopDown Consulting, TopDown Consulting logo, and TopDown Consulting Migra-tion Manager are trademarks or registered trademarks of TopDown Consulting in the United States. All other company and product names may be trade names ortrademarks of their respective owners.

Phone: (888) 644-8445Phone: (617) 576-8445

[email protected]

530 Divisadero Street #310San Francisco, CA 94117

TopDown Consulting, Inc. serves clients nationally and internationally from our San Franciscoheadquarters. For more information or to inquire about our services, please contact us.

About TopDown Consulting

Founded in 2000, TopDown Consulting is the acknowledged leader in designing, implementing, and deployingEPM solutions. TopDown has the experience, expertise, and proven approach to deliver successful implementationsfor Global 2000 clients. Our consultants average 20 years of Hyperion and industry experience with a completerange of skill sets, including: solution and system architects, CPAs, finance executives, MBAs, analysts, and projectmanagers. TopDown’s proven Project Success Methodology provides a customizable strategic framework forguiding and measuring project initiatives, enabling us to deliver solutions that meet our clients’ current and futurebusiness and technology needs and their unique corporate culture.

topdown consulting adecco group case study

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