Workflow Engine Gives Managers More Control Over Budgeting Tasks

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Professional Service
Software

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Predictive Replenishment
Process Control & Optimization
Remote Collaboration

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

The Challenge

The Finance team was manually creating, distributing, collecting, and consolidating budgeting spreadsheets from 60 users. Email overload led to issues with version control and made variance analysis exceedingly difficult. Received spreadsheets were arranged differently, and the Finance team had to manually manipulate each one to ensure they were all in the same format. The Finance team could not confirm the accuracy of received data without manually comparing spreadsheets to the data contained in the GL. It was difficult for Finance to determine the status of each task without exchanging phone calls and emails with users, which prolonged the budgeting cycle and increased the possibility that data would be lost.

About The Customer

One of the leading staffing firms in Canada was manually creating, distributing, collecting, and consolidating Excel budgeting templates for 60 users across multiple regions. This process was time-consuming, error-prone, and could not give management insight into user activity or the status of the project as a whole. The company needed a more efficient and accurate way to manage its budgeting process, which led them to seek a solution that could automate and streamline these tasks.

The Solution

Vena automatically consolidates all the company’s data in a single, secure repository, eliminating the need to manually link spreadsheets or run macros. Relevant spreadsheets are automatically pre-populated with data from the repository. A powerful workflow engine allows management to assign tasks and deadlines to particular users and monitor their status in near real-time. The workflow engine gives management control over input drivers and assumptions, so they can model their unique business needs. An audit trail records all user activity and enables management to instantly roll back and view previous versions to compare differences over time. Management can set business and data validation rules, preventing users from entering data that falls above or below a certain threshold.

Operational Impact

Completed templates are automatically consolidated into Vena’s central data repository, eliminating issues with email overload and version control.
Central data repository creates a 'single version of the truth' that keeps the entire organization in sync.
Managers have complete insight into user activity and the overall progress of the budgeting process, and can instantly identify and correct bottlenecks to keep projects on schedule.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduced manual work hours by automating the consolidation of data.
Improved data accuracy by eliminating manual data entry errors.
Enhanced project management by providing real-time insights into task status and user activity.