Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise Solutions

Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise Systems in a Professional Services OrganizationRyan Russell

CFO, Marketing Associates, LLC

© 2014 Proformative

Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise Systems in a Professional Services Organization

• Introduction – Marketing Associates

• Exploring New Systems

• Methodology Overview

• Post Implementation / Continuous Improvement

• Dashboards and Analytics

• Wrap - Up

2


• Technology enabled marketing

services

• Integrated direct response programs

• Application management services• Communications

Strategy

• Integrated Marketing

Plans

• Brand Strategy

• Brand portals

• Asset management &

workflow

• Asset storefronts• Business Intelligence

• Marketing Analytics

• Risk Management

• Digital Intelligence




4

• Who is Marketing Associates?

• Founded in 1967, full service, technology enabled marketing company headquartered in Detroit, MI with 250 employees

• Developer of analytically-driven integrated sales and marketing initiatives focused on delivering measureable results

• As a full service marketing agency we specialize in:

• Analytical Services

• Creative Strategy, Design & Copywriting

• Sales Promotion

• Direct Marketing

• Interactive Marketing

• Application Management Services

• Digital Asset Management

• Web Hosting



5

• Who do we serve?

• Fortune 500 companies across the automotive, financial services, hospitality and healthcare industries. Our clients include Ford, Ford Direct, DuPont, KitchenAid, Whirlpool, McKesson Pharmacy Systems, Rockwell, Tapco and Starwood.

• Typical Enagement?

• $50K to $3.5M SOW

• 1000 engagements, 5000 projects, 25000 tasks in a typical year

• 4 weeks to 3 years

• Predominantly labor based, with some outside cost

• Billings consist of labor, fix fee and mixed



6

• Why the change?

• Growth and diversification necessitated the examination of our current workflow and supporting business subsystems

• Understand the needs of the organization

• Workflow (experiencing efficiency and quality issues), along with trying to support 10 disparate systems

• Handle incremental growth profitability

• In the preliminary stages of an acquisition

• Organization requiring

• Improved Resource Utilization

• Improved Financial Control, Analysis and Reporting

• Improved Project Quality and Risk Analysis

• Improved Management Decision Making including visibility and control

• Improved Customer Satisfaction

• Financial System - integration

• Investment Requirements and flexibility



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• Start the process

• Use network channel to investigate, review potential solutions

• Competitors

• Previous employers

• Current employee base

• Reach out to software providers

• Current system resource

• Explore the Options

• Review systems and solutions – high level

• Short list – provide key information to prospects

• Demo – conference room pilot (fit to business)

• Help understand how the system will/won’t work for your organization / environment

• Caution – sales process

• Decision Time

• Changepoint chosen



8

• To ensure a proper implementation of the new system is accomplished:

• Planning Phase (3 weeks)

• Installation Phase (3 weeks)

• Definition Phase (4.5 months)

• Validation Phase (2.5 months)

• Deployment Phase (1 month)



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• Planning Phase• Form the project team – cross functional consisting

of each of the functional areas – led by key sr. resource

• Set team member expectations and achieve buy-in

• Prepare the hardware

• Data collection

• Develop Project plan and charter to establish

Project Objectives and Scope• Reporting Requirements

• Rollout Approach

• Team Role and Responsibilities

• Project Plan

• Infrastructure Requirements

• Change Management and Issue Management

Role Responsibilities Resource

Executive

Sponsor

Proides executive team approval and sponsorship for the

project. Has budget ownership for the project and is the major

stakeholder and recipient for the project deliverables

CFO

Project

Manager

The main contract for the project. Works with the

implementation team to plan and coordinate project activities.

Signs-off project schedule and project change requests that do

not impact cost

CFO

Functional

Administrator

Makes final decisions and resolves conflicts or issues regarding

project expectations across organization and functional areas.

The functional administrator and project manager have a direct

link for all communication

DBA

Technical

Administrator

Provides installation and setup services and resolving network,

server, and workstations problems associated with the

installation

DBA and Network

Admin.

Core Team

Members

Subject Matter Experts. They present the requirements and

coordinate the tasks within their functional area during

implementation.

8 departments



10

• Installation Phase• Software installed on production servers

• System Manager Training to the Functional Administrator

• System Administration training to Technical Administrator and Functional Administrator

• Definition Phase• Software consultant provides a business process review to core team

• helps enable project team to make better informed decision

• Provides understanding of system

• Start the design of the system• Consultant interacts with customer to present best practices and/or alternative approaches for business process and

configuration choices.

• Determine if customization is required

• Determine what data to bring across

• Concludes with a base definition review of the base definition, configured application and the proposed new process



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• Validation Phase

• Spot check – review the design with the department heads

• Test the design by running 6 jobs – start to finish through the system

• Determine data to bring over

• Start developing end user materials – training, user guides, tip sheets

• Deployment Phase

• End users set up and trained

• Business Rules established – old / new systems

• Data repository set up to capture FAQ

• Adoption monitoring

• Ongoing

• Project Management

• Training and Monitoring

• Documentation

• Support – implementation and ongoing

• Requirements



12

Year 1 after Launch

• Challenges

• Dual systems

• Business rules / monitoring

• User Acceptance

• Training

• Develop repository for documents and FAQ

• Improvements / Reporting

• 50+ reports to handle all needs

• Email notifications

• Engagement / project profitability and visibility

• Time submission and approval

• Invoice approval

• Utilization at individual and departmental level

• Project milestones

• Rework

• Customer feedback

https://intranet.marketingassociates.com/Pages/CHANGEPOINT.aspx



13

Years 2 -3

• Challenges• Hardware upgrade required to move forward with new releases

• Separate out Development, Staging and Production database servers

• Improvements / Reporting• All engagements on one system

• Develop smart naming nomenclature

• Adjust workflow to handle shorter range projects – expedite

• Utilization improves

• Install new service packs

• Install new release



14

Currently

• New Enhancements• Client Portal

• HR process

• Central repository for all knowledge items

• Cognos• Improved reporting

• Improved dashboards

• Dashboards• Employees

• Managers

• Executive



• Employee Dashboards

• Employee PTO Year over Year

• My PTO counter with detailed drill in

• Employee Utilization

• Employee Training

• My 2 – week project plan

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• Manager Dashboards

• Department Utilization

• Last Time Entered by Resource

• Department PTO with detailed drill in

• Department Training with detailed drill in

• My Resource Workload – 2 weeks out

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• Executive Dashboards/drilldown• Budget vs Actual Revenue

• Budget vs. Actual EBITDA

• Current Yr vs Last Yr Revenue

• Current Yr vs Last Yr EBITDA

• Budget vs Actual GM

• Budget vs Actual Net Profit

• Current Yr vs Last Yr GM

• Current Yr vs Last Yr NP

• Company Utilization with detailed drill in

• Project Losses

• Customer Profitability with detailed drill in

• Sales and Cash by Customer

• A/R graph with detailed outstanding drill in

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© 2014 Proformative21


Beginning

• Workflow

• Handle incremental growth

• Organizatioin requiring• Improved Resource Utilization

• Improved Financial Control & Reporting

• Improved Project Quality and Risk Analysis

• Improved Management Decision Making, including visibility and control

• Improved Customer Satifisfaction

• Financial System – integration

• Investment Requirements and Flexibility

…Now…

• Automated Process with signoffs, elimination of 10 disparate systems

• 34% revenue growth in last 3 years

• Organizatioin requiring• Utilization from 79% to 89%

• From limted/reactive to robust /proactive

• Controls /reporting in place – rework down

• Dashboards – reminders -triggers

• On time/ Accurate /Efficiency leads to satisfaction scores up

• Seemless intergration with Great Plains

• On budget – incremental licenses on annual true up

© 2014 Proformative22

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