Case Studies AFL Streamlines Financial Operations with OneStream Cloud

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	AFL Streamlines Financial Operations with OneStream Cloud

AFL Streamlines Financial Operations with OneStream Cloud

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Telecommunications
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services System Integration Training
Challenge	AFL was using Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) for consolidation and reporting, and found the system too costly to manage, maintain and upgrade. Excessive downtime and lost data triggered the evaluation of alternative solutions. AFL was also using Excel® spreadsheets and email for budgeting, planning and forecasting which bogged down the planning processes. Read More
About Customer	Founded in 1984, AFL is an international manufacturer providing end-to-end solutions to the energy, service provider, enterprise, and industrial markets as well as several emerging markets. The company’s products are in use in over 130 countries and include fiber optic cable and hardware, transmission and substation accessories, outside plant equipment, connectivity, test and inspection equipment, fusion splicers, and training. AFL also offers a wide variety of services supporting data center, enterprise, wireless, and outside plant applications. Headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, AFL has operations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan. Read More
Solution	AFL evaluated several solutions and selected OneStream for financial consolidation, budgeting, forecasting, account reconciliations, data collections, and cash flow reporting. After the initial implementation, AFL decided to move from on-premise deployment to the OneStream Cloud leveraging Microsoft® Azure®. OneStream Cloud has relieved AFL’s IT department from worrying about backups and system maintenance, and also made access to the system much easier for users at remote sites. The system has also given business users the ability to run reports as soon as data was loaded and they no longer had to wait on corporate for consolidations to view results and reports. OneStream was able to easily handle AFL’s complex consolidation and reporting requirements, which include consolidating 54 companies for US reporting and reporting to their Japanese parent company across 12 business segments. The application loads data in 13 currencies from 12 ERP systems with many intercompany eliminations and some partially owned subsidiaries. Despite this complexity, AFL was able to maintain their fast, two-day close schedule. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

System Integration

Training

Challenge

AFL was using Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) for consolidation and reporting, and found the system too costly to manage, maintain and upgrade. Excessive downtime and lost data triggered the evaluation of alternative solutions. AFL was also using Excel® spreadsheets and email for budgeting, planning and forecasting which bogged down the planning processes.

About Customer

Founded in 1984, AFL is an international manufacturer providing end-to-end solutions to the energy, service provider, enterprise, and industrial markets as well as several emerging markets. The company’s products are in use in over 130 countries and include fiber optic cable and hardware, transmission and substation accessories, outside plant equipment, connectivity, test and inspection equipment, fusion splicers, and training. AFL also offers a wide variety of services supporting data center, enterprise, wireless, and outside plant applications. Headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, AFL has operations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan.

Solution

AFL evaluated several solutions and selected OneStream for financial consolidation, budgeting, forecasting, account reconciliations, data collections, and cash flow reporting. After the initial implementation, AFL decided to move from on-premise deployment to the OneStream Cloud leveraging Microsoft® Azure®. OneStream Cloud has relieved AFL’s IT department from worrying about backups and system maintenance, and also made access to the system much easier for users at remote sites. The system has also given business users the ability to run reports as soon as data was loaded and they no longer had to wait on corporate for consolidations to view results and reports. OneStream was able to easily handle AFL’s complex consolidation and reporting requirements, which include consolidating 54 companies for US reporting and reporting to their Japanese parent company across 12 business segments. The application loads data in 13 currencies from 12 ERP systems with many intercompany eliminations and some partially owned subsidiaries. Despite this complexity, AFL was able to maintain their fast, two-day close schedule.

Impact #1	OneStream Cloud has relieved AFL’s IT department from worrying about backups and system maintenance, and also made access to the system much easier for users at remote sites.
Impact #2	The system has also given business users the ability to run reports as soon as data was loaded and they no longer had to wait on corporate for consolidations to view results and reports.
Impact #3	Finance staff at the business unit level now load and validate their own data, improving data quality and freeing up corporate Finance staff for focusing more time on analysis.

Impact #1

OneStream Cloud has relieved AFL’s IT department from worrying about backups and system maintenance, and also made access to the system much easier for users at remote sites.

Impact #2

The system has also given business users the ability to run reports as soon as data was loaded and they no longer had to wait on corporate for consolidations to view results and reports.

Impact #3

Finance staff at the business unit level now load and validate their own data, improving data quality and freeing up corporate Finance staff for focusing more time on analysis.

Benefit #1	75% improvement in the speed of account reconciliations.
Benefit #2	Annual savings of roughly $100K per year.
Benefit #3	Overall consolidation performance was approximately eight times faster (one–four min. vs. 20 min.).

Benefit #1

75% improvement in the speed of account reconciliations.

Benefit #2

Annual savings of roughly $100K per year.

Benefit #3

Overall consolidation performance was approximately eight times faster (one–four min. vs. 20 min.).

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Overview

AFL Streamlines Financial Operations with OneStream Cloud

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit