Case Study: Informatics Education Ltd

The benefits - in a few words

• Fast closing with traceability of all figures
  Sigma Conso helps the group to complete the closing efficiently within a short period of time. It is now easier for them to liaise with the auditors, thanks to the complete audit trail reports from the system.

• Reporting and validation decentralized to the reporting units
  Each reporting unit is able to validate the data that is uploaded into the system, and generate its own reports
  
  
• Quick and flexible reporting using the Excel Add-in functionality
  In addition to the user-friendly interface, the system is further equipped with Excel Add-in functionality, which allows easy pulling of updated information from the system into the consolidated reports.

Current situation

Informatics needed to upgrade their consolidation system. They were using the IBM consolidator system for their consolidation, which was outdated and not flexible to maintain. Consolidator is a non-web-based system, and thus the reporting business units were unable to access the system. Informatics was looking for a reliable web-based system with Excel Add-in feature and other functionalities at a reasonable price.

The solution

Informatics decided to go with Sigma Conso Consolidation & Reporting, a full true web-based system that is created by financial consolidation experts. The decision was made based on the following factors collectively:

• Strong local references / experience of implementation team
• Low total cost of ownership
• Excel Add-in functionality
• Comprehensive audit trail reports

The system was implemented in 2013. Implementation and training went smoothly and according to the schedule agreed on in advance. Informatics is using the system to perform its monthly consolidation. Apart from the system pre-built reports, Informatics is also using the Excel Add-in functionality to perform the reporting in their own format.

The results

• More accurate reporting, with the respective local finance team being able to validate the data that is uploaded and to match the interco financials with other entities.
• Web-based solution that allows an easy access for the different reporting units.
• The reports generated by the system are less rigid as compared to the previous system.
• Comprehensive audit trail reports have made tracking of transactions much easier.

Adrian Ho, Group Senior Finance Manager at Informatics Education Limited explains:

“The implementation process went smoothly and was completed within the agreed timeline thanks to the good support of a competent team of consultants. The application is easy to use: the end users took the time to familiarize themselves with the tool after the training and we managed to migrate over without any major hiccups.”