BPM:How does data management differ when you use software designed for that purpose?

Capell:In +EDM, I go through and change a consolidation point and just rename the code, and then if that consolidation point is used in other hierarchies, I don't have to do anything else. I just type it in one time and then -- boom! -- it's done.

BPM:Has this improved your accuracy?

Capell:Yes. Higher accuracy the first time without business unit managers having to point out that something's wrong, say, "We can't close the forecast because it's not tying out." That's probably the biggest benefit.

And then a secondary benefit is that anytime someone needs changes and is under a time crunch, I can usually implement that very quickly -- I can build it and implement it in five minutes -- as opposed to several hours the old way. That's happened a few times since I implemented +EDM. I've been able to deliver an instantaneous result without reworking a series of files or disrupting the TM1 server.

BPM:Have you gotten any feedback from other people in the FP&A function?

Capell:They've commented on the fact that I have a quicker turnaround now. A lot of times they'll come to me with something that seems like a big, ornate change. But in +EDM I just key in the code change or rename the whole thing one time in one place and it automatically updates all the other places that that item appears in the hierarchy. And it saves me at least, I'm estimating, four hours a week. The weekly master data maintenance and updates used to take a big chunk of my time. Now it's a few hours a week instead of seven or eight.

BPM:Is the improved data management saving other people time too? It sounds like there's less back and forth over data discrepancies.

Capell:Oh yeah. It also saves some frustration caused by that. I've been able to shorten my turnaround time for the day-to-day stuff like somebody's getting ready to add a new profit center and they want to start forecasting some revenue for a new customer contract. I've been able to shorten that turnaround to get the new center in the system and available for forecasting activity.

BPM:Are there additional ways you see that you could improve your company's master data management?

Capell:I'd like to get some time from our SAP programmers so that we can start pulling the master data into SAP, because I also maintain some of the hierarchies in SAP. And our HR group uses PeopleSoft for all the payroll and employee data, and I pass along to them information about finance's view of how the cost centers roll up to business units. I'd like to be able to pass a file from +EDM to them instead of sending them one-by-one e-mails saying that a certain cost center has moved from one business unit to another. I could just send them the snapshot, or they could browse +EDM themselves via the Web and import it to PeopleSoft when they like.

And then we've got some sales forecasting activity that's done in a Siebel system. The group that maintains that often asks me for information on the hierarchies. I always send them a flat file. I'd like to have +EDM set up where they can just log into it or their database can log into it and just pull the information they need from +EDM for any system that wants the finance view of how the business units roll up. It would take me totally out of the loop. That way, the operational folks could match finance reporting without going to great lengths every time they wanted to sync up a report.

I'm really excited about where I think I'm going to be able to go with this. Right now I have to spend time fielding calls and e-mails, sending little one-off files, and that sort of thing for word changes and slight adjustments. Ideally I wouldn't need to be involved at all except for specific questions about changes they have to the hierarchies. Right now we're testing a way to allow people to submit their requests directly in the database and then it would trigger e-mails for their manager to review. So I would get out of the whole e-mail chain of approvals and the business of transcribing data from forms. I think that's going to save even more time.

BPM:What would you say to someone who is still using spreadsheets for managing master data manually?

Capell:For me, the biggest obstacle in moving toward a product like +EDM was the time it was going to take to set up a new system. I just didn't feel like I had any time in my schedule to test and get something else up and running. I was just keeping my head above water. Once I implemented it, though, I just wished I'd done it so much earlier. I underestimated how much time it was going to save me and the whole team.