BPM: What software does FCG use for business performance management?

California-based IT services and outsourcing provider First Consulting Group (FCG) has changed dramatically over the past decade, and the organization's willingness to reengineer itself places great demands on its software systems -- especially its financial planning and reporting applications. Because flexibility is imperative, FCG uses an assortment of systems to meet its BPM needs. Director of financial planning Michael Pilatos recently described to BPM Magazine how his company makes its complex BPM setup work.

Michael Pilatos: We have a number of disparate systems, each of which serves a particular need. We don't have an ERP system. We use FlexiFinancials for the core general ledger systems and FRx for P&L reporting. Siebel Analytics allows us to drill into our data and view data a number of different ways. We just purchased Cartesis Magnitude for budgeting and reporting and are currently in the middle of its implementation. We're in the testing phase and should be rolling it out within the next 30 days. We've used WSG's Empire TIME [ET] for years as our primary time and expense data collection tool.

BPM: Why do you run so many different software packages rather than a consolidated suite?

Pilatos: For our firm's size, having strong integrated systems provides the best flexibility to manage our dynamic environment, both internally and externally. Seven years ago, we were a much different company than we are today. We were essentially a project-based firm specializing in IT-consulting-related services, with most of our associates U.S.-based. Today over 40 percent of our revenue is in providing outsourcing services to our clients, and over a third of our associates are outside the United States, including large development offices in India and Vietnam. The name of our company may be First Consulting Group, but that's really a misnomer now because we do so much more. In addition to outsourcing, we have software development and software products that we sell. To support all the different services that we provide to clients, we have to be able to change quickly and adapt to our market -- and that also means changing internally. We do that as frequently as needed.

BPM: Your structure changes frequently?

Pilatos: Well, it's certainly not daily. But yes, we do change frequently to better meet our clients' needs and to deliver our services more effectively and efficiently. Our flexible corporate structure has always been a strength of FCG's over its 25-year history. As a result, our systems must be flexible and able to change quickly.

BPM: How is your company organized?