Tinplate can manufacturer Divpac has halved its budgeting cycle and cut its data reporting generation time from weeks to minutes by using the data extraction and analysis functionalities of Hyperion Pillar, the budgeting and planning solution supplied by local distributor Global Technology Business Intelligence (GBI).
"With turnover of R600 million a year, we have to be able to analyse and turn data around in record time, and Pillar does the job," says Denzil le Roux, project consultant at Divpac, a division of Crown Nampak.
"In addition, it allows us to manipulate our data and provide a full spectrum of analysis from any angle, simply by moving a column on-screen and letting Pillar do all the recalculations, almost in real-time," Le Roux says.
"This provides the ability to view data by product size, customer, ultimate trade use, account, cost centre and more.
"For example," says Le Roux, "I was recently asked to produce a report on how much our IT department had cost us over the previous 12 months. The search functionality in Hyperion Pillar produced a report containing total costs - including salaries, software and equipment leasing: everything right down to our stationery - in less than an hour, compared to the weeks it would have taken previously."
Previously, Divpac was running a spreadsheet-based budgeting program, which provided none of the planning, analysis and modelling capabilities the company now enjoys in Pillar. "As Pillar draws all the data directly from our database, there is a huge time saving as it does away with the need to rekey data," he continues.
"With this has also come increased accuracy as the human error element is substantially reduced. Pillar`s systems are so rigid that it does not allow one to make a mistake."
Operating Pillar requires a person who is fully conversant with the application, and GBI provided the initial training, and continues to provide support.
Divpac uses Pillar not only for budgeting, but also to develop monthly financial reports, which are fed into the Crown Nampak group`s Hyperion Enterprise financial consolidation application, which is then delivered up to group reporting level.
"Pillar has also allowed us to generate what-if scenarios, comparisons between budgets and actual spend, and it facilitates long-term planning cycles," Le Roux says. "It does far more than just budgeting and has become an indispensable business tool for our organisation across all our manufacturing plants."
With over 10 000 products ranging from paint cans to aerosol cans and components, Pillar can provide data to all sectors of the company, ranging from technical aspects to reports for sales managers who might want to know what their sales were to a particular client going back years."
Having first installed Hyperion Pillar in 1997, Divpac has constantly upgraded and is now using version 4.6.
"We make use of Hyperion`s willingness to accept feedback through GBI for product improvements and enhancements, although the product is inherently stable and has never let us down since we installed the first version," concludes Le Roux.
"Divpac has been a long-standing client of GBI, and has achieved its current success with our products through the insight and vision of the project team from when the project started four years ago. From the start, the goals and objectives of what had to be achieved were clear, and the dedicated project team helped Divpac achieve a competitive advantage early on," adds Willie Arnoldi, professional services director at GBI.
Share
Editorial contacts