Having stabilised the Group’s financial reporting on Xero, our client looked to bring in the various subgroups of their business onto a single unified system. Realising that whilst XERO is extremely stable, the Group required a unified scalable platform for the rigours of a rapidly growing Group of Companies that was now based in 11 countries in 14 different geographical locations and trading in 6 main currencies, being USD, EUR, GBP, HKD, SGD, and CNY.

Project Objectives

  • A staged migration of the now 40 operational companies onto a single system
  • Benefit from automation and harmonisation of a global chart of accounts, a consolidated platform, and enhanced standardised financial processes.
  • Enhanced management Information, faster monthly financial close and the delivery of monthly data and reporting packs to the leadership team.

The Client chose Oracle NetSuite ERP form a short-list prepared by Bridgewey after their revised assessment of the Group’s requirements and market research.

Bridgewey were selected to Project Manage the implementation of NetSuite and coordinate the actions of the various NetSuite Partners.

Project Tasks

  • Document financial processes across the Group.
  • Where possible align the financial and business processes across the Group prior to implementation of the finance system.
  • Identify the key requirements for the Group from a financial platform.
  • Undertake market research and identify a short-list of possible solutions.
  • Compile and issue a Request for Proposal with identified possible solution providers and resellers.
  • Select the finance / ERP system and reseller that best fulfilled the clients requirements. The system selected was Oracle NetSuite.
  • Work with NetSuite Professional Services, NoBlue(2) and Zone Advanced Billing to deliver a comprehensive system with complex billing ability for the client.
  • Train finance and other business users on Oracle NetSuite and NetSuite time and expenses.
  • Support the business units following go-live for a period of 2-3 months following implementation.

Result

In the end 68 companies were included in the project, which were based in 11 countries and 14 different geographical locations, trading in 6 different currencies. The 68 companies consisted of operational entities, dormant concerns, virtual structures, holding companies and elimination companies. 14 consolidations and sub-consolidations were built in the process. Multi-Book functionality to promote local GAAP reporting and US GAAP group reporting were built and maintained.