The objectives
Bridgewey were called in to assist with the upgrade of an Oracle platform from version 11 to R12. The overriding objective was to achieve a more efficient month-end process through the introduction of one system across the operating entities with a cohesive consolidated platform – Oracle R12 was chosen for this task.
The Organisation
This project was undertaken in a financial services company, the finance team consisted of 61 staff members spread across five locations within the United Kingdom. The Group comprised six operating entities, in excess of 600 personnel and turnover in excess of £200 million a year.
Tasks
Tasks consisted of putting a project team together through to delivering the project within budget and on time. Staff from around the organisation and various finance teams were assigned 100% to the project team, their usual roles were backfilled to ensure that the project was the focus of their attention due to the limited timeframe within which the system needed to be upgraded. Project meetings were held on a regular basis, a detailed timeline was implemented and followed and issues were resolved as the project progressed.
Results
Difficulties and challenges were faced along the way which meant that the use of the system and the timeline were amended as the project proceeded. The upgrade of Oracle added a new dimension to the way that the finance team functioned and interfaced with the Group, along with changing the nature of the team and its role within the business. A 20% time saving in relation to the month-end process was achieved, the saving in relation to the year-end consolidation and reporting process exceeded 20%.