Deloitte Quality Services for finance analytics Build quality in from the start

Many organizations are seeking to increase efficiency, reduce risk and improve bottom line performance through investments in financial analytics technologies. The rewards for undertaking these initiatives are well documented, however many chief financial officers and chief information officers encounter benefit realization, cost overrun and performance challenges with finance analytic projects.

ow can you avoid the pitfalls, predict where you face the biggest challenges and adopt a more effective approach? Is business and IT set-up for success? Are you set-up to quickly demonstrate value in order to gain the confidence of the business for future finance analytic roll outs? Whether this is the first time your organization is undertaking a finance analytics project, upgrading the existing solution, or taking a second run in delivering a successful finance analytics project, the Deloitte Quality Service will give you the guidance you need to deliver successfully. Our extensive experience has shown that one or all of the following symptoms are commonly found in the projects that fail to deliver the desired outcomes: Technology blind spot Over-reliance on the software sales team to propose the right software from their finance analytic suite that meets your business requirements High dependence on a vendors technical professional services brand to create peace of mind for a businessfocused solution Misconception that the right skills are deployed on the project and that the vendor is regularly monitoring progress and anticipating issues on your behalf An unstable business foundation An approach that does not set the vision for a longer term roadmap or consider the business impact of design decisions, which may result in costly throw away development and schedule overruns Oversimplification of requirements to create a glorified Excel workbook Suboptimal design decisions that do not consider the vendor technology roadmap Use of traditional development methods which fail to recognize the unique characteristics of a financial analytics program

Lack of due care Limited meaningful business dialogue and understanding of business processes, resulting in an incapacity to anticipate issues that impact solution design Inability to deploy the desired solution in a manner which is sustainable and supports future needs Disregard of the options available to you and making significant design decisions on your behalf Failure to design the solution to meet the business cycle time expectations Disorganized business processes which have not been updated or communicated as a result of the implementation Disregard of changes to roles and responsibilities for finance and IT, which enable a smooth transition of the solution to the support organization Not understanding your data. Not talking your language. Failure to describe the solution and process changes in your language before undertaking prototyping and development Not asking the right business questions to understand how you analyze your business Limited data profiling to identify information gaps early in the project No effective system or business controls to mitigate data loss or data integrity issues

Deloitte Quality Services for finance analytics

Helping you anticipate issues and adopt a more effective approach

The Deloitte Quality Health Check service for financial analytics is a comprehensive, independent assessment of the technical health, business value and organization change health, and project health of your analytic solution. Whether Deloitte is your prime integrator or not directly involved in your project, we provide experienced finance analytic practitioners and use our toolkits to deliver our Quality Health Checks for IBM, Oracle or SAP finance analytic solutions. By engaging Deloittes 360 Quality Health Check, we provide peace of mind that your project is fit for purpose, identify remedial actions, and help you optimize the likelihood of the desired business benefits being achieved. Technical Health Check Our health check compares your technical decisions and configuration to our library of design patterns and provides alternatives to your current approach. This health check: Compliments your integrators services by facilitating full disclosure of the technical design options and including your team in key design decisions Challenges your integrator to consider design options beyond the functional requirements and recommends mitigation strategies to protect your investment Probes key user acceptance issues (i.e. performance, flexibility, ease of use) to validate that they are considered in the design and key risk areas are mitigated Validates that the data integration approach will effectively manage hierarchies, transport data from your transaction systems and meet longer term needs Digs into the technical configuration of your environment to identify technical risks to the performance, scalability and stability of your solution Highlights on-going maintenance implications the solution will require, and structures trade-off discussions between functional, performance and maintenance requirements Business value and organization change health check This health check compares your anticipated business value and change management program to our library of generally accepted practices. Specifically we: Assess how your project is set-up to deliver on your business value promise and provide advice to achieve your business objectives through technology and organization change Review the quality of your requirements documentation and provide guidance on how they can be successfully adjusted to enable prototyping, increase communication and improve user acceptance

Tec h

l ca ni

lth check hea

value and or ess g sin ange health c aniz he a B u ch ck

Deloittes 360 Quality Health Check

che

ck

Deloitte Quality Services for finance analytics

n tio

P roj
e ct

al

he

th

 Combine our technical, functional and industry experience to provide insights on where you can challenge your existing data and process practices, incorporate leading practices and optimize your solution Provide guidance to encourage business engagement at the right points in the project and validate that the business interests are being addressed objectively Advise on changes to IT and finance roles and responsibilities in order to support the solution Educate your technical organization on the nuances of the system and how to implement safe guards to protect your investment Project health check Leverage our project management experience and our 120point checklist to assess the health of your project and implement mitigation plans to get you back on track.

Deloitte subject matter Quality Services We view analytic projects as a fundamental way to change business behavior, drive business adoption and consider thoughtful design to support smarter business decisions. As a result, our clients view our subject matter services as a key success factor in the execution of projects and as a critical differentiator from technically focused providers or contractors: Requirements Quality Services Facilitate functional requirements gathering and documentation at a level of detail the business can sign-off and that the technical integrator finds meaningful Modeling Quality Services Lead reporting and modeling design sessions by collaborating with your team and the integrator team and incorporate leading practices Business Process Quality Services Identify required changes to business processes and the related process impacts; assist the organization to communicate and implement changes Testing Quality Services Assist or lead the business and IT to test the solution in a comprehensive manner Documentation Quality Services Document the solution administration run book for finance and IT at a level of detail that considers impacts of turnover. Document the technical design so that there is meaningful traceability to the requirements. Recommend documentation and version control tools to maintain audit trails to your system documentation Training Quality Services Provide the administrator and the IT back-office with role based and organization solution specific training Application Management Quality Services On-site and off-shore support processes to maintain the application and drive continuous improvement every 3 to 6 months

This health check provides: Insight on the effectiveness of the implementation approach and recommendations to course correct Recommendations on the risks which need to be monitored or mitigated Insight to the shortcuts taken by your integrator that may be jeopardizing the quality of your solution Advice related to the effectiveness of your project management process which is critical to scope, timeline and budgetary control

Deloitte Quality Services for finance analytics

Why Deloitte?

Business analytics insight Knowledge base of client testimonials world-wide Over 10 years experience implementing analytic solutions for our clients in Fortune 500 and mid-market companies. We know the analytic risks and how to avoid them Insight into vendor roadmaps Ability to connect operational data and processes with financial data, models and processes Strength in depth Recognized by leading vendors (IBM, Oracle and SAP) as their #1 system integrator or alliance partner for the last 5 years World-wide IBM, Oracle and SAP finance analytics practices with project and technical experience across each of the tier one solutions Global Deloitte finance analytics community of practices and Deloitte social networks that share the latest finance and analytics knowledge and project experiences Not just business advisors, but also experienced technical implementers of finance analytic solutions

Our commitment to you Help you deliver a solution that performs and that the business will accept Help you deliver a solution that has a foundation for future growth without throw-away development effort Anticipate your business and technical issues Improved confidence in the data and in the new processes to make faster and better decisions No surprise approach with full disclosure and no vendor bias

Deloitte Quality Services for finance analytics

Planning to start a finance analytics project or in the middle of delivering a finance analytics project? You are not convinced that your current project will be successful? Now is the time to engage Deloitte Quality Services for finance analytics and get the guidance you need to adopt a more effective approach.

For more information contact a Deloitte professional:

Nat DErcole Principal ndercole@deloitte.ca

www.deloitte.ca
Deloitte, one of Canadas leading professional services firms, provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through more than 8,000 people in 56 offices. Deloitte operates in Qubec as Samson Blair/ Deloitte & Touche s.e.n.c.r.l. Deloitte & Touche LLP, an Ontario Limited Liability Partnership, is the Canadian member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms. Deloitte & Touche LLP and affiliated entities. Designed and produced by the Deloitte Design Studio, Canada. 11-2550