CASE STUDY · VALUE-CREATION KPIs & ACCOUNTABILITY
From 2-3 weeks of reporting alignment to one global view of performance
How ABCL helped Synamedia standardise KPIs, reporting cycles and planning across a $450-500m global business, cutting month-end from 6-7 days to 3-4 days and shifting management conversations from validating numbers to acting on them.
Technology / Video SoftwarePermira-backed at the timeNovember 2020 to January 2022Platforms: Anaplan, Power BI, Excel, Microsoft Dynamics
MULTIPLE GLOBAL BUSINESS UNITS
- Different definitions
- Different reporting cycles
- Financial data
- Operational KPIs
- CRM pipeline
ONE PERFORMANCE MODEL
- Common KPIs
- Anaplan planning
- Power BI insights
Decision-focused management conversations
ENGAGEMENT
AT A GLANCE
- Company and sector
- Synamedia, technology and video software
- Sponsor
- Permira-backed at the time
- Size and dates
- c. $450m to $500m · November 2020 to January 2022
- Delivery
- Founder-led by Tejas Parikh · Anaplan, Power BI, Dynamics
2-3 weeks → minutes
Reporting alignment across business units
6-7 → 3-4 days
Month-end cycle
One global view
Financial, operational and pipeline
Once the underlying data environment was standardised, key reporting outputs that previously required extensive cross-business consolidation could be generated in approximately two minutes.
The pressure
Synamedia was operating across multiple global business units, each contributing financial and operational information into the wider group reporting process. The challenge was not simply producing another report. Different parts of the business needed to align around common KPI definitions, reporting cycles and performance measures before group-level information could be interpreted consistently.
Collating and synchronising that information could take two to three weeks.
That meant too much finance effort was being spent establishing what the number was before management could move on to the more important questions: why performance was moving, where the business was exposed and what action should be taken.
What was wrong underneath
Different business units
Different business units needed greater consistency in KPI definitions and reporting approaches.
Financial information alone
Financial information alone did not provide the complete performance picture; operational measures and CRM pipeline information also needed to be visible.
Planning coverage
Anaplan needed to support the planning requirements of the full global business and connect effectively with reporting and analysis.
Controllership and FP&A
Controllership and FP&A business partners were spending too much time reviewing, reconciling and communicating numbers before analysis could begin.
Power BI underused
Power BI had been in place for a year but was barely used. The dashboards were too complex for anyone outside the FP&A team to work with, so operations, sales and marketing could not reach the insight.
Anaplan misfit
The Anaplan model had been built by a third-party partner and did not fit how the business actually planned, so it could not support revenue, cost or workforce forecasting properly.
The issue was therefore not simply reporting speed. It was the absence of a common performance language across the business.
What ABCL changed
Through an extended FP&A engagement, ABCL helped Synamedia create a more consistent global planning and performance-management environment. The engagement was founder-led by Tejas Parikh, with selected Power BI delivery supported by ABCL's offshore team.
01 · ALIGN
Standardised the way KPIs, reporting cycles, management reporting structures and cross-business performance measures were approached.
02 · DESIGN
Redesigned the Anaplan model to support the full global Synamedia business, including revenue, workforce and cost planning requirements.
The redesign covered four revenue streams, fixed monthly, fixed plus variable, fully variable and ad hoc, forecast by client and by start and end date, alongside headcount-level workforce planning feeding cost forecasting.
03 · BUILD
Developed Power BI reporting that connected financial performance with operational KPIs and CRM pipeline information, and created an Anaplan-to-Power BI powered Excel pivot capability for high-level and detailed review.
The reporting was rebuilt so that operations, sales and marketing could use it, not FP&A alone, working with teams across the US and EMEA.
04 · EMBED
Improved the review rhythm between controllership and FP&A business partners so the same information could be challenged and communicated more efficiently.
Consolidated numbers became available before the ERP had formally closed, so business partners could review and sign off earlier, which reduced rework and avoided reopening the books.
Before and after
Before
After
Business and decision impact
The most important outcome was not the speed of report generation. It was the change in the management conversation.
With financial results, operational KPIs and CRM pipeline information available together, discussions could move away from establishing the historical number and towards the actions required to influence future performance.
What is the number?
- How do we retain key accounts?
- Where can we improve margin?
- How do we close the gap to budget or target?
The improved Anaplan and Power BI environment also shortened month-end from approximately six to seven days to three to four days. Easier review of the numbers and smoother communication between controllership and FP&A business partners were key contributors to that improvement.
In the client’s words
"Tejas helped develop Synamedia's Anaplan data model whilst he was working in the FP&A team. I always found him extremely helpful and his accounting background helped him understand my questions. He built me an Anaplan to PowerBI powered pivot table on Excel which I still use today as an extremely useful tool to see both "the big picture" combined which the ability to dive in to the details when reviewing monthly financial performance."
Alex Fulcher
Finance Manager, Synamedia
Why this mattered in a PE-backed business
At the time of the engagement, Synamedia was backed by Permira. In a multi-business-unit environment, a common view of performance matters because management and investors need to see whether plans are translating into revenue performance, customer retention, pipeline conversion, margin improvement, cost management and delivery against budget or target.
Standardising KPIs and reporting reduced the risk that management discussions were dominated by different definitions or competing versions of performance. It created a stronger basis for accountability, challenge and intervention. For an investor, that consistency shows up as cleaner board reporting, better-informed capital allocation across the portfolio, and fewer surprises between the plan and the result.
Portfolio relevance
The underlying problem is highly repeatable across investor-backed businesses, particularly following carve-outs, acquisitions, rapid international growth, or where multiple operating units have developed their own reporting conventions.
The technology may differ. The requirement does not: agreed definitions, consistent reporting cycles and one management view from which decisions can be made.
TRUE FP&A impact
Trusted Data
Greater consistency across financial, operational and pipeline information.
Responsive Planning
Anaplan redesigned to support the planning requirements of the full global business.
Up-to-date Insights
Power BI enabled faster, more accessible performance analysis across multiple measures.
Engaged Decision Support
Management conversations shifted from validating numbers towards customer retention, margins, budget gaps and actions.
The takeaway
Standardising KPIs is not a reporting exercise. When different business units define, report and interpret performance differently, finance spends too much time reconciling the past.
Synamedia created a more consistent performance environment across its global business, connecting planning, financial results, operational KPIs and pipeline information so management could spend less time establishing the number and more time deciding what to do about it.