IT Architecture in Finance Conference and Exhibition
Charl du Toit, a Solutions Manager at Intellient, will be speaking at the IT Architecture in Finance Conference and Exhibition about Enterprise Performance Management. The Conference and Exhibition is a gathering of various industry leading enterprise architects, system engineers and other IT professionals in the IT finance and architecture industry, creating an open platform to discuss and partake in solution finding for the industry.
Charl’s position as a Solutions Manager necessitates his involvement with the implementation of EPM products within various projects in the financial sector. His experience and expertise in Hyperion Essbase, Hyperion Planning, and a range of Data Relationship Management as well as BI Tools makes him a qualified speaker in this field. Projects that require Charl’s involvement range from business analysis, solution design and physical solution building and quality control.
The presentation will focus on how Enterprise Performance Management solutions such as EOH and Oracle can be implemented to provide ground-breaking solutions for clients in the financial industry. People who would benefit from the presentation range from enterprise and solutions architects, system engineers, technology officers, governing and compliance officers to risk officers and network administrators.
Intellient – developer of multi-channel eCRM Solutions
An industry leading developer of multi-channel eCRM solutions, Intellient produces tailored solutions for various industries including the financial services, travel and retail sector among others. Charl du Toit, a Solutions Manager at Intellient has been working in the BI/EP field for the last 16 years, with a specialisation in positioning and implementing OLAP, BI and, data warehousing, while planning tailor made solutions for Intellient’s varied clientele.
How the right Business Intelligence tools can help you succeed
Usage of the incorrect business intelligence (BI) tools can adversely affect the scope and performance of any project. For any budget, from a small-scale operation to a diversified multinational company, there are a set of tools that can assist a company in realising its BI goals. Such tools include:
Excel
For the uninitiated, BI is a series of data that is collated in order to gather a predictive view of a business, as well as to dig down into the running of said business in minute detail. For this reason, Excel remains as one of the most popular BI tools. Simply put, Excel is used because it is the most cost-effective solution for a number of businesses. Excel spreadsheets are also a common format that can be opened and edited in any number of applications for ease of use; it also includes most of the functions needed to display data in a simple, yet logical form. Excels downside is that it is severely limited in function and when the time comes to migrate to a dedicated OLAP (online analytical processing) tool, the excel spreadsheets will easily integrate with most software solutions.
Reporting Tools
Both commercial and custom-built reporting are used (if the company is willing to invest the capital) in order to create, schedule and run reports for various functions of the business. Whichever reporting tool is used, it must have the capability for scheduling and distribution, as many reporting managers will simply ignore the complex (yet helpful) add-ons and concentrate on their monthly or weekly reporting requirements. The tool must be customizable in order to create workarounds for easier paths to success, and to make the work of the analyst endlessly easier. Cross-exporting from OLAP tools to Excel and back is a must-have feature.
Data Mining
This contributes directly to the return on investment, as prospects can be ‘predicted’ through a series of sophisticated methodology. These predictive models can become rather cumbersome, so it is best to keep each one sectioned off per department. Data mining ensures that the correct clients are contacted with the information that is most pertinent for them.
BI is a way of life, and a financial boon for any business – therefore, it is crucial to utilise any tools in the best way possible in order to maximise the company’s return on investment.
GRC: Risk Management: Protect and Maximise Stakeholder Value
The following GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) article from Oracle is relevant if you want to protect and maximise stakeholder value.
Recent economic volatility has given risk management a new focus and eminence. The strongest companies are the ones that are able and willing to adapt, who actively integrate risk management as a critical factor at all levels of management process from strategy to success.
Regrettably, organizations have been hampered by pitfalls in traditional approaches to risk management. Seen as a back-office function, risk management may be limited to annual assessments that are not integrated with strategic and operational planning.
Without the ability to apply a common taxonomy and weighting for different risk categories, organizations are forced to manage risk in functional silos, unable to see the interconnected nature of multiple risk events.
Internal control and external risk transfer methods are largely manual, leaving firms open to unnecessary exposure.
Business survival requires organizations to take risk. Successful firms manage risk well while those that do not suffer. The unprecedented breakdown of credit markets and eye-opening demise of well established financial institutions have led companies small and large to pause, look at themselves, and ask: What’s our risk? Do we have a handle on it? Is that good enough?
Recent actions from regulatory bodies and ratings agencies have also highlighted the need for risk management. For example, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is guiding audit firms to pay more attention to the level of risk associated with management processes. Assuming management is likely to accept greater risk when acting under economic pressure, the PCAOB is encouraging auditors to adjust their audit plans and increase monitoring for high risk behavior.
Download the full story from Intellient White Papers – Risk Management – Protect and Maximise Stakeholder Value
If you’re looking for GRC and risk management solutions for your business contact Intellient
6 Tips for Better Business Intelligence
- Select the Right Service Provider
Shop around. The right service provider should demonstrate a unique appreciation of your needs and the challenges you are facing. They must be involved in the roll-out of the solution and provide training to all users. Make sure they also offer on-going support once the solution is up and running. Get references and follow these up. - Suitability
Be sure to choose a BI solution that is right for your business. Have a specific business need in mind when shopping for a solution. Before purchasing a complete data warehouse solution, do some research – your current challenge may not require a warehouse solution. Instead you could save money and time with a simpler solution that locates and extracts data from its current location as required. - Ease of Integration
Your service provider should be familiar with the systems your business relies on and should provide a solution that integrates easily into your current business infrastructure. The best BI application will be one that meets a specific business requirement and fits into your business processes seamlessly. - Flexibility and scalability
Your BI requirements will change as your company grows and develops. It is important to plan for this by selecting a modular solution that can be adapted and expanded to suit your changing needs. - Keep it Simple
While it may be tempting to go for the most sophisticated, top-of-the-range solution, often the simpler option is easier to work with. Consider who will be using the system. Don’t forget the true end user and include them in the selection process. Their technical proficiency will determine the level of complexity you may incorporate in the solution. Remember, a good BI solution should save your employees time – not force them to struggle with a complicated system. - Insist on Security
Data security is crucial – especially in the increasingly mobile business world. The ideal BI solution should deliver accurate, targeted information at maximum speed; while protecting your data from falling into the wrong hands.
Financial data quality ensures stakeholder buy-in
According to Michael van der Merwe, Manager – BI & Enabling Technologies at Oracle, further benefits of managing financial data quality are the speed and agility of information retrieval, leading to rapid implementation of corrective actions when required. It also plays a key role in improved visibility through dashboards, providing a big-picture overview of the financial situation of the company at any point in time and the ability to drill down to the general ledger.
Quality data also means that Sarbanes Oxley regulations are more easily supported and assessment requirements more easily achieved. Probably the most important benefit of sound financial data quality management is that the origin of a specific value can be found and confirmed with little effort.
Van der Merwe supports Oracle’s Hyperion FDQM (Financial Data Quality Management) application for empowering clients to achieve data visibility, integrity and verification in their financial reports.
“The return on investment with a system like this is more productive time and increased ownership for the end user,” he says. “Probably the biggest benefit of sound financial data quality management is the increase in confidence levels, while lowering the cost of compliance through the elimination of data collection and validation errors.”
For enterprise leaders, however, simply being sure they have the correct data, even with the high levels of confidence an FDQM system can provide, is not the objective. The ultimate objective of any company is increased net profit. With the correct information at hand, managers can make informed decision with full insight into the activities of any part of the business. They are even able to understand the real cost contribution of each customer, ensuring high-value clients receive the appropriate service and low-value clients can be encouraged to look for better value from the business.
The Hyperion FDQM system is not a standalone offering, but fits into other Hyperion application suites such as enterprise planning and profitability, as well as cost management systems. It can access data from almost any database system, even external to the company, when required. It effectively supports the consolidation process of the holding company and ensures there is no longer a gap between the general ledger and consolidation and reporting.
“The financial figures derived are real and queries can be tracked by drilling down into the source data, no matter where it comes from,” adds van der Merwe. “FDQM closes the door to incorrect and confusing reporting, giving stakeholders confidence to make decisions on data that they know is accurate.”
When working towards increased investor confidence it is important to provide complete transparency, van der Merwe says, adding that a sound profitability and cost management system, linked with quality and trustworthy financial data will enable scenario analysis by region, product and client. It will also assist in the allocation of variable costs, while taking fixed costs into account.
“Such a scenario is bound to build confidence with the most cynical financial analysts and have a positive effect on share prices and investor confidence, both crucial aspects to thriving in this market,” he concludes.
Protecting Financial Institutions from Operational Risks
- Human Error
- Systems Failure
- Process Failure
- Inadequate Controls and Monitoring
- Financing techniques that reduce credit and market risk, but enhance operational risk
Measuring and Managing Operational Risk
- Enterprise-wide culture and commitment
- Governance for operational risk management
- The role of regulation
- Technological changes that improve an organisations ability to measure and manage operational risk
- Potential responses to operational risk
- Dynamic risk identification
Understanding Key Risk Indicators
Key Risk Indicators or KRI is a widely used term among senior managers and risk managers. However, although this term is used frequently in business, many managers still battle to design and implement a good Key Risk Indicator System because of several challenges, including:
- Multiple source systems
- Inconsistent terminology
- A lack of leading risk indicators
- A lack of a clear Risk Mitigation strategy
Multiple sources
Integrating information from a number of disparate source systems can be time consuming, complex, and difficult.
Inconsistent Terminology
Stakeholders in deferent positions within the organization often use conflicting terminology when it comes to risk measures and key performance indicators causing confusion and delay in reaching a common understanding.
No Leading risk indicators
A good risk management system will contain several key leading key risk indicators KRIs designed to alert the organization before a material risk event impacts on the organization. Defining leading Key risk indicators can only be done effectively if a holistic view of each risk event and the interdependencies between risk events are analysed by the organization.
Risk Mitigation
Once a risk has been identified, a course of action must be decided on how to treat the risk. The risk may be accepted or mitigated both courses of action must be monitored and managed. If a risk is to be mitigated it is imperative that mitigation steps identified are implemented and monitored..
Oracle Solutions for Governance, Risk and Compliance
To help executives and risk managers meet the aforementioned challenges, Oracle delivers an end-to-end Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) platform that works in dynamic business environments. By combining risk intelligence and analytics, Oracle GRC ensures you can:
- Leverage a centralised ‘warehouse’ of GRC information
- Manage GRC processes across the enterprise
- Protect critical information assets at all levels
- Monitor key processes and controls
- Report on exceptions
For more information, please contact Simon du Plooy at EOH Oracle CFO Services on 011 607 8200.
Oracle Hyperion EPM 11.1.2 is now available
We are pleased to announce the immediate general availability of Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System release 11.1.2 on Oracle’s eDelivery download center — http://edelivery.oracle.com/.
Oracle EPM System release 11.1.2 is a major new release with new applications as well as significant enhancements to existing EPM applications, BI foundation components, and common EPM technologies. Highlights of this new release include:
New Oracle Hyperion Financial Close Management application
New Oracle Hyperion Disclosure Management application
New Oracle Hyperion Public Sector Planning and Budgeting module
Enhancements and new functionality in nearly all EPM applications, including:
Oracle Hyperion Planning
Oracle Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management
Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management
Oracle Hyperion Financial Management
Oracle Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management
Enhancements to BI foundation components and common EPM technologies, including:
Oracle Essbase
Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office
Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting
Oracle Hyperion EPM Architect and Calculation Manager
Oracle Hyperion EPM Shared Services
Availability in 15 languages to support global deployments
Oracle EPM 11.1.2 – Reviewing the new features
Today I finally got my grubby paws on the latest, greatest, best thing ever version of Oracle EPM, 11.1.2. You know, the version Oracle is punting as containing the largest number of functional improvements in specifically the Hyperion EPM applications since Hyperion was bought. At first glance there certainly seems to be some exciting new functionality, things such as Disclosure Management and Financial Close Management for you HFM types, a proper HFM export to Essbase module based on HyperRoll, new functionality in Planning such as much enhanced workflow and excellent integration with Office, etc.
I plan to look at some of the major new features, module by module, and share my finding on this blog. Obviously this will not be done in one or two blogs, but probably a whole series over the next couple of weeks.
For a start, I want to share my thoughts on the new features and direction Oracle is taking in the installation and general architecture of EPM 11.1.2. So here are some of the new things you need to be aware of when starting to implement EPM 11.1.2, some good and some – well you will see…
- The first line which hit me between the eyes was the following: This release is intended for new deployments only. Upgrading or migrating from previous EPM System releases is not supported. In addition, products from this release are not compatible with products and applications from previous releases. What does this mean, exactly? Basically it means install EPM 11.1.2 on a clean environment (new servers), and rebuild your applications – or at least manually migrate them by exporting data and metadata and reimporting on the new environment. Essbase is not really an issue, Planning a little more complex but not too much, but HFM probably requires a lot of work to manually migrate, if not rather rebuild.
- Tomcat is no longer the default embedded J2EE server, Weblogic is. Apache is no longer the default Web Server, Oracle HTTP Server is. This is actually not a bad move for scalability reasons, as long as the promised relatively seamless deployment actually works.
- All EPM tools now make use of a new logging mechanism, Oracle Diagnostic Logging (ODL). Seems like this will offer much better housekeeping of logs, such as max log file size, log file rotation, etc.
- Essbase Excel add-in now has a small Microsoft MSI file for installation. This is great news, you don’t need the entire foundation installation file set just to install the Excel add-in.
- No more OpenLDAP (great news, how many of you have experienced corrupt OpenLDAP repositories). Basically the Shared Services database repository will now house the Native Directory info.
- Default directory structures have changed completely, again. Something like Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11\ is what you can expect, but this can be set at installation time.
- Shared Services and Workspace Web is now a single web service
Next blog I will probably start with the new Essbase features, as well as some Smartview stuff. Let me know if you have any questions on EPM 11.1.2, or want to share any experiences with it.
Measuring Financial Risk: EPM and GRC
What is Financial Risk?
Financial risk is the possibility that an organisation’s cash flow will not be adequate to meet its financial obligations. Financial risk is the added risk shareholders bear when a company uses debt other than equity as an additional means of financing operations.
Financial Risk and the Recession
The level of gearing an entity takes is dependent on the entities risk appetite and ability to generate future cash flows. The trigger of the current recession was the result of entities taking on financial risk by increasing their gearing beyond their ability to generate future cash flows. Large financial institutions encouraged this behaviour in an effort to increase short term returns. Financial institutions took the financial risk hoping that they would earn a large return from offering high interest mortgages to people/entities with less than stellar credit records. They made these loans attractive to consumers by allowing no deposit full value loans in a market where the belief was the future cash flows (property prices) can only go up.
When the property bubble burst and property returns became less than spectacular, the financial institutions started experiencing high defaults on the loan books with the subsequent drop in value of their sub prime investment instruments.
The financial risk exposure resulted in a large number of financial institutions filing for bankruptcy and the knock on effect on the greater economy of these financial institutions failing.
Managing Risk with Risk Management Software
A consequence of the financial crises is the recognition that organisation’s need to deploy improved risk management strategies. Legislation is expected to become more stringent to ensure companies adhere to strict financial risk management practices to assist in providing the board and shareholders with additional information and tools in order to manage the appropriate level of risk for an entity.
EOH Oracle CFO Services is a provider of Oracle’s EPM(Enterprise Performance Management) and GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) software which includes a number of innovations and capabilities to improve business insights and optimize decision making, specifically in the area of managing and measuring financial risk within the boundaries of good governance and regulatory compliance.
For more information, please contact Simon du Plooy at EOH Oracle CFO Services on 011 607 8200.
