Julius Meinl Industrieholding GmbH

What was your starting point?

Although most of the group used SAP, all the reporting was done in Excel, from where the data were loaded to a reporting tool. With ever-increasing quantities of data, this procedure was becoming less and less reliable. That’s why we wanted a reporting tool with a direct connection to SAP in which planning and consolidation were also possible. The consolidation and planning functions in the Corporate Planning solution are what won us over.

What were the highlights?

Despite complex intercompany relationships, we now have a business unit reporting system that is independent of the legal structure. For instance, we have a central warehouse in Austria that fulfils a group function, yet we’d also like to measure the performance of Austria alone. The segment solution allows us to do so. The data warehouse is where the various segments are separated out. Another much-used highlight is the connection to the CP-DataFactory.

What lessons have you learned?

Our concept phase could perhaps have been longer. At three months, it was almost too short. It would also have been better to have realised the project in smaller steps, starting with one country and then following with the others rather than rolling out the whole project across all companies in all 21 countries, or starting with the plan and then following with the consolidation. Successful results would then have come sooner.