QS Quacquarelli Symonds的使命是让世界各地的学生都能发挥自己的潜力. It does this via a broad range of services for higher education institutions, ranging from rankings and ratings analysis to student recruitment, conversion and retention services. Launched in 2004, its QS World University Rankings portfolio, 已经发展成为 世界上最受欢迎的大学表现比较数据来源. The company also runs industry conferences and digital events, offers higher education consulting services, and delivers software and services for enrolment, admissions, partnerships and more.
Business challenge
基于电子表格的财务跟踪和计划意味着对财务绩效的可见性有限，并且在手动任务上花费了太多时间.
Deployment
我们与QS携手合作，在一个复杂的企业中推出了Workday Adaptive Planning, starting with personnel and revenue management, and with modelling and planning to come.
Business benefits
- Enhanced productivity for the finance team
- Improved visibility of headcount costs across a complex business
- Real-time forecasting, planning and better decision-making
- Improved security via roles-based access controls
Business challenge story
Scores of spreadsheets
Keeley Barnes is the financial planning and analysis director for QS, 她在一家大约650名员工的公司里管理着一个责任重大的小团队. 这些员工是公司的命脉，也是这家主要以服务为主导的企业的最大成本. 这就是为什么QS首先要寻找一种更好的方法来了解和控制员工成本. 通过手动更新电子表格来做事情的旧方式已不再可持续.
“我们会有大约50个电子表格，所以要努力保持一致性并整合数据，以便在任何时候我都知道自己的立场, was really difficult,” Keeley explains. “有很多不同版本的电子表格，我不得不等到每个所有者发送每个电子表格的最新版本. Getting an instant, centralised view, and the ability to make real-time changes just weren’t possible.”
These problems were exacerbated by the complex way QS is structured, with each business area operating in each subsidiary.
“Keeping on top of different tax rates and potential inflationary increases, varying bonus packages, 汇率和其他差异在基于电子表格的系统中是极其困难的. It was hard to maintain consistency across the board,” she explains.
Transformation story
A collaborative approach to problem solving
因此，QS投资了Workday Adaptive Planning，以增强财务和业务决策, and the productivity of its employees. 它解决问题的协作方法有助于确保顺利推出.
“从我们的角度来看，你可以看出他们是一个紧密团结的团队，最终想要实现目标. They understand your challenges and don’t want to disappoint,” she adds. “与我合作过的两位联系人都有非常不同的方法，但他们最终都想提出一个解决方案, no matter what it was, and they relished that.”
As the project continued, the team have required less input from ICit’s experts, 但我还是会时不时地向他们打听产品的内幕.
到目前为止, QS已经推出了级别分配表，分配给业务中的特定角色, in order to better manage personnel costs. 该工具使团队能够在后端无缝地构建有关税收和通货膨胀增长的各种假设. They’ve also started on revenue management, 在一个存在多种收入模式的组织中，从数字订阅到注册服务，这是一项关键任务, 以及QS活动和会议业务所需的时间点方法.
最终的目标是将所有相关的表格输入到Workday的规划平台技术中，以实现无缝建模, 并与公司的NetSuite平台集成，实现自动化收入管理.
Results story
An immediate impact
Keeley admits that finance teams are always sceptical of change, and hers was no different when ICit first introduced the Workday solution. 要让他们放心，平台上运行的数据是准确的，并与他们传统的电子表格视图一致，需要时间. 然而, 对QS的影响是立竿见影的——提供即时实时的财务业绩可见性.
“From a finance perspective, there will always be some Excel in your environment. 然而, I think that once the templates are set-up, 能够从Workday下载信息将意味着团队在产出方面的周转要快得多, and they will see those benefits,” she explains. “从整合的角度来看，我已经对整个过程有了更好、更全面的看法, rather than only at the end.”
The implementation has also enhanced security for QS, 由于基于角色的访问控制允许财务团队设置谁可以访问什么内容的限制. 在财务部门内部，同样的功能可以最大限度地降低隐私和数据保护风险, she explains. Even better, 财务职能将在公司未来的发展方向中发挥更重要的作用.
“获得实时财务数据将使团队能够在业务中发挥更具战略性的作用. 他们的想法是，他们可以以一种更容易、更省时的方式制定三年和五年计划,” says Barnes. “当COVID发生时，我们经历了四种预算规划和预测情景, and we were doing that via spreadsheets. If we’d had Workday it would have made life so much easier. 我们现在全年都会做抽查预测和“温度检查”，因为我们在Workday可以做到这一点.”
Although the platform is initially only being used by finance team members, 计划是将其推广到更广泛的业务，以提高自给自足和预算和规划的可见性. As this kind of predictive modelling becomes second nature to QS, the hope is that it will create a more productive, 非常高效。, and high-performance organisation.
Ready to find out more?
我们已经帮助英国各地的许多企业实施了一系列的财务规划 & Accounting features, that are offered by Workday Adaptive Planning.
Our team of specialist Workday Consultants can discuss your exact business needs, 建议您如何在财务实践中实施Workday Adaptive Planning，并为日常使用该软件的员工提供培训.
Get in touch today
To find out more about the benefits of Workday Adaptive Planning, 或者问一些具体的问题，比如它如何改善你目前的财务软件选择, please get in touch with us today. info@icitbi.com
