Discussion on the success and failures on a Hyperion Planning implementation, from vendor selection to Go-Live at Collaborate 2011

1. Driving Accountability Through
Disciplined Planning at
Abercrombie & Fitch
Session 8454

2. q Profiles
q Project Lifecycle
q Business Problem
q Vendor Selection
q Project Scope
q Project Objectives
q Design
q Implementation
q Benefits
q Lessons Learned
q Q&A

3. Robert Ball
q Senior Manager of Financial Reporting for Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
q Responsible for rolling up P&L from sales through tax provision on the Income Statement
q 8+ Years with Abercrombie
q 3 years with Real Estate Audit Group
q 5 years with Financial Reporting
Kyle Goodfriend
q Manager for Rolta
q 15 years of technology experience.
q Working with Essbase since late 90’s
q Designed/ Managed 100+ forecasting, Planning & Reporting applications
Joshua Forrest
q Senior Consultant for Rolta
q 10 years of technology/ implementation experience
q Worked with Hyperion/Oracle products for 6 years
q Experience in multiple verticals including Banking, Retail, Insurance & Manufacturing

4. Headquartered in New Albany, Ohio
Store count worldwide (all companies) 1070, A&F alone 325
Sales in 2010 $3.5 Billion
Employees 7,500+ (including stores)

5. Rolta International is a global market leader and solution provider of insightful
impact based upon innovative information technology solutions, services and
software. We have a heritage of providing unique solutions for globally among
many industry sectors including Retail. Rolta International acquired
Whittmanhart Consulting (Formerly Infinis, Inc.) in 2008 and in doing so added a
leading provider of Enterprise Performance Management and Business
Intelligence services. Rolta International is an Oracle Platinum Partner.
Founded 1981
Headquartered Alpharetta, GA
Revenues in 2010 ~$275M
Employee count 4,500

6. The Business
Problem
Vendor
Selection
Approach/
Scope/
Objectives
Design/
Implementation
Benefits/
Lessons Learned

7. The original Abercrombie & Fitch Co. budgeting and forecasting system was
manual in nature consisting of multiple offline processes and disparate logic
which lead to numerous issues:
q Heavy dependency on Excel spreadsheets.
q Lack of data transparency hampering accountability.
q Concern over data accuracy.
q Difficulty in producing reports, especially that of the ad-hoc nature.
q Lacking supporting detail at appropriate levels.
q Unable to easily collaborate across departments.
q Complicated data acquisition.
q Lengthy budgeting time frame.

8. Input Sheets
Essbase
Canned Reporting Environment
Excel
Excel Excel Excel Excel Excel ExcelExcel
Excel Excel Excel
Models

9. The final Abercrombie & Fitch Co. vendor selection process consisted of an in-
depth assessment between two products, IBM’s Cognos and Oracle’s Hyperion
Suite. The assessment compared the 2 products in areas such as:
q Key differentiators
Ø Gartner group rating
Ø Implementation time
Ø Existing application integration
Ø Overall cost
q Pros/Cons
Ø User interface
Ø Market share
Ø End user experience
q Reference calls

10. q Existing Application Integration
Ø Hyperion Planning provides a robust integration with ERP systems and
other sources. A&F required a two-way integration with PeopleSoft GL and
HR.
Ø Integration with PeopleSoft to pull Actual and send Budget data.
q User Interface
Ø Hyperion Planning provides users an easy to use web interface. The end-
user experience was important and A&F placed much weight on the user
transition.
Ø Able to leverage existing user competencies with Microsoft Office based
tools such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

11. Rolta approaches projects by utilizing a proven and well defined methodology
that has been successfully utilized at numerous clients. This approach has
proven to be an effective way to manage scope, design and implementation of
this type of project.
An important component of this methodology includes the partnership created
with our clients, a partnership that ensures both parties remain fully engaged
during each phase of the project. The result of such a partnership is an
environment that encourages collaboration, knowledge transfer and joint system
deployment.

12. When Rolta conducts a project, it does so in a manner in which it accepts full
responsibility for the successful delivery of a system. The successful delivery of a
system often includes the implementation of a prototype along with application
installation.
q Application prototype
Ø Not a complete representation, rather a shell of the system
Ø Involve users at an early stage
Ø Client exposure to Hyperion technology and processes
Ø Use feedback to help system design
q Application installation
Ø Evaluate client standards
Ø Recommend configuration that promotes scalability
Ø Validate & tune appropriate applications
Ø Involve client IT department
Ø Knowledge transfer

13. Implementation of a financial budgeting and forecasting system that:
q Allows for annual financial planning by responsibility (a team member from
leadership) with versioning and data integrity.
q Eliminates reliance on Excel spreadsheets while moving towards web-based
financial planning, allowing for detailed budget builds.
q Is web-based allowing the company to complete monthly projections with
proper versioning, giving users the ability to perform projections more frequently
with little additional effort.
q Enhances the A&F financial reporting capability.

14. By selecting the Oracle Hyperion Planning Suite, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. took
the first step in realizing their goals of replacing their existing, spreadsheet
driven, budgeting system with a centralized, enterprise wide solution.
q Establish the system as the financial planning platform for A&F.
q Minimize manual processes.
q Reduce complexities in data acquisition and manipulation.
q Ability to build plans based on assumptions/ drivers.
q Access to historical actual data from PeopleSoft GL.
q Ad-hoc analysis.
q Web access for data entry and financial reporting.
q Store level planning.
q Variance Analysis reporting.
q Support for multiple currencies/ Report in USD or Local.
q Support top-down & bottom-up approaches.
q Train 250+ users

15. Today’s unpredictable economy and highly competitive retail industry requires
the ability to quickly react to changes in consumer behavior, and the original A&F
spreadsheet-based process made reaction to these changes, even simple ones,
difficult and error-prone as they could effect hundreds of spreadsheets.
The A&F design phase relied on the prior phases of the project, including the
project approach, to design a system the met the needs and expectations of the
finance community.

16. Rolta worked closely with A&F resources to ensure a design that both met
current requirements but also permitted future growth. The end product
resulted in a multi-cube design that integrated existing data sources and
allowed for web-based user interaction.
q Single application, 3 database design
q 12 dimensions (Employee, Pay_Type, Vendor)
q 60+ web forms (Standard & Composite), Excel data entry
q 30+ Financial reports
q Heavy MaxL automation
q Multi-dimensional security
q 75+ Calculation scripts, 90+ Business Rules
q 2500+ Accounts, 1100+ BUs, 6000+ Departments, 8000+ Vendors
q 250+ users

17. PeopleSoft
GL
PeopleSoft
HR
Source Interfaces Oracle Hyperion Planning
Essbase
Input Forms
Reporting Environment
Web
Forms
Excel
Forms
Ad-hoc
Reports
Web
Reports

18. During the implementation phase of the project, the system components defined
during application design are constructed. All the normal/routine implementation
steps were followed including the database construction, data extraction
routines, the planning application build, and report construction. In addition to
these steps Rolta and A&F focused on a few key objectives defined below:
q Data input flexibility
q Supporting detail
q Multi-currency
q Custom data spread functionality
q Financial reporting enhancement
q Process automation (environment recycle)
q Essbase Add-in ribbon

19. Data Input Flexibility
q Giving end-users multiple methods of input provides flexibility while helping to
promote a new budgeting and Planning system. This ultimately increases
consistency and confidence as users recognize standard planning
methodologies across the application.
q Web forms
q Excel web forms
q Excel lock & send templates

20. Data Input Flexibility

21. Data Input Flexibility

22. Supporting Detail
As noted in the project objectives, one of the A&F priorities centered around the
use of supporting detail. Supporting detail provides users a mechanism for
entering detail during their budget entry. This feature is one of Hyperion
Planning’s strong points, giving end-users multiple avenues for entering such
detail.
q Types of supporting detail:
Ø Cell text
Ø Supporting detail
Ø supporting documents (Excel, Word, PDF, Text etc.)
q Useful for:
Ø Travel
Ø Consulting
Ø Marketing
Ø Supplies

23. Supporting Detail – Cell Text

24. Supporting Detail – Supporting Detail

25. Supporting Detail – Supporting Documents (via Workspace)

26. Multi-Currency
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a large international presence, with stores in over
15 countries. With budget owners in many counties, the Planning application
needed to support multiple currencies.
q A&F loaded actual data from PeopleSoft into USD.
Ø Converted back to local currency in the application.
q A&F entered budget for many expenses for ALL entities in USD.
Ø Entering data in base currency would have been more difficult.
q Able to write currency conversion calculations more efficiently

27. Custom Data Spread
One of the Abercrombie & Fitch Co. requirements centered on the data
spread capability, a feature which Hyperion Planning offers out of the box,
but the A&F requirement took the built in spread one step further.
Their request allowed end-users the ability to follow their current planning
techniques. These techniques which calculated and spread data across the
Time dimension are displayed below, and detailed on the following slides:
q Types of custom spread methods:
q % of Department Sales
q % of Total Sales
q % of Department Units
q % of Total Units
q Last Years Trend
q 4-5-4 calendar
q Evenly
q Fill

28. Custom Data Spread

29. Custom Data Spread

30. Financial Reporting
Reporting in general was an area needing improvement for A&F. All reporting for
their previous budgeting application resided in Microsoft Excel, a model that was
prone to user error and difficult to support. Modifications to reports often resulted
in changing numerous Excel sheets, which brought data integrity into question.
q The new financial reporting solution provides:
Ø Ability to view reports at total company or detailed levels.
Ø 30+ Financial Reporting (FR) canned reports.
Ø Smart View for Ad-Hoc analysis.
Ø Support for multiple alternate hierarchies.

31. Financial Reporting

32. Process Automation
As the new Budgeting application moved into a production state, the need for
process automation became obvious. The ability to utilize MaxL allowed the
financial reporting department to focus on the budget process and data analysis,
and less on routine system maintenance.
q Processes automated:
Ø Nightly level-0 data backups (all cubes).
Ø Actual data loads from PeopleSoft
Ø Budget data extracts to PeopleSoft
Ø Nightly defragmentation
o Data clear
o Planning metadata/security refresh
o Data loads
o Application restart
o System aggregation
Ø Environment restarts (Windows & UNIX)

33. Process Automation

34. Process Automation

35. Hyperion Essbase Add-In
Much like the Smart View Excel ribbon, a ribbon was developed during the A&F
budgeting project for the Essbase Add-In. This ribbon allows users of the
Essbase Add-In to easily access functionality while building data retrieve and
submission sheets. The Essbase Add-in can now be downloaded at
http://www.in2hyperion.com/.

36. q Ability to quickly slice and dice data via Smart View.
Ø Prior state took 8-12 hours for International vs. Domestic breakout.
Ø Critical to understand where spending money.
o Store types vs. brands vs. geographies.
q Supporting Detail.
Ø Critical to organization.
Ø Efficiency – users not asked to provide analysis multiple times now.
Ø Had supporting detail before but not standardized/structured.
Ø Can now export a formatted export of all Supporting Detail.
q Planning by Vendor.
Ø Structures provide more insight.
q More accuracy.
Ø Able to find and correct data entry mistakes.

37. q Consistency in Store Planning.
Ø Prior state gave way to disconnect.
o Budgeting for incorrect stores.
o Not budgeting for correct stores.
Ø No longer situations where users are missing sales.
q Insight into Store Contribution.
Ø Can now provide a store P&L.
o Previously only able to supply sales.
Ø Can now determine which stores will:
o Make money vs. lose money.
Ø Make key management decisions on:
o Opening vs. Closing stores.
o Modifications to payroll models.
o Understanding staffing structures.
o Expenses.
q Opened lines of communication with finance.

38. q Essbase audit logs.
Ø Recover to a point-in-time.
Ø Must restart Planning application.
q Strong Functional and User Acceptance Testing process.
q Dedicated business resource.
Ø Training before project begins.
Ø Strong transition associate/team.
q Realistic timeline.
Ø Understand the intricacies involved.
q Standardized Chart of Accounts.
q Clearly Defined Roles & Responsibilities