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Unlocking the full potential of your organization’s performance hinges on the seamless integration of Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. In today’s dynamic business environment, where agility and strategic decision-making are paramount, the synergy between these two essential systems are the backbone to deliver the enhanced visibility organizations need to optimize performance, drive growth and stay resilient in today’s evolving business environment.

ERPs Run the Business – CPM Manages the Business

ERP systems are often thought of as the central nervous system of the enterprise and are essential to the effective execution of day-to-day transactional activities. CPM systems can be thought of as the “brain” of the enterprise, helping to align and coordinate goals, objectives, financial and operational plans and execution across the enterprise. Both systems are critical to the success of an organization. ERP systems are used to run the business, CPM systems are used to manage the business and make critical decisions.

CPM systems source most of their data from internal systems including ERP, but also human capital management (HCM), customer relationship management (CRM) and increasingly external sources such as websites, social media and industry information. And while single-instance ERP has been a goal of many IT organizations, the reality is that most large enterprises have multiple ERPs in use across their various subsidiaries and locations. Therefore, an enterprise-class CPM solution must be capable of integrating and mapping data from multiple ERPs, other source systems and data sources.

Get More Value from SAP Investments with CPM

Many organizations have invested in SAP ERP systems to run their businesses, and SAP data warehouse systems to capture large volumes of transactional data for decision-making. Some have standardized on SAP across all operations, while others run a mixed environment of SAP as well as other ERP systems.

Whatever the case, a unified CPM platform helps organizations get more value from their ERP investments by integrating data from all ERPs and other sources, validating and consolidating that data to create a single source of the truth and “system of record” for consolidating financial results, external financial reporting, internal management reporting, financial and operational planning, analysis and effective decision-making.

Having direct integration to SAP and other ERPs and data sources is critical to having effective and agile reporting and planning processes, and the ability to make fast and informed decisions that can impact corporate performance.

Integrating SAP to OneStream

This was the focus of a webinar hosted by OneStream partner inlumi titled: “All the World’s a Stage – Integrating SAP to OneStream.” The webinar was led by Francisco Amores, MDM and Data Integration Lead at inlumi, who has over 12 years of experience designing and building CPM integration solutions. Here’s a quick summary of the key topics he covered in the webinar.

The webinar started off with an overview of how data is integrated from multiple sources and “staged” in OneStream. OneStream has the ability to integrate data from any source via APIs or Web Services and can also load data via flat files and Excel spreadsheets. Whatever the integration method, it’s in the Stage engine that data is transformed, validated and then loaded into the financial model for processing – whether for financial consolidation, planning, forecasting, and various types of analysis.

In OneStream, data is available to users for reporting and analysis via “cubes” where users can view and analyze summary data, then drill down into the details in the Stage engine, and then drill further back to the original transactional details from the source system.

OneStream Intelligent Finance Platform

The webinar then highlighted the key benefits of direct, seamless integration between OneStream and the source systems. These benefits included:

OneStream leverages several approaches for direct integration with SAP data sources, OneStream connections need to be established only once for ongoing integration with SAP:

The webinar then provided detailed examples of how several of these integrations are configured and how they work, including HANA ODBC Driver and the SAP Integration Connector. And then the power of OneStream to support “round trip” integration with SAP by loading Profit Center balances from GLPCT were demonstrated, as seen in the graphic below:

OneStream drill-down "round trip" to SAP data

Then validating that all imported data was mapped to the target intersections, loading data into the target financial model/cube, drilling down to Stage from reports and dashboards. Then drilling back into the transaction details in SAP GLPCA as shown below.

OneStream drill-back to SAP

Learn More

This webinar provided a short, but powerful overview and demonstration of the ability OneStream provides organizations to leverage their investments in SAP ERP and data warehouse systems, as well as other data sources. OneStream provides direct and seamless integration to a unified Intelligent Finance Platform that supports consolidations, close, financial and management reporting, financial and operational planning, and reporting and analysis for Finance and line of business users.

To learn more, watch this webinar on how to Unlock Financial Excellence through SAP and OneStream with Avvale and Langan, or check out our eBook on how to Get More From Your SAP Investment.

Download the eBook

Corporate performance management (CPM) is an enterprise-wide process that helps organizations meet their financial goals by linking their strategies to plans and execution across all divisions and departments.  A unified, extensible CPM system software platform is essential to efficiently and cost-effectively delivering on this vision while supporting timely and informed decision-making.

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For decades, organisations worldwide have relied on a small number of legacy EPM applications for complex financial consolidation needs.  Such solutions have provided valuable support by simplifying financial close processes and enabling sophisticated statutory consolidations and reporting.  However, vendors are signalling that support for these legacy applications will end in a few years.

Organisations are now proactively exploring advanced solutions that not only match and supersede the capabilities of these legacy systems, but also fully unify consolidations with planning, budgeting, and forecasting.  In this blog post, we’ll show why OneStream has emerged as the optimal solution for complex global organisations, focusing especially on consolidations.

Why OneStream Simplifies Financial Consolidation

OneStream is the leading solution for complex financial consolidations, providing organisations with a powerful unified platform that addresses the challenges inherent in managing intricate financial structures.  Globally and across industries, over 1,300 mid-sized to large enterprises are using OneStream for planning, financial close & consolidation, reporting and analytics.  In fact, 70% of OneStream customers replaced multiple legacy applications (e.g., Oracle Hyperion, SAP BPC and IBM Cognos).

Below are 10 key features and advantages that make OneStream the best choice for complex financial consolidations.

1. Unified Platform:

Despite propelling Finance Transformation for over 20 years, connected Finance solutions (see Figure 1) aren’t really designed to help the largest, most complex modern organisations drive performance.

Diagram to show complexity of Legacy applications

Figure 1:  Connected Finance Solutions – Fragmented

Connected Finance solutions are ultimately difficult to scale.  Why?  Because every traditional departmental and corporate application or model must be connected or integrated – adding risk, cost and complexity to already-taxed Finance teams due to multiple systems and data silos.

Instead, OneStream’s unified platform seamlessly combines financial consolidation, planning, budgeting and reporting processes.  This holistic approach eliminates the need for disparate tools, streamlines financial operations and enhances overall efficiency.

2. Advanced Consolidation Features:

Whether private or publicly held, organisations must confidently conquer the consolidation process – which drives the organisational “book of record” reporting.  Therefore, the reporting for external stakeholders must be accurate, timely and compliant with regulations.  These requirements apply to financial statement reporting, statutory reporting and regulatory filings, including ESG reporting.

Going beyond simply aggregation, a consolidation tool must support the financial consolidation requirements of the largest, most complex organisations globally via inbuilt intelligent capabilities including:  

OneStream delivers these advanced features for complex financial consolidations – accommodating diverse financial structures, intricate ownership relationships and multiple currencies.  This flexibility is crucial for global organisations operating multiple subsidiaries, each having unique financial intricacies.

3. Real-Time Insights:

Real-time alerts help realize the vision of daily close performance reporting by empowering Accounting and Finance teams with daily or weekly insights into key business metrics and drivers.  These ‘alerts’ highlight critical opportunities or risks that require action.

Such alerts include viewing potential misstatements in the GL before month end, identifying areas of the close process causing delays or applying flux analysis to highlight problematic areas in the financials.  With weekly or daily insights into trends and signals in the data points, managers can immediately act to proactively impact the period-end results.

OneStream real-time insights dashboard

Figure 2 – OneStream Real-time alerts/Financial Signals KPI dashboard

OneStream provides real-time insights into financial data, enabling organisations to make informed decisions promptly based on the most current information (See Figure 2).  This capability is invaluable for complex consolidations, where timely information can make the difference in strategic planning and risk management.

4. Streamlined Data Integration:

At its core, a modern unified EPM platform must have financial data quality management (FDQM) to drive effective transformation across Finance and lines of business.  One requirement is 100% visibility from reports to sources – all financial and operational data must be clearly visible and easily accessible.  Key financial processes should be automated, and using a single interface allows the enterprise to utilise core financial and operational data with full integration to all ERPs and other systems.

OneStream simplifies the often-challenging task of data integration via the seamless flow of financial data from various sources, reducing the risk of errors from manual data entry.  The platform’s robust data integration capabilities enhance accuracy and reliability, crucial factors in complex financial consolidations where precision matters.

5. Regulatory Compliance:

A modern unified platform should support all reporting requirements with standard, defined and repeatable processes for financial data collection and consolidation.  After all, producing financial statements that meet GAAP, IFRS and local statutory accounting regulations is a non-negotiable aspect of financial management, especially for organisations dealing with complex consolidations.

Failing to comply with industry standards, laws, rules and regulations set by regulatory and government bodies can result in hefty penalties, reputational losses and expensive legal actions.  Even worse, non-compliance can cause organisations to fail or be shuttered.

OneStream is designed to support regulatory compliance, ensuring that financial reporting adheres to all industry standards and legal requirements.  This support not only mitigates the risk of penalties but also instils confidence among stakeholders.

6. Flexibility to Support Corporate and Local Requirements:

EPM software solutions are typically purchased, set up and rolled out from the corporate Finance organisation for planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting and other analytical use cases.  In such solutions, the defined meta data structures (e.g., chart of accounts, organisational hierarchies) are usually based on corporate financial and management reporting requirements.

However, due to the need to roll out to the line-of-business level, many divisions, business units and departments find they must plan and report at a lower level of detail vs. corporate.  Traditional approaches to handle the different levels usually involve spreadsheets, multiple point solutions and often separate instances of the same EPM application.

OneStream Extensible dimensionality explained

Figure 3 – Extensible Dimensionality in OneStream

OneStream offers the first and only solution that delivers corporate standards and controls, with the flexibility for business units to report and plan at additional levels of detail without impacting corporate standards — all through a single application.  This unique capability is called Extensible Dimensionality® (See Figure 3).

7. Scalability:

The rigidity and inefficiency of disjointed legacy Finance systems has long been a reality for Finance organisations.  But the unprecedented volatility of recent years has shown how an agile, extensible EPM solution can support an organisation through future changes.

Alongside growth, organisations’ financial consolidation needs evolve, so scalability is a significant requirement.  An EPM solution should therefore be able to scale up to meet increasing demands – which provides a future-proof solution for organisations with expansion plans.

OneStream’s Intelligent Finance Platform uniquely offers extensibility (i.e., the customer’s ability to extend a system) in 3 ways:  application design, platform and implementation.  Unlike other systems, OneStream doesn’t utilise ‘smart lists’ or ‘alternate roll-ups’.  Rather, something configured for one purpose can be used for other purposes, which makes using OneStream for multiple needs (e.g., actual and budget reporting) both possible and easier to maintain and support vs. alternative systems.

8. Collaboration and Workflow Management:

An effective EPM solution should include guided workflows to protect business users from complexity.  How?  By uniquely guiding them through all data management, verification, analysis, certification and locking processes.

Complex consolidations often involve multiple stakeholders across different departments.  Accordingly, strict process controls are vital, and the system should include the following:

OneStream facilitates collaboration by providing a centralised platform for financial processes.  Its robust workflow management capabilities allow for seamless coordination among team members, enhancing communication and ensuring that consolidation processes run smoothly.

9. Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):

Finance departments often choose a series of point solutions, believing they will lower overall costs.  Initially, a solution might have a lower price tag than a unified EPM platform, but Finance often then ultimately spends more on cross-application integrations to cobble together a fully functioning system.

With a unified EPM platform, however, all processes are handled within a single instance.  Plus, data is loaded into one central database and immediately available to all business processes.  With no manual data movements or reconciliations to perform, the platform saves valuable time and reduces costs.

OneStream’s unified platform, coupled with its scalability and ease of use, contributes to a lower TCO.  Specifically, organisations can achieve cost savings by consolidating various financial functions into a single platform, eliminating the need for multiple tools and reducing maintenance and training costs.

10. Success Stories:

Vendor reference checks are a fundamental aspect of informed decision-making.  They offer valuable insights into a potential vendor’s past performance, which helps organisations confidently navigate the complex vendor selection process.  By tapping into the real-world experiences of existing customers, Finance teams can gain a complete understanding of what to expect from a vendor.  This understanding facilitates better-informed choices, effective risk management and long-term partnerships that benefit the organisation.

OneStream Customer Success Webpage

Numerous organisations have successfully leveraged OneStream for complex financial consolidations.  In fact, many case studies and success stories highlight the platform’s effectiveness in addressing the unique challenges faced by businesses with complex financial structures.  These real-world examples serve as a testament to OneStream’s capabilities and its positive impact on organisational performance.

For any organisation considering OneStream, we’ll always happily share multiple suitably matched references when asked to assist with selections.

Conclusion

OneStream is the leading solution for complex financial consolidations due to its unified platform, advanced features, real-time insights, streamlined data integration, regulatory compliance support, scalability, user-friendly interface, collaboration tools and cost-effectiveness.  As organisations continue to navigate the complexities of the global business landscape, OneStream stands as a reliable partner in achieving efficient and accurate financial consolidations.

Learn More

To learn more about how organisations are conquering the complexity in the financial close, click here to read our whitepaper.  And if you’re ready to take the leap from spreadsheets or legacy EPM solutions and start your Finance Transformation with OneStream, let’s chat!

Download the White Paper

In the previous post in our “What’s Next for Cartesis/SAP BFC Customers” blog series, we covered how many organisations are now facing the end of support for their Cartesis/SAP BFC application, currently announced for 2027.  Of course, this end date could be further extended if significant pressure is placed on SAP.  We also looked at some of the concerns/risks.  Plus, we detailed 5 key considerations for Cartesis/SAP BFC customers who are moving towards an evaluation process.

Given the above challenges, current Cartesis/SAP BFC customers have 3 options to consider, as outlined in the first post in this series: 

In this blog post, the focus will be on Choice 2.

Choice 2 – Invest in SAP’s Unproven Next-Generation Products

SAP has chosen a vastly different path than OneStream for the future of SAP EPM solutions.  Much like Oracle, SAP chose to continue with the legacy of the past by creating new, separate cloud solutions for each key EPM process area.  This suite of applications is still fragmented – rather than innovated towards the future of EPM where all processes can and should exist in one unified platform. 

The previous generation of EPM applications was dependent on the technology available at the time.  Accordingly, the financial consolidation process was typically built in technology suited to processing data, running calculations and handling non-financial data/commentary.  The planning process was typically built using cube technology to handle volumes of data and fast analysis.  With the advancements now available, however, separating these processes is no longer necessary.  The latest technology can handle the differences in data granularity, differing levels of dimensionality and distinct process steps – all in a single, unified solution.

The different path SAP has chosen results in this current fragmented suite of EPM products:

  1. SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
  2. SAP Group Reporting
  3. SAP Group Reporting Data Integrator – tool that gathers financial data from business units
  4. SAP Datasphere – latest generation of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
  5. SAP Fiori – a design system to create specific business applications
  6. SAP Profitability & Performance Management – separate product for automating all allocation-based business processes
  7. Account Reconciliations provided by Blackline
  8. Tax Reporting solution provided by a partner, promoted in SAP Store
  9. Lease Accounting provided by partner Nakisa

Customer/Peer Reviews

SAP does not have an entry in Gartner Peer reviews for Cloud Financial Close Solutions.  Does SAP not consider Group Reporting to be in this category?  SAP BFC does appear for financial consolidation, but no reviews have been posted since 2019.  The former Outlooksoft product – now SAP BPC also appears but with little focus on close and consolidation, and only 52 reviews have been given in the life of the product.

SAP SAC appears on Gartner Peer Reviews as well – in Cloud Extended Planning & Analysis Solutions with 95 reviews and in Financial Planning Software with 112 reviews.  I would expect to see higher numbers given the number of customers SAP claims to serve. 

Some of the Gartner reviews include dislikes, as shown in the excerpts from actual reviews:

  1. “Some of the features in planning that exist in EPM are not yet available in SAC, and user adoption is challenging as users are attached to EPM/BPC”.
  2. “Insufficient data modelling capabilities, product immaturity, oversold capabilities”.
  3. “Involves steep learning curve.  UI should be more polished and modernised”.
  4. “Sometimes we want to modify things, and the way to do it is very complicated.  It is not user friendly.  Simple things like conditional formatting or smart text are very difficult to add”.
  5. “Reporting/story building and editing is NOT intuitive or user-friendly at all”.
  6. “Getting started time needs quite some onboarding.  User community is not very active, but I guess this is due to the short time of tool availability”.

In contrast, OneStream has 269 reviews in Financial Planning Solutions (4.6 average rating) and 258 reviews in Cloud Financial Close Solutions (4.7 average rating).

Key Considerations

The following key considerations/questions will significantly help facilitate the evaluation process and value assessment when you’re considering what’s next for your EPM solution: 

SAP EPM Strategy

I have the greatest respect for SAP’s ERP strategy, and the company has an excellent product – one well-respected by many.  Comparatively, the SAP EPM strategy is a very different story.  The EPM strategy is not taking advantage of technological advancements which can change the game for EPM solutions by unifying all processes. Regarding EPM & ERP, my best advice when I speak to organisations has always been consistent:  the EPM management layer is best kept separate from any ERP.  This separation delivers a degree of future proofing for the organisation, and being ERP agnostic leaves room for a lot of flexibility as the organisation evolves and changes over time.

Reasons to Change

Given those considerations, consider joining the more than 300 SAP ERP customers who use OneStream. Below are just some of the reasons these organisations moved to OneStream:

Those reasons highlight why the most natural and capable successor to Cartesis/SAP BFC is OneStream.

Move Forward with the Next Generation of CPM

OneStream’s Intelligent Finance platform (See Figure 1) is completely agnostic to ERP strategy.  Rather than relying on a central ERP strategy, Intelligent Finance platforms integrate data from multiple sources – such as ERP, CRM, HCM and data warehouses – to create a single and governed version of the truth across finance and operational processes. 

Figure 1 – OneStream Intelligent Finance Platform

This interoperability is important.  Why?  It keeps the management layer technology independent from the transactional layers.  Any IT department that forces a move to a single tech solution is setting the organisation up for unnecessary costs and delays when future changes occur.  After all, you can never say never to changes in your business model or structure.

To learn more about Choice 3 – evaluating alternate EPM strategies such as OneStream – and to understand why OneStream is the most logical move from Cartesis/SAP BFC, tune in for our next and final blog post in the ‘What’s next for Cartesis/SAP BFC Customers’ series.

Learn more!

Ready to join the organisations that have taken the step from Cartesis/SAP BFC to OneStream?  Check out our video here, and be sure to visit our website.

Watch the Webinar

Organizations everywhere rely on data to make informed decisions and improve the bottom line through data management.  But with the vast amount of data today, things can quickly get out of control and spawn data gremlins (i.e., little pockets of disconnected, ungoverned data) that wreak havoc on the organization.

Remember those adorable creatures that transformed into destructive, mischievous creatures when fed after midnight in the 1984 comedy horror film Gremlins?  (see Figure 1)

Data Gremlins
Figure 1: Warner Bros. Pictures/Amblin E/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

In the same way, data gremlins – aka “technical debt” – can arise if your systems are not flexible to enable finance to deliver.  Effectively managing data to prevent data gremlins from wreaking havoc is crucial in any modern organization – and that requires first understanding the rise of data gremlins.

Do You Have Data Gremlins?

How do data gremlins arise, and how do they proliferate so rapidly?  The early beginnings started with Excel.  People in Finance and operations would get big stacks of green bar reports (see Figure 2). Don’t remember those?  They looked like the image below and were filed and stacked in big rooms.

Green Bar Reports Stacks
Figure 2: Green Bar Paper

When you needed data, you pulled the report, re-typed the data into Excel, added some formatting and calculations, printed the spreadsheet and dropped it in your boss’s inbox.  Your boss would then review and make suggestions and additions till confident (a relative term here!) that sharing the spreadsheet with upper management would be useful, and voila, a gremlin is born. 

And gremlins are bad for the organization.

The Rise of Data Gremlins

Data gremlins are not a new phenomenon but one that can severely impact the organization, leading to wasted time and resources, lost revenue, and a damaged reputation.  For that reason, having a robust data management strategy is essential to prevent data gremlins from causing havoc.

As systems and integration got more sophisticated and general ledgers became a reliable book of record, data gremlins should have faded out of existence.  But did they?  Nope, not even a little.  In fact, data gremlins grew faster than ever partly due to the rise of the most popular button on any report, anywhere at the time – you guessed it – the “Export to .CSV” button.  Creating new gremlins became even easier and faster, and management started habitually asking for increasingly more analysis that could easily be created in spreadsheets (see Figure 3).  To match the demand in 2006, Microsoft increased the number of rows of data a single sheet could have to a million rows.  A million!  And people cheered!

Excel is not a database
Figure 3: ©Fox Television The Simpsons™

However, errors were buried in those million-row spreadsheets, not in just some spreadsheets, but in almost ALL of them.  The spreadsheets had no overarching governance and could not be automatically checked in any way.  As a result, those errors would live for months and years.  Any consultant who experienced those spreadsheets will confirm stories of people adding “+1,000,000” to a formula as a last-minute adjustment and then forgetting to remove the addition later.  Major companies reported incorrect numbers to the street, and people lost jobs over such errors.

As time passed, the tools got more sophisticated – from MS Excel and MS Access to departmental planning solutions such as Anaplan, Essbase, Vena Solutions, Workday Adaptive and others.  Yet none stand up to the level of reliability IT is tasked with achieving.  The controls and audits are nothing compared to what enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions provide.  So why do such tools continue to proliferate?  Who feeds them after midnight, so to speak? The real reason is that these departmental planning systems are like a hammer. Every time a new model or need for analysis crops up, it’s “Let’s build another cube.” Even if that particular data structure is not the best answer, Finance has a hammer, and they are going to pound something with it.  And why should they do their diligence to understand the proliferation of Gremlins? (see Figure 4)

Mean Gremlin
Figure 4: Warner Bros. Pictures/Amblin E/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

The relationship can best be described as “complicated.”  ERPs and data warehouses are secure, managed environments but offer almost no flexibility for Finance or Operations to do any sophisticated reporting or analysis that has not been created for them by IT.  Requests for new reports are made, often through a ticket system, and the better IT is at satisfying these requests, the longer the ticket queue becomes.  Suddenly the team is doing nothing but reporting, and that leaves Finance thinking, “How the heck is there a team of people in IT not focused on making the business more efficient?”

The answer suggested by the mega ERP vendors is to stop doing that.  End users don’t really need that data, that level of granularity or that flexibility.  They need to learn to simplify and not worry about trivial things.  For example, end users don’t need visibility into what happens in a legal consolidation or a sophisticated forecast.  “Just trust us.  We will do it,” ERP vendors say.

Here’s the problem:  Finance is tasked with delivering the right data at the right time with the right analysis.  What is the result of just “trusting” ERP vendors?  Even more data gremlins.  More manual reconciliations.  Less security and control over the most critical data for the company.  In other words, an organization can easily spend $30M on a secure, well-designed ERP system that doesn’t fix the gremlin problem – emphasizing why organizations must control the data management process.

The Importance of Controlling Data Management and Reducing Technical Debt

Effective data management enables businesses to make informed decisions based on accurate and reliable data.  But controlling data management is what prevents data gremlins and reduces technical debt.  Data quality issues are perpetuated by the gremlins and can arise when proper data management practices aren’t in place.  These issues can include incomplete, inconsistent or inaccurate data, leading to incorrect conclusions, poor decision-making and wasted resources.

One of the biggest oversights when dealing with data gremlins is only focusing on Return on Investment (ROI) and dismissing fully burdened technical debt (see Figure 5). Many finance teams use performance measurements like Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and ROI to qualify that the solution is good for the organization, but rarely does the organization dive deeper – beyond the performance measurements to include opportunities to reduce implementation and maintenance waste. Unfortunately, this view of performance measurements does not account for hidden complexities and costs associated with the negative impacts of data gremlin growth.

Technical Debt is MORE than the Total Cost of Ownership

Technical Debt and TCO
Figure 5: Technical Debt is More than the Total Cost of Ownership

Unfortunately, data gremlins can occur at any stage of the data management process, from data collection to analysis and reporting.  These gremlins can be caused by various factors, such as human error, system glitches or even malicious activity.  For example, a data gremlin could be a missing or incorrect field in a database, resulting in inaccurate calculations or reporting.

Want proof?  Just think about the long, slow process you and your team engage in when tracking down information between fragmented sources and tools rather than analyzing results and helping your business partners act.  Does this drawn-out process sound familiar?

The good news is that another option exists.  Unifying these multiple processes and tools can provide more automation, remove the complexities of the past and meet the diverse requirements of even the most complex organization, both today and well into the future. The key is building a flexible yet governed environment that allows problems and new analyses to be created within the framework – no Gremlins.

Sunlight on the Data Gremlins

At OneStream, we’ve lived and managed this complicated relationship our entire careers.  We even made gremlins back when the answer for everything was “build another spreadsheet.”  But we’ve eliminated the gremlins in spreadsheets only to replace them with departmental apps or cubes that are just bigger, nastier gremlins.  Our battle scars have taught us that gremlins, while easy to use and manage, are not the answer. Instead, they proliferate and cause newer and bigger hard-to-solve problems of endless data reconciliation.

For that reason, OneStream was designed and built from the ground up to eliminate gremlins, including the need for them in the future (see Figure 6).  OneStream combines all the security, governance and audit needed to ensure accurate data – and does it all in one place without the need to walk off-prem while allowing the flexibility to be leveraged inside the centrally defined framework.  In OneStream, organizations can leverage Extensible Dimensionality to provide value to end users to “do their thing” without having to push the “Export to .CSV” button.

OneStream Unified Platform
Figure 6: OneStream Unified Platform Capabilities

OneStream is also a platform in the truest sense of the word.  The platform provides direct data integration to source data, drill back to that data, and flexible, easy-to-use reporting and dashboarding tools. 

That allows IT to eliminate the non-value add cost of authoring reports AND the gremlins – all in one fell swoop.

Finally, our platform is the only EPM platform allowing organizations to develop their functionality directly on the platform.  That’s correct – OneStream is a full development platform where organizations can leverage all the platform resources of integration and reporting needed for organizations to deliver their own Intellectual Property (IP).  They can even encrypt the IP in the platform or share it with others.

OneStream, in other words, allows organizations to manage their data effectively.  In our e-book on financial data quality management, we shared the top 3 goals for effective financial data quality management with CPM:

Conclusion

Data gremlins can disrupt business operations and lead to severe business implications, making it essential for organizations to control their data management processes before data gremlins emerge.  By developing a data management strategy, investing in robust data management systems, conducting regular data audits, training employees on data management best practices and having a disaster recovery plan, organizations can prevent data-related issues and ensure business continuity.

Learn More

To learn more about how organizations are moving on from their data gremlins, download our whitepaper titled “Unify Connected Planning or Face the Hidden Cost.” 

Download the White Paper

As organizations begin their evaluations of potential enterprise performance management (EPM) software vendors, industry analyst reports are a great resource for identifying viable solutions.  Some industry analyst reports are based on analyst opinions of the various vendors built through briefings, demonstrations, and customer references.  Others are based more on customer surveys and reviews, providing a clear assessment of how actual customers view the software vendor and the value they are getting from their solutions. This is often referred to as the “wisdom of crowds.”

A good example of an industry analyst report that is driven mostly by customer reviews is the recently published Dresner Advisory Wisdom of Crowds® 2022 Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Market Study.

Leveraging the Collective Wisdom of Crowds

The 2022 Wisdom of Crowds® EPM Market Study builds on the previous seven years of Enterprise Planning and EPM Market Studies published by Dresner Advisory and reflects the shift in the market towards a more holistic approach to performance management vs. relying on individual point solutions.

According to Dresner Advisory, an enterprise performance management system is a key element of performance management. It allows an organization to plan for the impact of various internal and external factors on its future performance and business outcomes. This includes strategic, operational, and financial planning and forecasting. EPM systems also include reporting and analytics capabilities that allow organizations to set goals and objectives and monitor performance against those objectives.

EPM software systems can vary significantly in complexity and automation capabilities, from relatively straightforward spreadsheet replacements to sophisticated multi-user systems that support collaborative planning, provide a wide range of analytics, and use advanced technologies such as in-memory computing and machine learning

What’s New in Enterprise Performance Management?

This year’s report highlighted several key market trends, including the following:

OneStream Once Again Recognized as a Leader

What’s unique about this study is that the results are based 100% on surveys of customers using EPM software.  Vendors are evaluated based on 33 criteria covering:

This was OneStream’s fifth year of inclusion in the Dresner Advisory Wisdom of Crowds Study and, once again, the results were outstanding.  Each vendor was evaluated on 33 criteria, and as you can see in the spider chart below, OneStream Software is substantially above the overall sample for all measures, best in class for 9 measures and we received a perfect “5” recommend score.

EPM Software Market Study Diagram

Dresner Advisory provides two models to help clients understand the EPM market.  Their Customer Experience Model positions vendors based on their combined scores on Product/Technology vs. Sales and Service metrics on two axes, positioning vendors into one of four quadrants.

Their Vendor Credibility Model considers how customers “feel” about their vendor, plotting value for the price paid against the integrity and recommending measures, creating a “confidence” dimension. The upper-right quadrant in both models contains the highest-scoring vendors, and those considered leaders in customer experience and vendor credibility.

Based on our scores, OneStream was positioned as an Overall Leader in both the Customer Experience and Vendor Credibility models.   Here’s a view of how the various vendors are positioned in the Customer Experience model.

Commenting on OneStream’s results in the study, Howard Dresner, Founder and Chief Research Officer at Dresner Advisory Services said, “In 2022, OneStream received outstanding results across virtually all measures and is an Overall leader in the Customer Experience Model and Vendor Credibility Models. Customers rank the company best in class for sales professionalism, responsiveness, flexibility/accommodation and business practices, product robustness/sophistication of technology, reliability of technology, integration of components within product, ease of upgrade/migration to new versions, and technical support time to resolve problems and responsiveness. Additionally, it maintains a perfect recommend score. We applaud OneStream on their 2022 rankings and their continued recognition in our annual market survey.”

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Making every customer a reference, one success at a time is the mission of OneStream Software and is our top priority companywide. Being named a leader in Customer Experience and Vendor Credibility by Dresner Advisory Services validates our approach and recognizes the ability of OneStream to address the advanced planning and performance management requirements of global enterprises.

To learn more, download a copy of the 2022 Dresner Advisory Enterprise Performance Management  Market Study.

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If you work in Finance, odds are that you’re hearing about how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will forever reshape your organization.  Despite limited talk about use across Finance today, excitement fills the air as Finance evolves to include AI and ML.

To assess what’s fact and what’s fiction, modern CFOs are evaluating how to optimize the benefits of these technologies.  Many are asking the same question:  Is the future of Finance new technology or new people, or both?  This question was the main topic for a recent webinar with OneStream Software and Ventana Research.

Ventana Research Senior Vice President Robert D. Kugel recently joined us virtually for How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming FP&A: A Practical AI Strategy for FP&A – a webinar focused on aligning artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) to maximize results.  Rob—along with our very own Scott Stern, Vice President of Product Marketing and Strategy—did a deep dive in this fascinating webinar to highlight ways to leverage AI and ML for FP&A.

To set the tone for the webinar, Mr. Stern shared findings from Accenture’s 2020 CFO Global Research1 showing that speed is becoming a differentiator for top CFOs.  Here are a few of the key areas of consideration for top-performing Finance teams:

These types of pressures can push many leaders across the enterprise into “scramble mode,” pushing them to find more data to make faster decisions.  Unfortunately, this effort can become overwhelming and offers little value.  And in the most extreme cases, the drive for more timely data can run Finance teams right into a brick wall.  To avoid overheating, top-performing CFOs are creating agility with curated data to create flexibility in the planning process – but in a governed way that provides control for organizations to handle large, diverse volumes of data.

What if you could finally break free from the routine by combining all the functionality of your existing applications for enterprise planning and reporting in a single, unified platform enriched with artificial intelligence?  Would you consider the opportunity?

What’s Stopping FP&A From Adopting AI-/ML-Infused Insights?

Mr. Kugel opened the webinar with some thought leadership about the AI hype – fact vs. fiction.

As Finance leaders, we have all felt the pain of failed technological advancements that had promised to make life easier for the Office of Finance.  That “hype cycle” is engrained in our DNA, regardless of whether we want to admit it.  Luckily, Mr. Kugel defined five artificial intelligence myths that demystify the “hype cycle” that so many Finance leaders fear:

Myth 1: We need a Data Scientist to make use of AI/ML.

This myth frequently surfaces for a simple reason: market noise and confusion.  For complex solutions, a data scientist is clearly needed, but for most Finance uses, a data scientist isn’t a necessity.  Why?  Because software vendors are building “no code” or “low code” capabilities into solutions to make AI/ML practical and useful for Finance.

Myth 2: AI/ML is a long way off in the future, so why make plans now?

AI/ML has been at work for decades in all other parts of the business beyond Finance to improve performance in functions like determining credit scores, detecting fraud, invoicing and identifying needs for preventative machine maintenance.

Myth 3: AI/ML is just a “black box.”

Partially true – what remains unknown about AI/ML can be viewed as a “black box,” but successful solutions will build in transparency that allows users to certify the insights.

Myth 4: AI/ML is unthinking and robotic.

No, AI/ML is just the opposite.  It offers a way to train models.

Myth 5: AI/ML takes humans out of the loop.

It’s true that humans may not be needed other than in repetitive situations where the consequences of being wrong are low.  AI that uses machine learning can cut the time required for humans to do mechanical work.  That saved time in turn allows humans to concentrate on using their experience, expertise and judgment to make better decisions and increase organizational performance.

Pragmatic Use Cases Will Foster Success

AI adoption in Finance is low.  Why?  Well, a myriad of debatable reasons exists, but Finance should look beyond the why and think about AI/ML as another tool in the FP&A tool kit – think about AI/ML in a pragmatic way to incrementally drive the right dialog without losing credibility.  Here’s the real question Finance leaders should be asking:  How do I make AI/ML work for my organization?

To help answer this question, Mr. Kugel highlights six use cases (see Figure 1).

OneStream use case

Laying the FP&A Foundation for AI

Data Pantry

Mr. Kugel then focused on why a dedicated data store, or “data pantry”, for FP&A is essential to the success of AI (see Figure 2).  Here’s a list of the reasons:

As FP&A teams start evaluations to support AI and ML forecasting, Mr. Kugel highlights the following key considerations:

  1. Form a steering committee with executive sponsorship to develop, define and refine the organization’s AI priorities and roadmap based on understanding what’s feasible and when.
  2. Identify all operational and financial data sources needed for training AI systems, as well as gaps in data collection.
  3. Understand and evaluate vendor roadmaps for providing AI capabilities and vendor ability to support data requirements.
  4. Identify the system or systems that will use the financial and operational data needed to train AI capabilities and establish the data inventory required for such purposes.

Introducing Sensible Machine Learning (Sensible ML)

Mr. Stern then closed out the webinar by showcasing OneStream’s Sensible Machine Learning solution.  While leveraging OneStream’s planning and data quality, Sensible ML provides time series ML forecasting without the need for a dedicated data scientist or additional software to accelerate time to value for critical planning processes.  By leveraging Sensible ML time series forecasting, Finance leaders can now quickly and accurately address multiple use-cases based on available data (see Figure 3).

Forecasting

Conclusion

AI and ML are here to stay, and the Office of the CFO should now be looking to take advantage of these advancements in technology.  What do FP&A leaders have to lose by adding another point of view or enriching their insights with the help of AI and ML?  You guessed it:  nothing.

Here are the key takeaways from this webinar for a practical AI/ML strategy for FP&A:

At OneStream, we call this Intelligent Finance.

Learn More

To learn more about how FP&A teams are leveraging AI/ML for FP&A, please watch the replay of the Ventana webinar.

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1 Accenture CFO Global Research – CFO NOW: Breakthrough Speed for Breakthrough Value

Finance leaders continue to face ongoing challenges and economic disruption in 2022. From inflation and supply chain challenges to the war on talent stemming from The Great Resignation, finance teams are tasked with navigating a constantly changing landscape. Using the right tools for their organization’s unique needs can be the make-or-break factor to drive long-term success and differentiate from the competition.

But there is no one-size-fits-all solution. With so many options in the marketplace, how can you cut through the clutter to find the option that works best for your organization? Enter: The BARC Planning Survey 22, which leverages the feedback and experiences of your trusted peers in Corporate Finance to help you determine which solution best suits your organization’s unique needs.

More About BARC: The Business Application Research Center

The Business Application Research Center (BARC) is an industry analyst and consulting firm for business software.  BARC analysts have supported companies through strategy, organization, architecture, and software evaluations for more than 20 years.  For more information, visit www.barc-research.com

To support Corporate Finance teams, BARC covers the following critical areas:

BARC Planning Survey 22

The Planning Survey 22 is based on findings from the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey of planning software users, examining user feedback on planning processes and product selection. Conducted from November 2021 to February 2022, The Planning Survey compiles responses from 1,325 individuals analyzing 19 products or groups of products in detail.

Specifically, the survey examines user feedback on planning product selection and usage across 33 key performance indicators (KPIs) including

For more information on the survey, visit The BARC Survey website.

Laser-Focused on Customer Success

OneStream’s corporate mission is to deliver customer success, ensuring every customer is a reference – one success at a time. As we remain dedicated to this mission, we’re honored to earn a 100% recommendation score from all surveyed users for the second consecutive year.

Furthermore, OneStream earned 15 top rankings (see Figure 1) across four different peer groups. The company was measured across several different KPIs, including:

Planning Survey
Figure 1: The Planning Survey 22: OneStream Highlights Dashboard

Additionally, OneStream earned 33 leading positions across its four peer groups, including product satisfaction, customer satisfaction, flexibility, workflow, recommendation, simulation, cloud planning, and financial consolidation.

“OneStream’s outstanding performance in this year’s Planning Survey reinforces the vendor’s dedication to delivering 100% customer success. As a market-leading CPM platform, OneStream helps organizations improve employee productivity, increase the transparency of planning and improve the integration of planning with reporting and analysis.  The platform’s comprehensive capabilities for financial consolidation and close, planning, budgeting and forecasting, reporting, analysis, and financial data quality management – all in a single application – makes OneStream a modern, future-proof solution for organizations seeking digital transformation,” said Dr. Christian Fuchs, Senior Vice-President and Head of Data & Analytics Research at BARC.

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OneStream is honored to receive standout results this year in The BARC Planning Survey. The report recognizes OneStream’s capabilities across financial close, consolidation, planning, and analysis as a best-in-class platform. The recognition is all the more meaningful as the rankings come directly from our committed customers and users across the globe.

To learn more about OneStream’s results, click here to download the full BARC Planning Survey 22.

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A rolling forecast is a management tool that enables organizations to continuously plan (i.e., forecast) over a set time horizon.[1] Why does creating a rolling forecast matter? When you’re a finance leader and business partner, it matters because it’s your responsibility to keep a pulse on all aspects of your organization, including financial and operational performance. And while you’ll likely never get the credit you deserve for doing so, it’s also your responsibility to implement agile budgeting, planning & forecasting processes that enable collaboration and provide support for effective business decisions between the finance team, sales, operations, HR, and other functions.

Now that we have answered “what is a rolling forecast,” what kind of organizations can take advantage of rolling forecast benefits? Perhaps the better question is, who can’t? Because if your organization interacts regularly with consumers, suppliers, or regional operations, there’s simply no escape. From what? From the roller coaster ride and volatility of global markets these days. And to make matters worse, this roller coaster ride feels like the “new norm” of what to expect.

Daily, we have fears of the next recession. And let’s not forget the impact of the ongoing US-China trade wars, uncertainty surrounding inflation, as well as the impact on oil and gas prices. In other words, it’s constant chaos. This is a challenging environment to plan against.

Not to mention, the fourth quarter is approaching fast. And that means that finance and business leaders are finalizing fourth-quarter forecasts and setting goals and plans for 2020. But with all this noise externally, how will organizations dial- in their final plans? Through brute force! With hours and hours of developing revenue and EBITDA targets. And for each scenario, there’s more hard work to align goals from your financial model with what are often fragmented sales, workforce, production, and capital planning processes. The cycle seems to never end.

How do you keep your sanity amidst all of that? Rolling forecasts, of course! So let’s get rolling with some considerations for implementing this technique.

Ditch Your Static Budgets

While annual operating plans (AOPs) are the norm for most organizations to level-set expectations or anchor compensation targets, such plans do very little to help with resource allocations in a dynamic business. In fact, in today’s market, I can promise you that any AOP is wrong within seconds of the final submission.

Working in a fast-paced, sophisticated organization isn’t easy. Especially if you want to respond quickly to new opportunities and risks. So many factors can change in each and every forecast period – and change quickly. What factors? Customer wins or losses. External factors like changing oil prices or interest rates. Commodity pricing. Staffing needs or inventory levels. It’s an endless list.

A rolling forecast (see figure 1) is designed to allow management to continuously plan the business. Here are a few stats from The Dresner Advisory 2019 Wisdom of Crowds EPM Market Study, which details how frequent organizations run their forecasts:

Integrated Business Planning

Best practice is to ensure rolling forecasts can extend (e.g., roll) beyond the current calendar or fiscal year. The forecasts can extend anywhere from 12 months at a time to 18 months or even up to 24 months.

The good news is that there’s more than one way to do it. What’s more important is to actually start the process.

Why? Because it pushes the organization to think differently. To think long term. And when done consistently, a rolling forecast process can eventually not only eliminate the need for an annual budget but also positively affect the DNA of an organization.

Create Focus on Business Drivers and KPIs

It’s also important to focus on what the organization actually plans for. Did you know that 50% of finance leaders report that they get little value out of their financial planning processes[2]? Why do you think this is?

It’s because static financial plans completed in isolation add little value to managers and don’t drive the Integrated Business Planningbusiness. So what does impact the business? It’s all about the underlying business drivers. Customers and market demand. Global competition. Changes in commodity prices. And sales, marketing, and supply chain plans. So If your budgeting, planning & forecasting processes don’t yet focus on business drivers or include your business partners, it may be time to also consider integrated business planning (see figure 2).

Remember, budgeting, planning & forecasting is NOT only about finance. It’s not only about revenues or expenses. It’s also about unleashing value across the organization.

It’s also about driving measurable business performance. And to do that, the organization must focus on what actually impacts the business. Part of your job as a modern finance leader is to create processes to help translate how changes in the business impact the P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow.

A driver-based rolling forecast process ensures agility, collaboration, alignment, and a focus on what drives the organization.

Align Detailed Business Plans with Financial Results

While we’re focused on the merits of a rolling forecast process, let’s not forget that organizations have to close the books and report monthly and quarterly financial results. And we know what happens if the latest results don’t come in as planned – right?

Well, if your organization still relies on a series of spreadsheets, legacy corporate performance management (CPM 1.0), or point solutions for planning – buckle up. Because your wild ride to explain how detailed operations plans align to the financials is just beginning. Sound familiar?

I’ll bet it does. Why? Because it’s you and your team whose left maintaining and reconciling data between systems. And it’s your team who is building reports to join actual, budget, and forecast data from different applications. And if there’s been any change to your organization or product hierarchy during that time, watch out. Because your roller coaster ride may never end. And by the way. All that work is required just to do the basics.

But what if there’s a better way to seamlessly close the books, report, plan and manage a rolling forecast? And no, we’re not talking connected planning here, folks. We’re talking about unified planning with a platform approach to CPM with a single application that delivers multiple solutions (CPM 2.0).

And with over 900 successful customers around the globe, OneStream’s modern CPM platform is quickly becoming the proven alternative to legacy solutions, Excel spreadsheets, and inferior cloud-based planning tools.

OneStream Unleashes the Rolling Forecast

OneStream enables finance and business leaders like you to continuously extend the platform to meet the changing needs of the business. And to integrate all of your various planning processes, OneStream’s MarketPlace extends the value of your investment with purpose-built solutions to dynamically unify sales planning, people planning, and capital planning with financial plans.

So yes – it’s possible to develop detailed, driver-based rolling forecasts at the customer level, project level, or person level. To do this in real-time with your business partners by your side. To dynamically understand the impact on the P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow. And it’s even possible to do it for multiple scenarios, in real-time and without creating a series of offline spreadsheets or moving data between “connected” modules or cubes.

Ready to Roll?

It’s no secret that speed is a key differentiator for effective CFOs. Why, because the expectations for CFOs are expanding, and the insights they deliver are now central to executing key strategies. CFOs must keep up with today’s pace of change, and use large volumes of data, coming in at a high velocity to advise business partners to make decisions that lead the organization to prosperity.

Want a great overview and real-life examples of how modern CFOs are increasing their speed and increasing their organizational value? Watch “Stay Ahead of the Game – Maximizing Intelligent Finance with Predictive Rolling Forecasting,” where Aaron Shifrin, Managing Director at Accenture, discusses how rolling forecasts and integrated planning are operationalized and enhanced with ML and AI.

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[1] https://www.wallstreetprep.com/knowledge/rolling-forecast-best-practices-guide-fpa-professionals/

[2] Ventana Research: “Let’s Talk About the Business Not Just the Budget”

In the world of accounting, and specifically when it comes to the consolidation of financial results for multiple companies that are owned by a parent company, the equity method of accounting is used to value a company’s investment in another company when it holds significant influence over the company it is investing in.  There are no consolidation and elimination processes like in the consolidation method, instead the investor will report its share of the investee’s equity as an investment. The threshold for “significant influence” is commonly a 20-50% ownership.

Under the equity method, the investment is initially recorded at historical cost, and adjustments are made to the value based on the investor’s percentage ownership in net income, loss, and dividend payouts. However, in some countries, such as the Nordics and the Netherlands, there is a twist on this method. While the rest of the world often values their investments at cost, the Dutch and others have the habit of valuing their investments at equity. The remeasurement of the investment value in the investor’s financial statements to reflect equity changes of the investee is called Equity Pickup. Read on to learn more about the Equity Pickup approach and how we have solved the problem using OneStream’s Intelligent Finance Platform platform.

What is Equity Pickup?

Usually, holding companies will report the value of their investments at cost. However, the Dutch decided to do this differently. Statutory requirements demand a Dutch entity or group to report the current ‘Net Asset Value’ (NAV) of the investment. The process to pick up the equity value of investments instead of the cost price is called ”Equity Pickup’.

Gartner Cloud FC MQ

At least, all corporations with Dutch owners or a Dutch subgroup face this requirement. Equity Pickup has often been embedded in a cumbersome manual process though, as no software solution is prepared to support it. Until now! Using OneStream’s unified CPM Software platform we were able to eliminate this manual process. This resulted in a technique that can be implemented once, then integrates and automates Equity Pickup in the financial consolidation process with one click.

Equity Pickup Automation Until Now

What we have seen in working with clients is that many software solutions only pick up the retained earnings and losses from the subsidiaries. They don’t track any other changes in equity. This means you additionally have to post annual net asset value (NAV) journals so they can report a proper statement of changes in equity. The systems are not able to split out the required detail because they do not have such detailed information. The result, however, is still not very automated.

Fully integrated Equity Pickup

A complete implementation of Equity Pickup takes into consideration that the change in equity (of the subsidiaries) occurs not just because of earnings or losses but also from other genuine movements in equity, such as FX translations, dividend payments (which reduce the equity), issue of new share capital (which increase the equity) or revaluations.

OneStream Equity Pickup

OneStream’s unified solution enables you to fully integrate Equity Pickup as part of a one-click consolidation process. The way AMCO Solutions (formerly Agium EPM) implements Equity Pickup, also accommodates for sub-consolidation and multiple consolidation passes.

Learn More

To learn more about the solution, and how we deal with maintenance and dashboard possibilities related to Equity Pickup, read Agium EPM’s whitepaper titled “Equity Pickup: A View on Automation” or contact us.

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Amazing as it may seem, 2022 marks the 10-year anniversary of OneStream’s founding.  Actually, the founders began working on the software and signed the company’s first customer in 2011, but the official formation of OneStream Software LLC occurred in 2012.  Since then, it’s been pedal to the metal acquiring new customers, hiring staff, enhancing the platform, and expanding our market presence.  Read on to learn about some of the key milestones the company has achieved over the past 10 years and what lies ahead for 2022.

Humble Beginnings

To commemorate our 10th anniversary, the company recently held a virtual meetup where employees could connect in small breakout groups to share their favorite memories from the past 10 years.  Unfortunately, the number of attendees exceeded the capabilities of the Zoom platform, so the breakouts never happened. But several memories were shared across the larger group that joined the session. Here are a few that stood out for me.

The interesting thing is that while we have all been working mostly virtually for the past 24 months, OneStream started out virtually.  Co-founder and CEO Tom Shea was in Rochester, MI, CTO Bob Powers was in Stratford, CT and President Craig Colby was in Atlanta.

OneStream Software Office Headquarters

The original Rochester, MI office was located above a sporting goods store on Main Street.  The small team was crammed into a single office, with a number of servers that were pouring out so much heat that they had to turn on the air conditioning in the winter!

CTO Bob Powers’ office was his boat, which was docked at a marina in Stratford, CT.  When he decided to hire some more staff in Stratford, Bob was able to lease some office space in a building in the marina, and we still have that office today.

OneStream Software 10 year anniversary

Bob and Tom collaborated in the development of the OneStream platform via phone for months at a time and only met in person once or twice per year in the early days.  During the meetup, Bob mentioned that his wife used to kid him about his “imaginary friend Tom” who he was speaking with all the time, but never met, so she wondered if he was a real person.

While Bob and Tom were developing the OneStream CPM software platform, they would occasionally demonstrate the latest version to the remote team, which included Craig Colby.  According to Tom Shea, as the platform was maturing Craig kept asking if he could start selling it. Wanting to make sure the platform was proven with early adopter customers before selling it more broadly, Tom suggested that Craig hold off and keep working on the website.  Which he did for several years – finally getting a chance to begin selling the software to customers in 2012.

Hitting Key Milestones

With the mission of making each customer success and a reference, OneStream started working with its first customer (Tenneco) in 2012 – implementing and enhancing the software based on their requirements.  Then it was onto the 2nd customer (AAA Life Insurance) then the third, fourth, and so on.

As the company acquired more customers, the leadership team added staff in Engineering, Support, Consulting, Sales, Marketing, IT, Finance, HR, and other functions.  But as a bootstrapped company that was funded by the founders, the leadership team was careful not to get too far ahead of itself on hiring.  Here are some of the key milestones that were achieved over the past 10 years.

2012:  OneStream Software LLC is formed.

2013: OneStream hosts its first Splash user conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

2014: OneStream announced its expanded US headquarters with a new office in Rochester, Michigan, and added offices in Stratford, CT, and Western Europe to accommodate its explosive growth in customers and staff.  This facility debuted with ample space to house the headquarters staff, a training center, basketball court, fitness center, and other amenities for employees.

OneStream Software Office Headquarters ribbon cutting

2015:  The true test of a platform is whether it’s extensible.  In 2015 OneStream launched its innovative solutions MarketPlace, an “apps store” concept that enables customers and partners to download, configure, and deploy additional solutions to quickly address new requirements and extend their investment in the OneStream platform.

XF-marketplace-solution-center

2016:  OneStream hit a key milestone, acquiring its 100th customer in 2016.  In addition, the company opened its Manchester, UK office to provide improved local support for its growing customer base in EMEA.

2018: OneStream held its first Splash user conference in EMEA in Amsterdam. OneStream Software also was ranked 212th Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte’s 2018 Technology Fast 500™.

2019:  KKR Investment and Unicorn status.  OneStream entered into an agreement to receive a significant investment from KKR and a valuation of over $1.0 billion.  OneStream was also recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Financial Close Solutions and Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Cloud FP&A Solutions.

2020:  OneStream acquired its 500th customer in early 2020, was recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud FP&A Solutions, and Best Workplace by Inc. Magazine and ComputerWorld.  The company also reported record revenue growth in Q3 in spite of the global pandemic.

What’s coming in 2022

The year 2021 included continued momentum for OneStream, reaching $200M in ARR, adding 250 customers to take us over 900 globally, and hiring our 1000th employee.  In 2022, we expect to acquire our 1000th customer, open a new headquarters office in Birmingham, MI and we’re looking forward to hosting over 1500 customers, partners, employees, and other guests at our Splash User Conference and Partner Summit May 23 – 26th in San Antonio, TX.

Click here to learn more and to register for Splash 2022!

The end of the calendar year is an interesting time for those working in the Accounting and Finance departments.  Of course, there’s a general excitement and rushing around to get ready for the December holidays. But for most organizations, it’s also the end of the fiscal year. That means the end of the annual budgeting process and the start of the year-end financial close and reporting process.  Both of those year-end closing procedures can account for bringing a lot of extra work and stress to layer on top of the holiday-related stress.

Many of us here at OneStream came from the Accounting and Finance profession and have experienced the complexity and stress of annual budgeting, completing the year-end checklist for accounting, close, and other time-consuming tasks during this period.  And we have made it our life’s work to help ease the pain and stress of these year-end closing processes for our customers through the OneStream platform and our MarketPlace of productivity and business solutions.

So for those of you who haven’t made the leap from pulling data from spreadsheets, year-end closing checklists, and legacy CPM applications to OneStream’s unified platform, here’s a little year-end closing gift.  This is a song written by one of our staff team members, Terese Wylie, that will hopefully lift your spirits in your office as you start the year-end closing process.

The 12 Days of Year-End Close (sung to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas)

On the first day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “We should have licensed OneStream.”

On the second day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me, “We have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream”

On the third day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me, “Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream”

On the fourth day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream”


 
On the fifth day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Five Irritating Auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream”

On the sixth day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Six IT supports are ignoring me, Five irritating auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream” 

On the seventh day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Seven spreadsheets are not linking, Six IT supports are ignoring me, Five irritating auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream” 


 
On the eighth day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Eight formulas are causing errors, Seven spreadsheets are not linking, Six IT supports are ignoring me, Five irritating auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream” 

On the ninth day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Nine accounts are out of balance, Eight formulas are causing errors, Seven spreadsheets are not linking, Six IT supports are ignoring me, Five irritating auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream” 


 
On the tenth day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Ten accountants are crying, Nine accounts are out of balance, Eight formulas are causing errors, Seven spreadsheets are not linking, Six IT supports are ignoring me, Five irritating auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream” 

On the eleventh day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Eleven reports are not tying, Ten accountants are crying, Nine accounts are out of balance, Eight formulas are causing errors, Seven spreadsheets are not linking, Six IT supports are ignoring me, Five irritating auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and we should have licensed OneStream”

On the twelfth day of Year-End Close, my CFO said to me “Only 12 months to our next year-end close, Eleven reports are not tying, Ten accountants crying, Nine accounts out of balance, Eight formulas are causing errors, Seven spreadsheets are not linking, Six IT supports are ignoring me, Five irritating auditors! Four managers are leaving, Three subs have not submitted, we have Two more topside entries and WE SHOULD HAVE LICENSED ONESTREAM!”

Happy New Year everyone! Download our Reimagine the Close White Paper and feel free to contact OneStream if you need help relieving the stress of your next year-end closing.

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