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Project Details

SFU

Streamlining the campus wide budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes

  • Client Info:

    Microsoft App Holing Ltd,Australia Area

  • Project Handover:

    October 25th, 2024 in Square Hall New York.

  • Services:

    IT Consultation, Design Cloud Management

  • Live Project:

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Simon Fraser University – Campus-Wide Budgeting and Ministry Reporting

Background and Objectives

In 2016 Simon Fraser University (SFU) issued an RFP for a new budgeting and ministry reporting system. As the successful proponent, John engaged his team to implement SFU’s new system campus wide. The primary objectives were to implement a robust system capable of multi-year budgeting, precise workforce planning, and a comprehensive financial reporting package to meet both internal and external requirements, including those of the Ministry of Education.

Solution Overview

The implementation team, led by Juan Alvarez, developed an integrated solution using multiple Oracle/Hyperion EPM applications tailored to SFU’s needs. The core components of the system include:

  • Workforce Planning
  • Financial Planning
  • Ministry Reporting

Additionally, an Oracle Essbase-powered data mart was created for ad-hoc reporting, enhancing SFU’s analytical capabilities.

System Features and Benefits

1. Multi-Year Budgeting and Rolling Forecasts
  • Benefit: The system supports five-year budgeting and 12-month rolling forecasts, allowing SFU to plan strategically and adapt to organizational changes.
  • Detail: It accommodates reorganizations and holds multiple budget scenarios, including working, approved, adjusted, and mid-year budgets. This flexibility supports strategic decision-making and long-term financial planning.
2. Comprehensive Workforce Planning
  • Benefit: Improved precision in workforce management through detailed position and employee-based planning.
  • Detail: Integrating with PeopleSoft, the application pulls essential data (e.g., employee info, salaries, benefits) and manages step grades, wage increases, bargaining units, and headcount reconciliation.
3. Effective Management of Funding Sources
  • Benefit: Ensures financial transparency and accountability by tracking various funding sources and their allocations.
  • Detail: The system manages multiple funding sources, project fund allocations, and tracks spending, meeting the stringent reporting requirements of the Public Sector Accounting Board of Canada (PSAB).
4. Enhanced Reporting Capabilities
  • Benefit: Facilitates detailed and accurate reporting to meet internal and external requirements, including ministry-level reporting.
  • Detail: The system allows consolidation of budget data, enabling the Budget Office to make adjustments at a consolidated level while budget users forecast and budget at a detailed level.
5. Ad-Hoc Reporting with Oracle Essbase
  • Benefit: Provides robust analytical capabilities for ad-hoc reporting needs, extending the limited reporting available through their data warehouse.
  • Detail: The Essbase-powered data mart enables detailed analysis and reporting, supporting data-driven decision-making.
6. Support for Multiple Scenarios and Historical Data Management
  • Benefit: Allows SFU to explore multiple what-if scenarios (sandboxing) and manage historical data efficiently.
  • Detail: This capability is crucial for strategic planning and adapting to future changes through the software’s ability to store and compare multiple scenarios.

Outcome

The implementation of our solution has significantly streamlined SFU’s budgeting and reporting processes. The system’s ability to handle multi-year budgeting, detailed workforce planning, and comprehensive financial tracking has resulted in greater financial transparency, accountability, and strategic flexibility. SFU can now efficiently manage its resources and meet the stringent reporting requirements set by the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders.

This case study illustrates the successful application of our Oracle/Hyperion EPM expertise in transforming SFU’s budgeting and reporting landscape, providing a scalable and efficient solution that aligns with the university’s strategic objectives.

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Tom comes to BluMarble after stints at Oracle, AST, and IBM. He has over 10 years Oracle EPM experience, specifically in the marketing and selling of services to Canadian organizations.  Customers he has worked with include SaskTel, ATCO, Telus, BC Housing, and the University of Alberta.   Tom is responsible for helping us evangelize BluMarble’s capabilities, both with the Oracle Sales organization and with prospective customers.

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Dheeraj has over 15 years of experience with the Oracle EPM product set and has worked on many successful Oracle engagements across Canada.  With BluMarble, Dheeraj leads our team of Oracle EPM consultants and is currently working on three EPM initiatives at Lululemon. These include a Strategic Planning model, Master Data Management with EDMCS, and a Sales Analysis application.  He also led our infrastructure project at the City of Calgary.

Dheeraj started his Hyperion career in Infrastructure support at Technolab’s support lab in Montevideo and was responsible for numerous Hyperion on-premise installations and upgrades.  He joined Technolab Canada in 2013, and worked with customers such as UBC, InterPipeline, ATCO, Barrick Gold, and Telus.  After leaving the Hackett Group in 2017, he joined KPMG as a senior implementation consultant.  In addition to being a lead developer on the TD project with Juan, he also worked under Juan at a large Oracle EPM implementation at Metrolinx.

Dheeraj’s mission is to deliver successful projects using our EPM methodology and mentor a new generation of BluMarble Oracle EPM consultants.

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Karen also has over 15 years of experience implementing and supporting Oracle EPM clients. She has a perfect blend of technical and application skills, that along with a strong ability to communicate allows her to understand what is necessary to lead our Managed Services team and deliver these services to our client base.

Karen also started her Hyperion career with CIS in Mexico and joined Technolab Canada in 2015.  She worked closely under Juan’s leadership in a number of implementation projects including Telus, ATCO, and TD Bank.  Her mission is to build a strong Managed Services practice that supports our clients and ensures business continuity.

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Stephanie comes to us from Numinus, where she was executive assistant to the CEO.  Prior to Numinus, she spent 12 years with BC Housing in various business development and EA positions.

Stephanie’s role at BluMarble is to support the administration and marketing of our firm.  She brings her high energy and creative spirit, along with a high level of professionalism to her work.

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John Brkopac is CEO and co-founder of BluMarble. John previously held management positions at Arbor Software, Hyperion and Oracle. His focus was the (now legendary) Essbase multidimensional database, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Performance Management.

Prior to BluMarble, John founded Technolab Canada in 2009.  Technolab’s focus was the delivery of Hyperion Implementation Services, Managed Services, and Infrastructure Services.  The firm had a string of successful Hyperion implementations including projects at UBC, Teck Resources, Atco, SFU, and Telus.  In addition, Technolab developed a large roster of Managed Services clients that included Barrick Gold, SunLife, Enerplus, Yamana Gold, and Fairfax Financial.  Techolab Canada was acquired by the Hackett Group in 2014.

John’s mission is to develop BluMarble as the premier Oracle Implementation and support services firm in Canada.  This means being singularly solely on Oracle EPM and developing a culture deep in Oracle experience and success.  He is committed to building a firm that values and develops people.  And ensuring those people have the expertise and mentoring to deliver success in the projects they are assigned.

On a personal note, John resides in Vancouver and has been involved with Toastmasters since 1999.  He earned his Distinguished Toastmaster designation in 2019.  John joined his first “men’s group” in 2008 and currently mentors young men in both their business careers and personal lives.  He has a long association with personal development, starting with NLP in the mid 1980’s.  He is long time practitioner of the Wim Hof method, biohacking, and pushing the envelope.  You can find him cold dipping in Lynn Creek most every Saturday morning.

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He was responsible for managing a team of EPM implementation consultants across Canada.  His successes include a one year project with TD Bank, migrating their extensive library of Hyperion applications (Essbase, Planning, HFM, DRM) to the Cloud.

Juan joined John at Technolab Canada in 2011 as Hyperion architect after almost 10 years of implementing Hyperion with CIS, the largest Hyperion implementation firm in Latin America.  Working on large scale implementation projects, Juan developed his EPM specific methodology which incorporates best practices in what to do and what not to do in implementations.  He brings this approach to BluMarble with clients such as First Nations Health, Lululemon, and the City of Calgary.

Juan’s mission has been, and continues to be, the development and mentoring of our personnel into expert Oracle EPM consultants.  This entails building their technical, domain, and interpersonal skills to successfully architect solutions to our customers problems and develop strong trusted relationships with our customer’s personnel.  Juan has also taken on the responsibility of incorporating BluMarble Mexico, allowing BluMarble to grow a near shore Oracle EPM practice to augment our Canadian resources.

On a personal note, Juan resides in Toronto and is a big fan of the Toronto Blue Jays. He has a love of running and has competed in many competitive events.  Notables are full marathons in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Mexico City, as well as a half marathon in Edmonton.  Juan has a passion for Real Estate and manages a real estate investment firm in Mexico.

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Luis manages BluMarble's Mexican operations.  He has 15 years Oracle EPM experience and is fully bilingual (English/Spanish).  Luis spent 10 years in Canada working with John and Juan architecting EPM systems before returning to Mexico.  He has worked in projects with diverse Canadian clients such as Simon Fraser University, ATCO, and Interpipeline.  Luis is also an expert in Robotic Process Automation software and processes (RPA) and incorporates this technology in many of the projects he leads.

When not developing systems, Luis is a big baseball fan and plays softball in a recreational men's league.  He is also a musician and enjoys playing Rock n' Roll om his guitar.

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