MEC Global Switches to OneStream, Cuts Late Night Workloads

When your company's financial consolidation software is off support, is unstable, and is forcing workarounds due to its limited capabilities – that's a good sign that it's time to upgrade to a modern solution. This was the case at MEC Global, who replaced Hyperion Enterprise with OneStream XF for financial consolidation and reporting, budgeting and cash flow forecasting.



A Global Company on the Cutting Edge

MEC Holding GmbH, with headquarters in Bad Soden, Germany, manufactures and supplies industrial welding consumables and services, cutting systems, and medical instruments for OEMs in Germany and internationally. The company operates through three units: Castolin Eutectic Systems, Messer Cutting Systems, and BIT Analytical Instruments. MEC Global has over 2900 employees in 36 countries, and generates over €500M in annual revenue.

Challenges with Hyperion Enterprise

MEC Global was using Oracle's Hyperion Enterprise for financial consolidation and reporting. As an unsupported and aging solution, the software was becoming unstable and was losing data at critical times. This was slowing down the period-end close and consolidation process as users had to re-enter data and adjustments. In addition, due to its limited dimensionality the system was no longer supporting the reporting and analysis needs of the business. They needed something more flexible.

OneStream Provides a Single Platform for Consolidation, Reporting, Planning and More

After evaluating other solutions offered by Oracle, MEC Global selected OneStream XF based on its unified architecture, and ability to handle the consolidation of actual results, budgets and audit details all in a single application.

After initially deploying OneStream XF for financial consolidation and reporting of actual financial results, MEC Global extended their use of the application to cash flow forecasting, collection of auditing information and loading budgets. The next phase of the project will include moving the budgeting data collection process into OneStream, replacing Excel and email. The system is used for monthly management reporting at the division and corporate levels, as well as for budget reporting for external stakeholders.

Benefits Accrue Quickly

MEC Global went live with OneStream XF for financial consolidation and reporting within 6 months of starting the project. By allowing remote users to load their data directly, and through automation and improved collaboration around intercompany reconciliations, the company has streamlined the monthly financial consolidation and reporting process and improved data quality. Eliminating manual steps in the process has allowed the Finance team more time to reviewing and analyzing data, and has improved visibility into financial and operating results by line of business.

"With the need to report to shareholders by the 5th business day after month-end, using Hyperion required the Finance team to spend many late nights." Said Steffi Joseph, Corporate Accountant at MEC Global. "There are no longer any late nights with OneStream. We have gained at least a day during month-end, because we don't have load up the accounts for users anymore."

The next phase of the deployment for MEC Global includes expanding the system to support budget data collection, and the company is evaluating the opportunity to use OneStream to support the collection and reporting of lease information under IFRS 16.

To learn more, read the complete MEC Global case study on our web site. And feel free to contact OneStream if it's time to upgrade your legacy consolidation, reporting or planning application to a modern platform. John O'Rourke is Vice President of Product Marketing at OneStream Software. With a background in accounting and finance, John has over 30 years of experience in the software industry, including 20 years of experience in product marketing at Hyperion Solutions, Oracle and Host Analytics. He has worked with many customers and partners on financial reporting and planning initiatives and has spoken and written on many topics in corporate performance management. John has also held positions in strategic marketing and product marketing at Dun & Bradstreet Software, Kenan Systems and Decisyon.

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