Moving from HFM to OneStream: User Insights and Experiences

This piece was written by Peter Wilson at Inlumi.

For a long time, Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) was the leading consolidation enterprise performance management (EPM) solution. Why? Quite simply, HFM was both a reliable tool for producing consolidated accounts and a major tool for the largest companies in markets worldwide. Then HFM became the proverbial hammer where every problem became a nail — meaning organizations using HFM saw every finance process as a consolidation. Many companies started using HFM for planning processes, only to realize its limitations.

OneStream was developed without those limitations — to be both a platform and a solution designed for consolidation. By design, OneStream supports the planning and forecast processes but also extends to other use cases through leading-edge architecture.

Many companies now look to OneStream for help to do the following:

1. Reduce the amount of reconciliation required between consolidated actuals data and forecasts and plans.
2. Support processes with a workflow within the system that aligns with the way companies collect, calculate, and report their data.

In this blog, we spoke to a few of our clients who’ve made the move from HFM to OneStream to get their perspectives on the process and changes each one experienced.

The Finance Leader

A large retail conglomerate in the Nordics.

A large challenge with HFM is that the business had changed significantly after implementing the solution. Then the messaging about HFM’s end-of-life path triggered discussions about what was and wasn’t working. As a result, the organization realized its biggest pain points: the multiple data integrations, re-mappings, master data updates, data movements between HFM, and planning and reconciliation issues. If the goal were to move forward, the organization needed to address all these issues, and a modern platform was always going to be vital.

Another challenge with HFM is the fragmentation of reporting and limited real-time insight due to HFM’s inability to drill down to the source data. When reporting packs must be produced with charts and other graphics, the data must be extracted and put into another application to generate reports.

Moving away from HFM is a large step for a business that had come to rely on HFM as the primary system of trusted data for regulatory reporting. Even knowing the technology was no longer a leader and the concern over HFM’s end-of-life , the decision was still not an easy one to make. But moving forward is ultimately impossible without that initial step.

Implementing OneStream has ultimately ushered in a sea change in the way the business consumes data. Since OneStream is a unified platform, data collection and reporting are now seamless. OneStream really does provide a single source of truth for financial data. Plus, having to rely less on third-party tools has been a real bonus.

Reporting improved a great deal, too. After the switch to OneStream, real-time insights now feed into scenario planning to adapt to changing market conditions and organizational needs.

Scalability is no longer a concern, either, and updates to the system are much smoother and less time-consuming. That’s true whether the updates are to accommodate new entities, add new currencies, or add functionality to handle new regulations.

According to the CFO, the team feels like OneStream has freed up time, allowing them to focus more on strategy and less on operations. The close is happening faster as well, a direct result of greater transparency in how the numbers are calculated. In addition, decision-making has been enhanced and modelling the financial impacts of changes to the company, either acquisitions or investments, is much faster.

The biggest benefit, though, is the feeling of being in control of the numbers. Regulatory compliance is now less of a concern, and reporting under different reporting regimes is transparent and straightforward.

The key thing users learned from the implementation was ensuring the necessary work was done up front. For instance, all team members were freed up to focus on the project and trained in OneStream. Those steps ensured everyone could make meaningful contributions to the design of the solution. Still, data migration was a bit challenging due to needing to migrate only the data necessary for the reporting required. Most users decide on just one year for comparative data to reduce time spent reconciling increasingly outdated data.

For other CFOs implementing OneStream, it is recommended to treat the shift from HFM as a big cultural shift. CFOs should also bring everyone along on a collective journey that includes teams like IT, administrators, and users.

The Users

Users generally had a positive view of HFM, at least initially after implementation. As time passed, however, users considered HFM to be rigid and heavily reliant on technical support for customizations (e.g., changes to forms).

HFM was good as a single repository serving as the single source of data, but increasingly more tasks required manual offline work in Excel. While Excel will always be popular with accountants, the tasks users needed to perform were things that OneStream could handle much better. Users also found the investigation of data inconsistencies to be much easier with native drill-down and drill-through capabilities to investigate data down to the source.

Another key benefit users highlighted was the workflows. Here’s what users liked:

1. Being guided through the steps in the reporting process — for example, importing source data from the ledger or providing analysis on balance sheet movements.
2. Seeing only the relevant workflow for the entities being reporting on.
3. Having the workflows split between those for inputting data and reviewing levels to ensure data is complete and correct.
4. Having intercompany reconciliation reports incorporated directly into review workflow.
5. Being able to easily sign off on data.

Beyond those benefits, one of the main differentiating factors in OneStream is the “extensibility” of the dimensions (i.e., the accounts and other splits of data). In most OneStream solutions, dimensions are extended to make data collection and calculation more efficient. That efficiency maintains a lean data model that makes for faster reports while retaining access to all data in the application.

Being able to incorporate multiple business areas and accommodate specific planning and reporting models through these extended dimensions gives control of master data to the relevant owners of the process rather than relying on a group administrator. This control also prevents disruption of the corporate data model and reporting.

According to users, extensibility was a difficult concept when first introduced, but now they don’t even think about it. The data they want is there where and when they want it, and the reports can easily incorporate charts and be updated quickly and easily.

The transition from HFM to OneStream was made easier by a few factors:

1. Training: Users received training early in the project to implement OneStream, which gave them the knowledge to contribute to the design and smoothed the jump to OneStream.
2. Extra functionality in the Excel Add-In: The extra functionality meant almost all OneStream functions were available in Excel. The drill down of data straight from Excel was mentioned by a few users. Overall, users felt the input of data and reporting were very intuitive.

The key takeaway from moving to OneStream is the realization of how much time was spent on validating data that was correct and making manual adjustments. Users got used to the OneStream platform quickly, and it made them more efficient in their jobs. Especially, users could look at, improve, and tailor OneStream to their processes. Technology is important, but it’s not the only thing that matters in EPM.

Ultimately, OneStream feels more intelligent than HFM. Using HFM made it feel like data was passively consumed and then reported. With OneStream, the platform empowers users to get more from their data.

System Administrators

System administrators have provided feedback on their experiences before, during, and after the implementation of OneStream.

Before implementing OneStream, there was a lot of manual administration around HFM. Having to schedule changes to the metadata and rules and have everyone out of the system before making changes made managing HFM difficult. Plus, HFM upgrades were time-consuming and required significant effort and testing. On the few instances that issues required support, the process was lengthy.

The implementation of OneStream was made easier by having the administrators involved in the project from the beginning. They could provide invaluable insight into and the rationale for current practices, even if the reasons were not great. Administrators could also feed into the design and learn OneStream at a practical level through the project. Again, training early in the project was immensely beneficial.

The following key areas were identified by multiple customers as a major improvement:

1. Ease and speed of upgrades: OneStream can be upgraded in as little as a few hours and causes little disruption.
2. Auditability of everything: Users often ask for reports and other data to prove where data originated or see any changes to the application — actions that are now all self-service from a preloaded reporting dashboard.
3. Easy monitoring and maintenance: Monitoring and maintaining the application is much easier with tools like System Diagnostics, a free tool from the OneStream Solution Exchange.

OneStream is a much bigger, more capable solution than HFM. Despite having self-contained functionality, HFM was still a complex, aging piece of software. OneStream is the best of breed in next-generation technology. Not to mention, the solution is continually being developed with performance enhancements in each major release. These updates are designed to handle the greater uses that companies are placing on their CPM software to get more value from data.

“We are now two years live with OneStream, and it is without a doubt a comprehensively better tool than HFM. As a consolidation and FP&A tool. It is more agile, reliable and performant than HFM ever was, with administrators, business stakeholders and end users unanimously satisfied.

“As a platform, it’s basically limited to the business’s imagination – so much so that OneStream has become the strategic tool for Stora Enso. The value add for decision-makers in the business comes from a wide range of factors: quicker closes (due to improved performance and less down time for server reboots, etc.), enhanced scenario modeling (custom dashboards and SML), costs savings (migrating reporting outside of consolidation tool into OneStream Platform), simple upgrades that OneStream supports with a dedicated Project Manager, and overall improved process and UI.”

- Alexander Harder – OneStream Administrator – Stora Enso

The Implementation Partner

From an implementation partner perspective, there are some common factors in projects that have a direct bearing on the degree of success when replacing HFM with OneStream:

• Eliminating process inefficiencies: Switching to OneStream is the perfect time to address process inefficiencies. While OneStream can accommodate any process, identifying and removing pain points will lead to greater benefits.
• Underestimating change management: Without effective change management, resistance to the implementation can emerge. Sponsorship from key stakeholders is vital, as is taking users on the journey and explaining the benefits, which helps get buy-in and frame the change as positive. Efficient use of business time is also essential — people are busy and want to help, but also have other commitments.
• Engaging with experts: Business engagement is integral to success, so engaging with experts in the business is crucial. Having dedicated resources, who have had their positions backfilled when necessary, will ensure all the knowledge needed for the project to be successful is readily available.
• Ensuring design simplicity: In design, it is commonly said that perfection isn’t when there’s nothing left to add, but rather when there’s nothing left to remove. Adopting a simple but flexible design will avoid future rework. Conversely, adapting existing elements will almost certainly guarantee rework in the future
• Preparing and planning: Preparation should start before the switch to OneStream with envisioning the result, identifying pain points, addressing what needs to be changed, and determining who should be involved. The process, people, data, and technology change should all be considered. Taking these steps will ensure a design that works for the business and an implementation that is set up for success.

Conclusion

OneStream removes many of the limitations of HFM and has a modern, scalable architecture. With OneStream, organizations can handle more data at greater levels of granularity without sacrificing performance. Prebuilt solutions can also be added for no extra cost, extending the functionality to include specialist planning modules (e.g., headcount planning).

Gartner has named OneStream as Leader in the Magic Quadrant report for three years in a row for a reason. OneStream is at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) implementation with Sensible ML, which helps businesses plan with greater accuracy and gain more functionality. In the past, technology advanced to support finance processes. We’re now entering a phase where technology, specifically AI, is driving those changes. Since older technology like HFM can’t integrate new technologies like AI, users risk being left behind as the world moves on.

Users who instead decide to move from HFM to OneStream will go through the process of learning about and discovering what the platform offers. It truly has endless possibilities that will grow with the business.

Learn More

If you’re ready to make the move from HFM to OneStream and start your Finance Transformation, visit onestream.com and request a demo today!