Jonathan Cunliffe Group IT Projects Manager United Business Media Group Reporting Project

United Business Media Who are United Business Media?

United Business Media A leading provider of business information services to the technology, healthcare, media, automotive, financial services and property industries Provide services in news distribution, market research, publishing and events to customers across the globe Brands include:  PR Newswire - world’s leading corporate news distribution service  NOP World, one of the largest market research groups globally  CMP, the B2B media and exhibition group operating in the US, UK, Asia and Europe.

Major UBM Products

UBM Media Channels

United Business Media What size of system were we implementing?

United Business Media For Group Reporting, Divisions report to Head Office  10 Divisional Offices in US  2 Divisional Offices in UK  1 Divisional Office in Asia  Head Office operations in Ireland, Luxembourg, NY and London 25 divisional users of the system plus Head Office staff

The Project and its Drivers When and why did the project start?

The Project and its Drivers Decided to replace Group Reporting system Main Drivers were:  End of life of existing application  Looking for enhanced analysis and production reporting capabilities for group management  Statutory and Management applications to sit on 1 platform  Wanted to automate cash flow  Required more real-time validation checks  Aiming for improved inter-company reconciliation  Wanted integration with local accounting applications such as Oracle GLs  Looking for quicker system operation in general From beginning considered Project Management methods

Software Selection What steps did we take to select the vendor and software?

Software Selection First collected “feature” requirements using Use-Case modelling Drew up a list of all known vendors 20+ and then using a Gartner survey, narrowed this down to 5 Initial introduction to each of these products and requirements sent to vendors Utilised scripted scenarios Cartesis Magnitude was chosen as most suitable product for our requirements on this particular project

Selection of the Vendor and Software Why did we choose Cartesis?

Selection of the Vendor and Software Why did we choose Cartesis?  The Magnitude software met our feature requirements  Specifically Intercompany Reconciliation was better  Cartesis showed best understanding our particular requirements  Known quantity as a supplier long relationship with UBM

Selection of the Vendor and Software What were the challenges?

Selection of the Vendor and Software Challenges:  Getting stakeholders to buy in to the process  Trying to remove prejudice towards/against certain products  Concentrating on our requirements rather than being impressed by features that were not actually useful to us

Project Management Approach What project management approach did we take?

Project Management Approach Used PRINCE2 Project Method, which revolves around:  Management by exception  Defining the requirements  Having representatives from the users, suppliers and the business  Has a project manager and project assurance  Actively manages risks and issues  Puts in place a clear communications plan  Focuses on quality checking  Has specific planning techniques Timing was not ideal But the Project Method did deliver and is being used on many other projects now

Stakeholders

DCFO CFO Group Head of Accounts And Divisional Users Group Financial Systems Analyst And Cartesis Project Manager from US HO Group IT Projects Manager Internal and external team managers

Results and Benefits What did we get from the project?

Results and Benefits Faster consolidation – from hours to seconds Enhanced usability and interface Up-to-date software Running on industry standard databases Significantly greater detail of data Many more reporting/analysis options – company/FX simulation More flexible to update company and account structures than previous application Platform upon which we can expand our management systems

Key Lessons Learned What were the key lessons to learn for the future?

Key Lessons Learned As part of PRINCE2 process an End Project Review Lessons Learned - 5 main areas  Understand the method to be used and treat project roles seriously  Do not under-resource from the start  Do not start project until user requirements agreed and signed  Manage risks - but also give each an owner  Operate a dual-level communication channel with vendor

Future Steps What are we going to do next?

Future Steps Launch our Statutory part of the system with IFRS capability for interims, followed by US GAAP capability for year end Refinement Project – to enhance the applications further to remove some areas where we evolved the system Roll out Magnitude management system for one of our divisions CMP Medica  Additional 30 Offices  Subset of our Group Application so quicker development  Possibly explore this model for other group companies Ensure the applications are SOX compliant for next year Consider Magnitude for planning, forecasting and budgeting

Summary In summary…

Summary Challenging at times and many lessons learned Overall has been a successful implementation Project Team now fully understands the benefits of Project Management You may be able to benefit from our experience Questions…