#Japan #Workday #Tokyo #UENO GROUP #Shearwater Japan

Ueno Group Holdings Embraces Digital Transformation with Workday Adaptive Planning

Ueno Group Holdings has recently taken a significant step towards enhancing its financial management by adopting Workday Adaptive Planning, a comprehensive management accounting platform provided by Workday. This decision, facilitated by Shearwater Japan, seeks to improve investment management and corporate planning capabilities amid the complexities arising from business expansion and varied investment opportunities.

Previous Challenges in Management Accounting

As Ueno Group expanded its business and diversified its investment portfolio, it faced the pressing need for a robust system capable of comparing and analyzing investment projects across the group. Understanding future financial impacts with greater accuracy has become a priority, fostering a need for cohesive management of mid-term business plans, investment strategies, and capital efficiency. The ongoing complexities of evaluating the potential profitability and financial health of prospective investments necessitated a more sophisticated approach to management.

Standardizing the processes involved in updating and analyzing management data has also posed a challenge, as quick responsiveness to shifting business environments is crucial. Consequently, the organization found itself investing substantial resources in determining priorities among various investment opportunities while assessing available financial capacities. Achieving sustainable growth and strengthening fiscal health at an elevated level remains an essential goal.

A Strategic Direction for Problem Solving

In light of anticipated investment growth and business scaling, Ueno Group Holdings pursued the digital transformation of its entire management system, including investment decision-making. Key considerations for improvement included:

• - Centralized management of investment project data, enabling comparative analysis across multiple cases.
• - Clear visualization showing how investment decisions impact future profitability and financial stability.
• - Linking planning information across group companies to enhance future business projection and performance monitoring.
• - Establishing a standardized process for updating, aggregating, and analyzing management information, ensuring relevant departments can utilize necessary data.

The aim is to build a flexible management framework that can adapt to changes arising from new business opportunities and mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

The Adoption Process of Adaptive Planning

The exploration of a new management accounting system began last autumn, triggered by the growing complexities associated with rising investment sizes due to market inflation and increased numbers of M&A deals. As existing operational methodologies proved insufficient, Ueno Group engaged in detailed discussions with Shearwater Japan and Workday. Through comprehensive assessments and demonstrations over a span of three months, Ueno Group selected Workday Adaptive Planning as their preferred solution.

Key Factors in Selecting the Management Accounting Tool

In comparing various tools, the decisive factors in adopting Workday Adaptive Planning included:

• - A focus not solely on cost but on the effectiveness and capability of establishing a functional management foundation to address corporate challenges.
• - A phased approach, initially centering on investment management and decision support, with aspirations of extending its applications across various planning models and financial metrics over time.
• - The ability to compare multiple investment projects using a standardized format, visualizing impacts on balance sheets and cash flows.
• - A system designed not just for P/L aggregation but capable of managing B/S and cash flow analysis, facilitating improvements in overall financial health.
• - Flexibility to adapt and expand system capabilities in response to organizational changes, enabling teams to leverage their knowledge effectively.

The choice to implement Workday Adaptive Planning was further reinforced by its adaptability to evolving business strategies and its alignment with Ueno Group's long-term vision.

Achieving Consensus Within the Organization

Positioning the implementation of Workday Adaptive Planning as the foundation for sustained growth and financial robustness rather than merely a technical upgrade proved instrumental in fostering agreement among internal stakeholders.

By outlining phased integration, which includes:
1. Phase 1: Comprehensive comparison and prioritization of investment projects.
2. Phase 2: Modeling mid-term business plans and connecting to consolidated financial metrics.
3. Phase 3: Expanding to a consolidated viewpoint and implementing performance management processes.

This provided clarity on the benefits and future potential use of the system across key departments, including finance, IT, and business management.

Future Prospects

As Ueno Group Holdings progresses, they intend to gradually expand the utilization of Workday Adaptive Planning by:
1. Visualizing the impacts of executing or forgoing investments on profit and financial metrics group-wide.
2. Building a model reflective of mid-term business plans and demand forecasts to identify critical drivers over time.
3. Continuously improving planning accuracy through varied analytical applications within the system.

Ultimately, Ueno Group aims to achieve a comprehensive framework for managing planning accuracy from strategy formulation through execution and evaluation, creating a cohesive management environment.

Understanding Workday Adaptive Planning

Workday Adaptive Planning is a leading management platform designed to streamline governance of budgeting, forecasting, and future outlook management. Unlike traditional methods confined to financial or planning departments, this platform allows organizations to operate flexibly without requiring extensive programming. Its recent enhancements also integrate artificial intelligence to support decision-making capabilities.

AI Features

• - Adaptive Decision Intelligence: Offers a customizable AI-powered workspace to evaluate forecast discrepancies, conduct powerful data analyses, and model complex scenarios.

• - Predictive Forecaster: Enhances demand forecasting accuracy using historical and external datasets paired with machine learning.

• - Elastic Hypercube Technology (EHT): Provides real-time, high-speed execution for large-scale scenario analyses across multiple locations and currencies.

With these tools, Ueno Group Holdings is poised to strengthen its operational framework and remain competitive in an evolving market landscape.

For more information about Shearwater Japan and this initiative, visit their website.