Global Brass and Copper Scraps Oracle HFM for OneStream Cloud

Moving financial close and consolidation processes to the cloud is a critical decision for organizations today – and there is much to consider before getting started. If you’re an Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) customer, it may feel like the natural selection to move to Oracle’s EPM Cloud. But is it the right decision for your organization? Going blindly into a cloud deployment can have serious ramifications. As Global Brass and Copper recently learned, moving to the Oracle EPM cloud would not solve their existing issues with HFM. Instead, they ditched Oracle for a modern solution – OneStream’s cloud-based corporate performance management (CPM) platform. This is their story…

No Time for Financial Data Analysis
Global Brass and Copper Holdings, Inc. is a leading, value-added converter, fabricator, processor and distributor of specialized non-ferrous metal products, employing 1,900 people across 16 facilities throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Before OneStream, Global Brass and Copper was using a historical system of multiple Hyperion products, which was set up very poorly, with manual processes and limited visibility or controls. The team struggled to get that value-added analysis of financial information that is critical in any business. According to Shawn Tasman, Senior Manager of Finance at Global Brass and Copper, “We were spending 90% of our time putting the data in and maybe 10% – if we were lucky – on analysis, which was a complete disservice to our organization.”

The sheer time it took for Tasman and his team to get through their data collection, financial close and consolidation processes was grueling. Plus, there was a high potential for manual data entry errors. Unsatisfied with HFM and FDM, Global Brass and Copper decided it was time to look for an automated corporate performance management (CPM) platform with solid controls in place.

The Ultimate Cloud Decision
With multiple ERP systems across several business units – each with their own IT department – Global Brass and Copper was challenged with managing multiple de-centralized data sources. They needed a CPM solution that would streamline data loading processes through powerful automation.

It was a long selection process which included many different systems including SAP BPC, Oracle EPM  Cloud and more. Since they were already on HFM, it seemed natural for Global Brass and Copper to move to the Oracle EPM Cloud. That was until OneStream was brought in.

What put OneStream at the top of Tasman’s list was its modern, unified platform. Being able to easily implement multiple solutions for planning, forecasting, task management within the same platform was a major economic benefit and a driving factor in his decision to implement OneStream XF Cloud.

Enahnced Consolidation and Reporting via the XF Cloud
Global Brass and Copper is currently using OneStream XF for financial close, consolidation and reporting. The organization redid its entire chart of accounts in OneStream, creating a clean slate completely independent from their previous Hyperion setup. For Tasman, this would help ensure confidence in their reporting structure, with less time spent checking data and more time allowed for evaluating it.

From the very beginning, Tasman was thrilled with how easy it is to efficiently run OneStream XF and get to critical information through the unique drill-back feature. In his experience with HFM, FDM and Hyperion Planning, it would be impossible to access data that quickly.

All CPM Solutions in One Place
The OneStream XF MarketPlace gives Global Brass and Copper users the ability to find additional CPM solutions that they didn’t know they needed! Best of all, adding a new MarketPlace solution is immediate and without any additional complexity or expenses.

The confirmation rules and validations configured in Global Brass and Copper’s OneStream platform keep Tasman from having to go line-by-line to ensure all entered data checks out accurately. This has been a huge timesaver, while also providing him with the control of knowing current progress. “I don’t have to call people to check that data was loaded. I can simply go into OneStream, look at the status and know the progress of each individual end user,” he said.

Endless Opportunities with OneStream XF
Up next, Global Brass and Copper will soon be rolling out OneStream’s Account Reconciliations and Task Manager MarketPlace solutions. This will allow them to replace Blackline with OneStream XF.  In addition, their upcoming implementation phase will include setting up planning, budgeting and forecasting processes in OneStream. They no longer need to look for another forecasting and budgeting tool, eliminating yet another expense for Global Brass and Copper.

“Getting that product profitability data into OneStream and having in one place will be a huge win us, Tasman added. On top of that, the ability to tie product and profitability data to their GL will allow Tasman and his team to become more proactive in analyzing business data.

“We look forward to leveraging OneStream XF for forecasting and planning combined with the new BI capabilities to be able to get the data that truly tells the story of our business. The amount of time saved by having to only open one application to get all of our information is huge,” Tasman continued. “OneStream is going to help your business now and in the future, and it’s going to change your life.”

Hear from Shawn Tasman about Global Brass and Copper’s unique OneStream implementation! Watch the Video Testimonial today and contact us to schedule a OneStream XF demo.