Analytic Vision

Case Study - Download

Company Background

Alpha Natural Resources is America's third-largest coal producer, producing nearly 100 million tons of steam and metallurgical coal.  Steam coal is primarily purchased by large utilities and industrial customers as fuel for electricity generation and manufacturing, and metallurgical coal is used primarily to make coke, a key component in the steel making process. We produce, process and sell steam and metallurgical coal from more than 60 active mines and 14 coal preparation plants located throughout Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. We are also actively involved in the purchase and resale of coal mined by others, the majority of which we blend with coal produced from our mines to create customized products for our customers.

Business Challenges

• Customer acquired Foundation Coal, a competitor, creating the need to consolidate the combined company’s financial results
• CFO Sponsored project to select & implement a consolidation solution
• Consolidation solution would combine different charts of accounts and  business segments \ product lines
• Highly competitive Oracle sales cycle with SAP
• Consolidation application was required to be live in twelve weeks
• A broader enterprise wide reporting platform was required as an extension of the consolidation application
• Hyperion Financial Management selected
• Oracle|Hyperion Essbase selected for management reporting

Solution Implemented

• Designed Hyperion Financial Management consolidation application combining Oracle E-Business Suite and SAP ledger data
• Designed chart of accounts translation and data validation process in Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management
• Automated consolidating trial balance
• Created business rules to drive key performance indicator reporting requirements
• Replicated historical results of both entities
• Designed Essbase Analytics reporting application using HFM Extended Analytics
• Automated monthly financial reporting package in Hyperion Financial Reporting with Essbase as the source
• Automated key monthly analytical  reports with Hyperion Financial Reporting
• Automated key analytic spreadsheet models with Hyperion SmartView

Analytic Vision utilized the following Oracle technologies to solve their business challenges:

• Oracle|Hyperion EPM Products
• Hyperion Financial Management 11.x
• Hyperion Financial Management Extended Analytics 11.x
• Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management 11.x
• Hyperion Financial Reporting 11.x
• Hyperion SmartView 11.x
• Essbase 11.x

Business Benefits

• Increased efficiencies around the close reducing the time it takes to close and report results
• Strengthen internal controls 
• Best practices require that data be validated, have an audit trail from source to report and provide confidence in the numbers
• Reduce risk of relying on spreadsheets
• Lower the cost of compliance and mitigate business risk through integrated process control and consistent planning, consolidation and reporting