Why XPO Chose GL Connect Over Hyperion and FSG
XPO purchased GL Connect as an additional solution and it sat between Hyperion and FSG solutions from Oracle. At that time James Stoll the Director of FP&A, Todd Waits – Financial Systems Manager, Lisa Reynolds – Manager of Finance Intergrations & Business Processes, and Nicole White – VP of Systems had their eyes on GL Connect because XPO was growing rapidly and were desperate for a solution that could perform better than what they had when it came to performance.
The heavy users at that time – James, Todd and Lisa. XPO had workbooks built in such a way we’ve never seen before. They had a workbook with 500 tabs (a few years later same workbook grew to 800 tabs). Running these reports in FSGs took a toll on the EBS Database, it would take hours to complete. Building these reports through Hyperion was not feasible because refreshing all tabs had to be done one by one 500 times.
The One-Click Refresh Advantage
When GL Connect was demonstrated to XPO the thought process of ‘one-click refresh’ on 500 tabs in Excel with GL Connect was a game changer. Also, what made XPO convince that GL Connect was the solution was because of the Performance and use of the Cube. GL Connect offers Real Time Reporting for EBS but it also has Cube technology, especially for large workbooks like XPO.
Below is a benchmark of GL Connect back in 2015 for XPO Workbooks:
| Workbook Name | Completion Time | Cell Count to Calculate GL Balances |
|---|---|---|
| Intermodal Consolidated PL May 2016 - including Managed Auto EBITDA | 1 min 50 secs / was 5 mins with good performance in PROD and 25 mins with issues | 14,427 |
| XPO Consolidated - MASTER 9.0 | 40 secs | 6,147 |
| XPO Transportation Updated | 32 mins / was 35 mins with good performance in PROD | 27,236 |
| Intermodal Consolidated PL June 2016 including CMM BTT and Managed Auto |
4 min 10 secs / was 5 mins with good performance in PROD | 19,309 |
| Intermodal Consolidated PL June 2016 - including Managed Auto EBITDA | 3 min 27 sec | 14,584 |
| MVP PL Final all rows - MASTER Box New Regions 9.0 | 42 mins 51 secs | 526,568 |
| Rolling forecast workbook (12 columns) | 60 mins | 823,072 |
| Stacktrain P&L Jun 2016 | 1 min 53 sec | 32,878 |
Many could argue that the reports “MVP PL Final” and “Rolling forecast” workbook taking 43 mins and 60 mins respectively to complete may look relatively slow on paper. However, the same was done using FSG or Hyperion would take 4-6 hours to complete in a good day.
In Accounting and Finance 4-6 hours means a day lost and possibly delaying multiple departments across the enterprise. Running reports was an issue and causing delays for XPO.
A Consultant’s Perspective on Performance
I wore my hat as a consultant and suggested redesigning their financials to make them perform better, but their requirements and business structure required reporting to be as is. It was crucial for XPO to have the latest financial data and take decisions before closing the books and reporting their numbers. I even wondered if running Real Time reporting was even worth waiting for 4 hours. The fact that using the Cube would enhance the performance of running reports. refreshing an entire workbook with one-click and having them run in the background convinced XPO that GL Connect was the solution within their process.
Performance is probably the most difficult benchmark to please an enterprise. What could be slow for one enterprise could be fast for other enterprises. In XPO perspective waiting for 1 hour was great a performance in their perspective. To see 500 tabs in Excel for the first time was overwhelming. I even asked if there was one person analyzing all 500 tabs and the answer was YES!
GL Connect as a Mature and Tested Solution
Meeting the demands of any given prospect is not easy, and it is always a challenge. If performance is a concern when using an Excel solution, then please be sure that GL Connect has been tested across multiple business sectors from Corporate to Government. A mature product that helps you build financial statements in Excel for EBS and Fusion Cloud. It packs many features like drilling down to all details including to the subledger inside of Excel. GL Connect is a worldwide solution and leader in the market when it comes to Oracle Financial Reporting.
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Rafael Torres
Director of Financial Reporting
Rafael Torres directs Financial Reporting at SplashBI. With over 25 years in Accounting, Finance, and 13 years in IT, he stands at the crossroads of tech and finance. Starting with Oracle in corporate accounting, Rafael found a zeal for simplifying processes. He’s the Product Owner of GLConnect and GL Connect. Fluent in three languages, he aids global businesses, liaises with sales and marketing teams, and is keen on sharing knowledge to maximize business operations.
