Overview of Use Case:
The Finance Operations Manager of MMI faced a challenge in reconciling MMI’s partner Rewards files and MMI files. MMI sought the help of Dimago, a reputable analytics, data science, and process automation consultancy that specializes in transforming businesses using the Alteryx Platform. For this use case a set of Alteryx workflows were developed to produce reports giving insights into the reconciliation process.
Describe the business challenge or problem you needed to solve:
The Finance Operations Manager faced the challenge of reconciling MMI’s partner Rewards files and MMI files, which was a time-consuming and complex process. The existing process was manual and involved multiple steps, which increased the risk of errors and made it difficult to ensure data accuracy. Due to the process being time-consuming, it hindered the Finance Operations Manager’s ability to focus on investigating and rectifying any highlighted exceptions.
Describe your working solution:
To overcome the challenge, Dimago implemented an Alteryx workflow solution. The solution involved pulling both the partner data and MMI data into Alteryx from a SQL Server. These datasets were then combined in an Alteryx workflow and outputted to excel files. These excel files were read into multiple Alteryx workflows, which were of three types:
- Reconciliations of partner data to MMI data
- Building journals off customer/partner data
- Invoice calculations
These workflows output data to excel reports, providing valuable insights into the data and enabling the Finance Operations Manager to make informed decisions. The solution was largely achieved using Alteryx’s In-Database, filter, summarize, and formula tools, which helped to streamline the workflows and ensure accurate data processing.
Describe the benefits you have achieved:
The implementation of the Alteryx workflows not only provided significant time savings but also improved data integrity and analysis. The Finance Operations Manager was able to complete the first phase of the project successfully within one month, resulting in the following savings:
- Rand 3 million – MDS commission
- Rand 2.8 million – Cashbacks
- Cashbacks between Multiply/MMI
- Rand 62 million Cashback error
To ensure the success of the project, a POV (proof of value) was conducted on the 16th of May 2022, which was completed within an hour. During the POV, a use case was presented using real-life data and a workflow was built within 30 minutes using the NO CODE software, which means that no developer (IT) intervention was required. The Alteryx solution provided significant time savings, with partner/supplier reconciliation taking only 3 minutes to run, resulting in a 98% time saving.
Additionally, the Alteryx solution resulted in a reduction in the month-end close process from 5 days to 3 days, providing further efficiency gains. The Finance Operations Manager was also able to leverage the system enhancements provided by the Alteryx solution to focus on investigating and confirming or rectifying any highlighted exceptions, ensuring all Reward partners’ information is correctly updated on MMI side to be communicated with members. The implementation of the Alteryx workflows has reduced the time required for the process from 80 hours per month to just 20 minutes (1 minute per workflow created). The Finance Operations Manager plans to further automate the process through the use of the Alteryx Server in the next steps.
In conclusion, Dimago’s Alteryx Solution has been instrumental in transforming the Finance Operations Manager’s reconciliation process, improving efficiency, and data integrity. The success of the project demonstrates the potential of the Alteryx platform to streamline complex and time-consuming processes in the finance sector. Data is Dimago’s business, and their deep insight into the Office of Finance has been invaluable in delivering a successful project that provides significant time savings and improved data accuracy.
