IT/Controller's Group Project to Retire Hyperion Financial Management
Summary:
- Project Kicked Off in 3Q 2013
- Wind-Down Liabilities (MTNS and GICs) chosen as pilot
- Agile project management methodology utilized
- Chosen as leader of Functional Team for Controller's Group
Challenges:
- No subledger existed for in-house liability system
- Business logic required to derive journals from system reports
- Multi-currency portfolio required creation of FX specification to comply with GAAP ASC-830 (FAS 52)
- Aggressive timeline - projected April 2014 production rollout
Key Contributions to Project:
- Resource management - ensured appropriate accounting resources were made available to meet key deliverables for each sprint
- Functional specifications
- Developed business logic documentation (ledger activity and FX) and ensured it was in a format which could be readily translated into code by IT team
- Provided input into specifications for new reporting to ensure that appropriate analysis and controls would be available post-implementation
- Project management
- Ongoing assessment of sprint timing with the IT Project Leader
- Recommended changes/additions to project map as needed
- Resulted additional functionality being added to the application (Buybacks and MTNs at Fair Value)
Results:
- Successful move to production environment in April 2014
- User acceptance testing and two month parallel reviewed and approved by internal audit with no significant findings
- Straight-through processing of journal entries to Computron ledger system
- Eliminated the need for IT intervention in monthly close - savings of 2 hours per month
- Newly developed reports eliminated the manual updating of over 75 data elements each month
- User interface and key components of application to be re-utilized as additional systems are integrated in 2014 (premiums) and 2015 (investments/derivatives)