Case study with regards to how we leverage Adaptive Planning at AAPA from a drill down analytics perspective

1. c u s to m e r c a s e s t u dy
Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting Made Easy
American Academy of Physician Assistants
Institutes Business Intelligence Solution
Introduction
Founded in 1968, the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) is the national
professional society for physician assistants. It represents a profession of over 86,500
certified PAs across all medical and surgical specialties in all 50 states, the District of
American Academy of Columbia, the majority of the U.S. territories, and within the uniformed services. AAPA
Physician Assistants advocates and educates on behalf of the profession and the patients PAs serve. It works
Alexandria, VA to ensure the professional growth, personal excellence and recognition of physician
Nonprofit assistants and to enhance their ability to improve the quality, accessibility and cost-
Challenges effectiveness of patient-centered health care. The AAPA employs 180 employees at its
·· Excel-based budgeting process metro Washington, DC office.
prone to error
·· Lack of real-time access to data The Challenge
·· Manual reporting process was The AAPA was operating on a static Excel-based budget. Managers were frustrated
labor-intensive
because they could not make changes easily and did not have real-time access to
Why Adaptive Planning information. When Shyam Desigan, CFO and Sr. VP of IT, AAPA, joined the organization
·· Robust dashboards and drill-through he brought with him his expertise with Adaptive Planning from a previous organization.
·· Advanced reporting capabilities He had specific goals of operational processes he wanted to transform and knew that he
·· Automated connector to ERP system needed the right technology platform to deliver on those goals.
Results “When I arrived at AAPA, the Excel-based budgeting process was very manually intensive
and error prone,” said Desigan. “Along with the transformation of the budgeting and
·· Provided line managers with
monthly reporting process, the centralization of enterprise data and ability to view
real-time access to data
timely and accurate dashboards with KPI’s was a high priority for me.”
·· Improved revenue forecasting
·· Enabled a decision support system
for the organization The Solution
In three weeks, the AAPA rolled out Adaptive Planning to twenty users across the
organization, including the finance group, department heads and the executive team.
In addition, they embarked on a connector project for their Microsoft Dynamics SL ERP
system. Now the finance group has instituted enterprise-wide collaboration in their
planning process. In addition, they have dramatically improved their ability to conduct
continuous forecasting and run what-if scenarios.
“When I arrived at AAPA, the Excel-based budgeting process was very
manually intensive and error prone. Along with the transformation of the
budgeting and monthly reporting process, the centralization of enterprise
data and ability to view timely and accurate dashboards with KPI’s was a high
priority for me.”
—Shyam Desigan, CFO and Sr. VP of IT

2. “We have substantially improved the “We have substantially improved the visibility into the budget process by line managers,”
visibility into the budget process explains Desigan. “Now they can see how their departments are doing in terms of
actual spend vs. budget. In addition, they can drill into the transactions for more detail.
by line managers. Now they can
Adaptive Planning enables the organization to have real insight into key drivers of the
see how their departments are
financial plan.”
doing in terms of actual spend vs.
budget. In addition, they can drill
into the transactions for additional
The Results
detail. Adaptive Planning enables the The AAPA has expanded its use of Adaptive Planning beyond just budgeting and reporting.
organization to have real insight into They rely on the cube sheet functionality to drag and drop multiple dimensions in rows and
columns for powerful analysis. In addition, they import data from their ERP system using
key drivers of the financial plan.”
the Microsoft Dynamics SL connector for improved revenue forecasting and review this
—Shyam Desigan, CFO and Sr. VP of IT
information each month with the line managers. For example, the membership marketing
team has 17 initiatives. They are able to review each of these initiatives’ financials
separately in order to evaluate revenue impact and make adjustments or additional
investments as necessary.
“The user feedback has been phenomenal because it gives line managers a better handle
on their business,” confirms Desigan. “Utilizing the new visual discovery solution, to drill
into transaction level details, ensures that line managers can really understand the results
and better comprehend the information. It is a fantastic business intelligence tool that
has transcended beyond an FP&A solution to become our decision support system within
the organization.”
“Utilizing the new visual discovery
solution, to drill into transaction level
details, ensures that line managers
can really understand the results and
better comprehend the information.
It is a fantastic business intelligence
tool that has transcended beyond
an FP&A solution to become our
decision support system within the
organization.”
—Shyam Desigan, CFO and Sr. VP of IT
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