Review the critical role and steps the CFO plays in the decision and implementation of an Enterprise solution to assure that the implementation, investment, and results are successful. Marketing Associates CFO Ryan Russell discusses the process their organization went through to eliminate and consolidate ten disparate legacy systems into a Professional Services Automation solution, which helped drive revenue growth by 34% over three years. In addition to revenue growth Marketing Associates improved operational efficiencies through automation of workflow, reporting metrics, and cash flow. Speaker: Ryan Russell, CFO, Marketing Associates LLC Presentation delivered at ProformaTECH 2014 - http://www.proformatech.com Track: Managing Change | Session: 2

1. Role of the CFO
in Selecting and
Implementing
Enterprise Systems
in a Professional
Services
Organization
Ryan Russell
CFO, Marketing Associates, LLC

2. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Introduction – Marketing Associates
• Exploring New Systems
• Methodology Overview
• Post Implementation / Continuous Improvement
• Dashboards and Analytics
• Wrap - Up
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3. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Communications
Strategy
• Integrated Marketing
Plans
• Brand Strategy
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Business Intelligence
Marketing Analytics
Risk Management
Digital Intelligence
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• Technology enabled marketing
services
• Integrated direct response programs
• Application management services
• Brand portals
• Asset management &
workflow
• Asset storefronts

4. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Who is Marketing Associates?
• Founded in 1967, full service, technology enabled marketing company headquartered in
Detroit, MI with 250 employees
• Developer of analytically-driven integrated sales and marketing initiatives focused on
delivering measureable results
• As a full service marketing agency we specialize in:
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Analytical Services
Creative Strategy, Design & Copywriting
Sales Promotion
Direct Marketing
Interactive Marketing
Application Management Services
Digital Asset Management
Web Hosting
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5. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Who do we serve?
• Fortune 500 companies across the automotive, financial services, hospitality and
healthcare industries. Our clients include Ford, Ford Direct, DuPont, KitchenAid,
Whirlpool, McKesson Pharmacy Systems, Rockwell, Tapco and Starwood.
• Typical Enagement?
• $50K to $3.5M SOW
• 1000 engagements, 5000 projects, 25000 tasks in a typical year
• 4 weeks to 3 years
• Predominantly labor based, with some outside cost
• Billings consist of labor, fix fee and mixed
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6. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Why the change?
• Growth and diversification necessitated the examination of our current workflow and supporting business subsystems
• Understand the needs of the organization
• Workflow (experiencing efficiency and quality issues), along with trying to support 10 disparate systems
• Handle incremental growth profitability
• In the preliminary stages of an acquisition
• Organization requiring
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Improved Resource Utilization
Improved Financial Control, Analysis and Reporting
Improved Project Quality and Risk Analysis
Improved Management Decision Making including visibility and control
Improved Customer Satisfaction
• Financial System - integration
• Investment Requirements and flexibility
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7. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Start the process
• Use network channel to investigate, review potential solutions
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Competitors
Previous employers
Current employee base
Reach out to software providers
Current system resource
• Explore the Options
• Review systems and solutions – high level
• Short list – provide key information to prospects
• Demo – conference room pilot (fit to business)
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Help understand how the system will/won’t work for your organization / environment
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Caution – sales process
• Decision Time
• Changepoint chosen
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8. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• To ensure a proper implementation of the new system is accomplished:
• Planning Phase (3 weeks)
• Installation Phase (3 weeks)
• Definition Phase (4.5 months)
• Validation Phase (2.5 months)
• Deployment Phase (1 month)
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9. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Planning Phase
• Form the project team – cross functional consisting
of each of the functional areas – led by key sr. resource
• Set team member expectations and achieve buy-in
• Prepare the hardware
• Data collection
• Develop Project plan and charter to establish
Project Objectives and Scope
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Reporting Requirements
Rollout Approach
Team Role and Responsibilities
Project Plan
Infrastructure Requirements
Change Management and Issue Management
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Role
Responsibilities
Resource
Executive
Sponsor
Proides executive team approval and sponsorship for the
project. Has budget ownership for the project and is the major
stakeholder and recipient for the project deliverables
CFO
Project
Manager
The main contract for the project. Works with the
implementation team to plan and coordinate project activities.
Signs-off project schedule and project change requests that do
not impact cost
CFO
Makes final decisions and resolves conflicts or issues regarding
Functional
project expectations across organization and functional areas.
Administrator The functional administrator and project manager have a direct
link for all communication
DBA
Provides installation and setup services and resolving network,
Technical
DBA and Network
server, and workstations problems associated with the
Administrator
Admin.
installation
Subject Matter Experts. They present the requirements and
Core Team
coordinate the tasks within their functional area during
8 departments
Members
implementation.

10. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Installation Phase
• Software installed on production servers
• System Manager Training to the Functional Administrator
• System Administration training to Technical Administrator and Functional Administrator
• Definition Phase
• Software consultant provides a business process review to core team
• helps enable project team to make better informed decision
• Provides understanding of system
• Start the design of the system
• Consultant interacts with customer to present best practices and/or alternative approaches for business process and
configuration choices.
• Determine if customization is required
• Determine what data to bring across
• Concludes with a base definition review of the base definition, configured application and the proposed
new process
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11. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
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Validation Phase
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Test the design by running 6 jobs – start to finish through the system
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Determine data to bring over
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Spot check – review the design with the department heads
Start developing end user materials – training, user guides, tip sheets
Deployment Phase
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Business Rules established – old / new systems
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Data repository set up to capture FAQ
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End users set up and trained
Adoption monitoring
Ongoing
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Training and Monitoring
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Documentation
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Support – implementation and ongoing
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Project Management
Requirements
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12. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
Year 1 after Launch
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Challenges
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Dual systems
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Business rules / monitoring
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User Acceptance
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Training
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Develop repository for documents and FAQ
Improvements / Reporting
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Email notifications
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Engagement / project profitability and visibility
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Time submission and approval
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Invoice approval
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Utilization at individual and departmental level
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Project milestones
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Rework
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50+ reports to handle all needs
Customer feedback
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13. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
Years 2 -3
• Challenges
• Hardware upgrade required to move forward with new releases
• Separate out Development, Staging and Production database servers
• Improvements / Reporting
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All engagements on one system
Develop smart naming nomenclature
Adjust workflow to handle shorter range projects – expedite
Utilization improves
Install new service packs
Install new release
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14. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
Currently
• New Enhancements
• Client Portal
• HR process
• Central repository for all knowledge items
• Cognos
• Improved reporting
• Improved dashboards
• Dashboards
• Employees
• Managers
• Executive
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15. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Employee Dashboards
• Employee PTO Year over Year
• My PTO counter with detailed drill in
• Employee Utilization
• Employee Training
• My 2 – week project plan
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16. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
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17. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Manager Dashboards
• Department Utilization
• Last Time Entered by Resource
• Department PTO with detailed drill in
• Department Training with detailed drill in
• My Resource Workload – 2 weeks out
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18. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
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19. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
• Executive Dashboards/drilldown
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Budget vs Actual Revenue
Budget vs. Actual EBITDA
Current Yr vs Last Yr Revenue
Current Yr vs Last Yr EBITDA
Budget vs Actual GM
Budget vs Actual Net Profit
Current Yr vs Last Yr GM
Current Yr vs Last Yr NP
Company Utilization with detailed drill in
Project Losses
Customer Profitability with detailed drill in
Sales and Cash by Customer
A/R graph with detailed outstanding drill in
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20. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
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21. Role of the CFO in Selecting and Implementing Enterprise
Systems in a Professional Services Organization
Beginning
• Workflow
• Handle incremental growth
• Organizatioin requiring
Improved Resource Utilization
Improved Financial Control & Reporting
Improved Project Quality and Risk Analysis
Improved Management Decision Making,
including visibility and control
• Improved Customer Satifisfaction
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• Financial System – integration
• Investment Requirements and Flexibility
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…Now…
• Automated Process with signoffs, elimination of 10
disparate systems
• 34% revenue growth in last 3 years
• Organizatioin requiring
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Utilization from 79% to 89%
From limted/reactive to robust /proactive
Controls /reporting in place – rework down
Dashboards – reminders -triggers
On time/ Accurate /Efficiency leads to satisfaction
scores up
• Seemless intergration with Great Plains
• On budget – incremental licenses on annual true up

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