Scott Logic Streamlines Operations and Enhances Forecasting with Kantata
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What Kantata Replaced
The Challenge
Before implementing Kantata, Scott Logic faced challenges with data fragmentation and inconsistent reporting. “Prior to using Kantata, we had a system over here that did timesheets, a system over here where you’d book your leave, another system in the middle that generated invoices,” said Phil Pounder, Operations Manager at Scott Logic. This fragmented approach led to inefficiencies and difficulties in reconciling data, especially with revenue forecasting and multi-currency reporting.
It became clearer as the business continued to grow that a reliance on spreadsheets for key processes like revenue forecasting was becoming a barrier to sustainable success. “We did have disparate systems before,” says Phil, “but a lot of the cleverer stuff like forecasting was done in Excel, which may be doable when you’re a company of 50 or 60 people, but is not sustainable when you’re a company of 500 people.” The need for a centralized system that could integrate various functions and provide accurate, real-time data was paramount for Scott Logic to support its strategic goals.
Scott Logic designs and builds software that transforms the performance of some of the world’s biggest and most demanding organizations. From capital markets and commodities to complex public services, their consultants combine innovation, experience and pragmatism to deliver measurable results with every project.
Benefits
- Drove increased focus on project-level margin performance
- Provided a unified source of truth, expediting month-end and increasing revenue forecasting accuracy
- Enhanced auditability of staffing adjustments
Reduced time needed to close financial periods from multiple weeks to 2 days
“With Kantata, we have a single source of truth for engagement modeling, resourcing, revenue forecasting, invoicing, and, crucially, period management, which is the strongest bit of what Kantata gives you because it gives you control over everything else.”
Operations Manager, Scott Logic
The Solution
Scott Logic turned to Kantata to consolidate their operations onto a single platform. Kantata’s seamless integration with Salesforce was a significant advantage, allowing for a streamlined process from account opportunities to invoicing. Phil noted, “We’ve used Salesforce for probably the best part of 15, 16 years, so Kantata having a solution that was built on Salesforce was a big plus.”
While Scott Logic saw immediate benefits after shifting from disparate systems to the Kantata Professional Services Cloud, some of the features that have had the biggest impact on their operations weren’t adopted right away, and were part of the business’s ongoing exploration of the platform’s capabilities.
“Seeing where we were five years ago compared to where we are now, it’s clear the way we’ve matured alongside Kantata’s maturity and have benefitted from being able to focus on the parts of the solution that make the biggest impact for us at that moment,” said Renee Popplewell, Business Operations Manager at Scott Logic. “Now we are able to build on that foundation of good hygiene and discipline we’ve built with Kantata and look for the next thing to leverage to optimize our operations.”
One key feature that proved to be a game-changer for Scott Logic was Kantata’s robust period management workflow. “The period management area of Kantata is the best part of the system for us because it has helped us improve our processes,” Phil shared. “A lot of the processes we have in place now come from instances where Kantata’s period management screens are showing us problems in the data that would cause issues at month end, like unapproved expenses, and we’ve learned from them and ensured our processes prevent them going forward.”
“Managing periods in Kantata is great because it enables us to lock everything down, no one can change anything. That was a big “wow” moment realizing I don’t have to worry about someone changing timesheets out from beneath me while I’m generating invoices.”
Operations Manager, Scott Logic
The Results
Reduced Time to Close the Books
Scott Logic significantly reduced the time required to close their books each month, from multiple weeks to two days. Where conflicting data from various systems previously slowed down the reconciliation process, Scott Logic now quickly completes month-end closure using Kantata as a single source of truth.
“Prior to Kantata, month-end could take weeks, with people often parsing conflicting information across systems. We’re now in a position where we close our month on working day two – everything reconciled, FX rate changes cascaded, invoices done.”
Better Period Management Discipline
Kantata’s period management workflow hasn’t just saved time, it’s also encouraged needed discipline around period closure. By enabling the lockdown of periods, Kantata ensures that once data is set, it cannot be altered. This prevents unauthorized changes, particularly to timesheets, during critical tasks like generating invoices.
“Managing periods in Kantata is great because it enables us to lock everything down. No one can change anything. That was a big “wow” moment realizing I don’t have to worry about someone changing timesheets out from beneath me while I’m generating invoices.”
Improved Revenue Forecasting with What-If Modeling
Because maintaining accurate rates is key for Scott Logic, the business uses Kantata SX’s ‘What-If’ Modeling capabilities at regular intervals, ensuring rates that will be applied across the business account for up-to-date information on currency exchange rates, promotions, and annual rate uplifts. To learn more about Scott Logic’s use of ‘What-If’ Modeling, check out the full Feature spotlight here.
“Before adopting ‘What-If’, we’d have extra WIP in our forecasts because there could be multiple FX rates on an engagement at any time based on when the assignments were created. As soon as we realized what ‘What-If’ Modeling could do – amending revenue for open forecasting periods based on the FX rate you put in for the period – it was clear that it was exactly what we needed.”
More Accurate Margin Estimates
Accurate margin estimation is crucial for the sales team at Scott Logic. Previously, factoring in up-to-date cost rates required manual intervention in Excel, a process prone to errors and inefficiencies. With Kantata, the team now seamlessly applies the correct cost rates, resulting in more reliable and precise margin calculations, which has significantly improved the business’s ability to forecast and manage margins effectively.
“With Kantata, the level of understanding and accountability over margins has increased massively across the business. It’s not just ‘Oh we’re charging this many pounds per day so that’s how much we’re making that day!’ anymore; now everyone can understand how performance varies based on how much the person we’re using costs us per day.”
Increased Focus on Cost of Poor Quality
With Kantata, Scott Logic has been able to place more focus on project-level margin performance. Kantata enables the business to diagnose common causes of margin erosion and develop systematic improvements that drive better margin performance.
“One of our key KPIs is ‘cost of poor quality’ – comparing the baseline margin against the margin of a completed engagement. Kantata has helped us go from not particularly thinking about project-level margin to understanding in detail what factors contribute to higher cost of poor quality and how to prevent them.”
Enhanced Auditability of In-Flight Staffing Adjustments
In-flight staffing adjustments can have a significant impact on margin performance and revenue forecasts, so it is important that all staffing changes are auditable. Through Kantata’s seamless integration with Chatter, Scott Logic is able to maintain a change log that ensures any adjustment on a project is documented and that its impact on revenue forecasts is understood.
“Kantata has driven increased awareness of the impacts assignment changes have on forecast revenue and margin. We maintain a change log of all assignment changes through the Chatter feed in Kantata to ensure any questions about why revenue projections have changed can be quickly answered.”
“With Kantata, the level of understanding and accountability over margins has increased massively across the business. It’s not just ‘Oh we’re charging this many pounds per day so that’s how much we’re making that day!’ anymore; now everyone can understand how performance varies based on how much the person we’re using costs us per day.”
Operations Manager, Scott Logic