Flagship Pioneering Case Study
Innovating Financial Planning at Flagship Pioneering with MindStream Analytics and NetSuite
A biotechnology incubator par excellence, Flagship Pioneering specializes in acquiring and nurturing new businesses, providing them with the necessary resources to evolve their innovative products and processes. Their portfolio boasts a wide array of subsidiaries each contributing to the biotech landscape in unique ways.
The Challenge:
Flagship Pioneering's growth and complex structure presented several distinct challenges for their finance department:
- Lack of Integrated Planning and Budgeting Platform: The absence of a system directly integrated with NetSuite ERP meant their financial information and segmentation were not automatically updated.
- Inefficient Forecast and Budget Management: The need for a unified platform for entering and updating forecast and budget information was critical.
- Data Sharing Constraints: The challenge was to enable subsidiary access to necessary data without breaching internal data policies or exposing restricted information.
The Solution by MindStream Analytics:
MindStream Analytics devised a strategic plan to overcome these hurdles:
- NetSuite Planning and Budgeting Integration: By implementing and configuring NetSuite Planning and Budgeting (NSPB) with a direct integration to NetSuite ERP, automated data and metadata loads became a reality. This ensured that NSPB reports and segmentations were aligned with the ERP, providing up-to-date information at the start of each business day.
- Centralized Application for Financial Data: This solution enabled all users to access actual, forecast, and budget information in one central location, eliminating discrepancies and ensuring consistency across all data points.
- Enhanced Data Security: Utilizing dimension level security and cell level security, MindStream Analytics ensured that users from child subsidiaries accessed only the data they were authorized to see. This was particularly crucial given Flagship Pioneering's varied levels of access across different subsidiaries.
Outcome:
The implementation of these solutions transformed Flagship Pioneering's financial planning and budgeting processes:
- Unified Planning and Budgeting Hub: Flagship Pioneering now benefits from a singular, integrated location for all its planning and budgeting needs, tightly coupled with their NetSuite ERP system.
- Enterprise-Level Planning Across Companies: The new system enabled Flagship Pioneering to execute enterprise-level planning, sharing vital information seamlessly across multiple companies.
- Custom Dimensionality for Complex Transactions: By adding custom dimensions and adjusting NSPB dimensionality, MindStream Analytics facilitated forecasting for large volumes of intercompany transactions, a task previously fraught with difficulties.
MindStream Analytics' intervention at Flagship Pioneering exemplifies the power of a well-thought-out financial planning and budgeting solution. The implementation of NetSuite Planning and Budgeting not only streamlined their processes but also ensured data integrity and security across multiple subsidiaries. This strategic overhaul has positioned Flagship Pioneering to continue their innovative work in the biotechnology sector with greater efficiency and precision.
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