Elimination of Manual Processes Makes Reporting to the SEC Significantly Smoother
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Vena
- Microsoft Excel
Tech Stack
- Central Data Repository
- Workflow Engine
- Audit Trail Capabilities
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Customer Satisfaction
- Digital Expertise
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries
- Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Process Control & Optimization
- Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
- Remote Collaboration
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
The customer is a large bank based in the United States, responsible for managing footnote disclosure for their 10Q and 10K filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The bank's finance team was heavily reliant on manually creating, distributing, collecting, and consolidating Excel templates from multiple business groups. This process was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, leading to issues with version control and email overload. The bank needed a more efficient and reliable solution to streamline their reporting process and ensure the accuracy of their reports to the SEC.
The Challenge
The bank faced several challenges in their reporting process, primarily due to the manual creation, distribution, and consolidation of Excel templates. These templates were sent via email to multiple business groups for data collection, leading to issues with version control and the potential loss of important information. The daily exchange of dozens of emails made it difficult to track the status of each task without constant communication through emails and phone calls with contributors, approvers, and reviewers. Additionally, the lack of a formal workflow and audit trail made it challenging to determine where changes had been made to spreadsheets without manually comparing versions or waiting for user responses.
The Solution
Vena provided a comprehensive solution to the bank's challenges by combining the flexibility and familiarity of Microsoft Excel with the structure and security of an enterprise-class Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solution. Vena's central data repository stored all of the bank's most up-to-date spreadsheets, templates, business drivers, assumptions, and more. This ensured that any changes made to the data in the repository were automatically reflected in the templates and formulas. The implementation of formal workflow processes allowed managers to assign tasks and deadlines to specific users and instantly view the status of all tasks in the process. Automatically generated templates were sent to both managers and users when a user missed their deadline or when a task was completed and ready for review and approval. Managers had instant access to consolidated data and individual group submissions, and a detailed audit trail provided date-, time-, and user-stamped activity, enabling users to roll back to previous spreadsheet versions to analyze differences over any time period.
Operational Impact
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