Managing finances in a nonprofit organization is already challenging, and unexpected cost allocation processing times can make it even harder.
Läkare Utan Gränser, the Swedish arm of the leading humanitarian organization MSF, has been using Oracle Enterprise Planning and Budgeting (EPBCS), but 2nd half of 2024 struggled with availability and poor performance problems during their nightly cost allocations process jobs that disrupted their financial workflows (all this before Asher & Company Nordics, with its EPM4NS support arm, got involved).
Thanks to the ITIL® Service Desk and EPBCS services by Asher Analytics Europe consultants and our private Oracle EPM demo environments, this important nonprofit not only solved their urgent issues but are improving the use of EPBCS, making them to continue growing its use inside its finance team and other teams in the Nordics.
The Challenge: Unpredictable Processing Times and Delays in Cost Allocations
The organization relied on Oracle Planning for planning and budgeting integrated to their ERP and Salesforce’s Donor Management System, with the plan to extend to other regions. However, they faced:
- Longtime overnight data updating processes, leading to delays in financial reporting.
- Limited in-house Oracle EPM expertise, making troubleshooting difficult.
- Reactive issue handling, causing recurring support from external consultants.
Our Solution: A Proactive, EPBCS ITIL®-Based Support Model
Understanding their urgent needs, we deployed our three-level Oracle Planning Service Desk, designed with ITIL® best practices:
- On-line and recorded trainings to empower internal teams with first-level issue resolution skills.
- Certified Oracle PBCS experts in 15 min. slots for deeper troubleshooting and optimization.
- Strategic vendor collaboration with Oracle NetSuite for advanced issue escalation.
By implementing continuous monitoring, root cause analysis, and proactive issue resolution, we transformed their reactive approach into a predictive support model aligned with ITIL® principles.
Thank you for your time and input regarding the performance improvement of our budget system. Thank you also for your current support with our [EPBCS renewal] contract negotiation.
Läkare Utan Gränser CFO
The Results: A Reliable, High-Performing Cost Allocations Process
With our Support Services in place, the organization:
- Regained confidence on Oracle EPM, after being able to fix several issues with own Super Users.
- Reduced at least in 35% its support costs through smarter issue prevention and special rates.
- Faster resolution times, cutting critical issue response from hours to minutes.
By minimizing processing times and freeing their finance team from technical distractions, we helped them focus on what truly matters: supporting their global humanitarian mission.
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