Message-ID: <17965366.1075859053682.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 19:41:00 -0800 (PST) From: tracy.geaccone@enron.com To: terry.west@enron.com Subject: Pilot Meeting Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-From: Tracy Geaccone X-To: Terry West X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \TGEACCO (Non-Privileged)\Geaccone, Tracy\'Sent Mail X-Origin: Geaccone-T X-FileName: TGEACCO (Non-Privileged).pst ---------------------- Forwarded by Tracy Geaccone/GPGFIN/Enron on 02/13/20= 01 03:43 PM --------------------------- Jennifer Reed@ECT 02/12/2001 03:27 PM To:=09Bob Butts/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, George Wasaff/Enron@EnronXGate, Mark E = Lindsey/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, Terrie Wheeler/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, Greek Rice/C= orp/Enron@ENRON, Robert Johansen/ENRON@enronxgate, Jill Erwin/HOU/ECT@ECT, = Mike Deville/HOU/ECT@ECT, Gary Peng/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, Gregory Adams/Corp/= Enron@ENRON, Glenn Kobes/ENRON@enronXgate, Karen Choyce/Corp/Enron@ENRON, T= erry West/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Stephen Schwarzbach/Corp/Enron@Enron, Patricia = Shannon/HOU/ECT@ECT, Raul Maldonado/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Regina Hawley/GPGFIN/= Enron@ENRON, Wes Colwell/HOU/ECT@ECT, Georgeanne Hodges/HOU/ECT@ECT, Laura = E Scott/CAL/ECT@ECT, Jim Coffey/HOU/ECT@ECT, Greg Whiting/Corp/Enron@ENRON,= Hope Vargas/HOU/ECT@ECT, Melissa Graves/HOU/ECT@ECT, Susan Helton/HOU/ECT@= ECT, Faith Killen/HOU/ECT@ECT, Karry Kendall/HOU/ECT@ECT, Carol Carter/HOU/= ECT@ECT, Stephen Thatcher/Corp/Enron@Enron, Sarah Brown/HOU/ECT@ECT, Paula = Harris/HOU/ECT@ECT, Edie Leschber/HOU/ECT@ECT, Lindsay Long/HOU/ECT@ECT, Ti= ffany Miller/NA/Enron@ENRON, David Vandor/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Nadia A Rodrigu= ez/NA/Enron@ENRON, Stephen Wolfe/HOU/ECT@ECT, Ricardo Guerra/Corp/Enron@ENR= ON, Elaine Schield/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Brent A Price/HOU/ECT@ECT, Thomas Myer= s/Enron@EnronXGate, Jeff E Smith/Enron@EnronXGate, Shilpa Kadakia/Enron@Enr= onXGate, Angeles Beltri/Enron@EnronXGate, Scott Blackburn/Enron@EnronXGate,= John Best/Enron@EnronXGate, Sayed Khoja/Enron@EnronXGate, Alisa Green/HOU/= ECT@ECT, Patricia Anderson/Enron@EnronXGate, Kent Castleman/NA/Enron@Enron,= Allen W Ueckert/Enron@EnronXGate, Darin Talley/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Rainier S= Cockrell/HOU/ECT@ECT, Phillip Lord/Enron Communications@Enron Communicatio= ns, Carolyn Barrett/Enron Communications@Enron Communications, Biren Kumar/= Enron Communications@Enron Communications, Murthy Rao/Enron Communications@= Enron Communications, Leo Paige/Enron Communications@Enron Communications, = Wanda LaBaume/Enron Communications@Enron Communications, Madeline Chan/Enro= n Communications@Enron Communications, Kevin Hughes/HOU/EES@EES, Wade Stubb= lefield/HOU/EES@EES, Dana Lee/HOU/EES@EES, Wanda Curry/HOU/EES@EES, Steve F= razier/HOU/EES@EES, Patrick Cagney/HOU/EES@EES, Mary Lynne Ruffer/HOU/EES@E= ES, Kerry Roper/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, Michael S Galvan/HOU/ECT@ECT, Amy Spoed= e/HOU/ECT@ECT, Brian Heinrich/HOU/ECT@ect, Kristin Armstrong/HOU/ECT@ECT, B= ecky Pham/HOU/ECT@ECT, Sally Beck/HOU/ECT@ECT, Rod Hayslett/FGT/Enron@ENRON= , James Saunders/FGT/Enron@ENRON, Rick Dietz/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Tracy Geacco= ne/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, John Cobb/FGT/Enron@ENRON, Bob Chandler/ET&S/Enron@E= NRON, Harry Walters/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, david.mcellin@enron.com, James Weitek= amp/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, Fernley Dyson/LON/ECT@ECT, Melissa Allen/LON/ECT@EC= T, Stephen Wood/LON/ECT@ECT, Caroline Lothian/LON/ECT@ECT, Claire Wright/LO= N/ECT@ECT, Niamh O'Regan/LON/ECT@ECT, Raewyn Perkins/LON/ECT@ECT, Mike Jord= an/LON/ECT@ECT, Jeffrey E Sommers/Enron@EnronXGate, Agatha B Tran/Enron@Enr= onXGate, Howard Selzer/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Jim Davoli/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Pamel= a Rush/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Joe Darensbourg/Enron@EnronXGate, Allan Sommer/Cor= p/Enron@Enron, Susan Bellinghausen/Enron@EnronXGate, Emitra Nelson/Enron@En= ronXGate, Braden Sewell/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Lonnie Liu/Enron@EnronXGate, Mark= Schmidt/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Kathy Kokas/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Shelly Michalk/Cor= p/Enron@ENRON, Rick Boehm/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Andrew Lawrence/Enron@EnronXGat= e, Brandee Sanborn/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Kathryn Schultea/HR/Corp/Enron@ENRON, = Keith Marlow/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Mary Solmonson/Enron@Enro= nXGate, John Keiser/FGT/Enron@ENRON cc:=09Jan Johnson/GPGFIN/Enron@ENRON, Mark Frank/HOU/ECT@ECT=20 Subject:=09Pilot Meeting There's a lot going on! We want to update you, and we want to invite you t= o view a pilot of a financial data warehouse. The pilot shows cost reporti= ng using a small sample of real data (see below for more description). Her= e's the schedule to view the pilot. Please contact Jennifer Reed at x39406= to RSVP, so we'll know if we need to schedule more sessions. Tues 2/20 1:00-2:30pm =09=09EB24C2=09BU reps=20 Wed 2/21 9:00-10:30am=09=09EB30C2=09Videoconference for Europe Wed 2/21 1:00-2:30pm =09=09EB24C2=09All Thurs 2/22 10:00-11:30am=09EB48C2=09All Thurs 2/22 1:00-2:30pm =09=09EB24C2=09All Fri 2/23 10:00-11:30am=09=09EB24C2=09All Our next major deliverable =3D =09a charter, workplan and budget will be pr= esented to Rick Causey and the CAOs on February 27 for their approval. =20 Besides the data warehouse =3D=09=09BU reps and others have volunteered to = lead a number of initiatives =09 =09Steve Frazier, Mike Deville and Susan Bellinghausen=09-=09Cash Reporting= =20 =09Susan Heltonand James Weitekamp=09=09=09-=09Planning and Forecasting Too= l =09Howard Selzer and Glenn Kobes=09=09=09=09-=09Close Process Re-engineerin= g =09Joe Darensbourg=09=09=09=09=09=09-=09Knowledge Sharing =09Caroline Lothian=09=09=09=09=09=09-=09Alternate Hierarchy Review =09Jill Erwin=09=09=09=09=09=09=09-=09Reduction of Complexity =09Madeline Chan and Dave McEllin=09=09=09=09-=09Training and Change Manage= ment=09 We've mapped out a strategy in each of these areas, set deliverables and ex= pect to accomplish a lot while our BU reps are with us from Feb. 20th to 28= th. Data Warehouse Project Update The cost reporting pilot has been built by Beverly Fennessy and the technic= al team based on the design Li Chan has specified based on your input from = the initial interviews, followups and several cost reporting workshops she = has sponsored in the last month. The pilot will be a mini-cost reporting button, using a small subset of act= ual financial data from SAP-CO (one BU, three months of data), and showing = only the cost center information (not project info). It is designed to tes= t this solution's (Acta/Oracle/Business Objects) ability to: 1.=09extract data from SAP using Acta, 2.=09report data using a team structure, 3.=09develop usable, presentable and technically efficient "canned reports,= " and 4.=09provide users an ad-hoc query tool for reporting and analysis not cove= red by canned reports. The BU reps need to become familiar with the pilot, and all of our intervie= w participants are invited to see the pilot and evaluate the tool. We'll have a questionnaire for your comments and suggestions, which we will= incorporate into the development of the actual cost reporting button. The= re's a distribution list at the end of this memo - if you know of someone i= n your group who should attend, please invite them. Assuming no significant changes are identified in the user review of the p= ilot, we expect at least a portion of the cost reporting from the data ware= house to be rolled into production by the end of April. So be sure to voic= e your input! The second part of the warehouse will be cash reporting. Steve Frazier is = the BU rep leading this effort, with Mike Deville from Corp Reporting and S= usan Bellinghausen from the ISC providing input. We are working on both di= rect and indirect cash flow (historical) and trying to determine the best w= ay to source the data. We'd like to get it from SAP since that's where we = can get the most detail, with the Treasury workstation as the source for ma= nual wires not yet input into SAP. However, Susan's group has told us that= the current SAP design won't allow us to use the Cash Budget Management mo= dule since that information doesn't tie to FI (due to differences in value = date and posting date). Therefore, we're looking at what SAP design change= s might be needed. The next step will be earnings, which will expand cost reporting by bringin= g in gross margin, other income, interest expense, minority interest and ta= xes. We're hoping to be able to tie into the Energy Ops Project Enlighten = (data warehouse) as a source of gross margin data for wholesale operations. We envision that the counterparty reporting button will also interface with= other Enron warehousing efforts, such as Global Counterparty. A significant objective of the warehouse is to provide ad hoc reporting, so= we will be looking at the data behind the reporting buttons and determinin= g which other information should be transferred into the warehouse in the e= arly phases. Our strategy is to place only the information that is most re= quested into the warehouse in the early phases, but to design the warehouse= to be flexible enough to allow additional fields to be transferred in over= time. Budgeting and Forecasting Tool In our interviews, many people expressed an interest in an automated planni= ng tool. We have looked at three products - SAP's SEM, Hyperion's Planning= and Adaytum's ePlanning. Some of you attended a demo of Adaytum last week.= We like because it seems to have the most functionality and two Enron BUs= already use it (Europe and EBS). We want to be able to plan for earnings = as well as cash forecasting and projected balance sheets, with these number= s feeding the warehouse so that our reporting could include both actuals an= d plan or forecast. We'd like to hear any thoughts you have on how you thi= nk your BU would use a tool such as this. We're evaluating the valuation proposition now and expect to can make a rec= ommendation at Rick's February 27 staff meeting. =20 Susan Helton and James Weitekamp are working on this effort. Close Process Howard Selzer is leading the initiative to shorten the close process. He i= s gathering close calendars from each BU and is talking with each group abo= ut possible opportunities to squeeze time out of the schedule. He will als= o focus on topside entries (after the 8th workday) to determine how to elim= inate the need for these entries. Glenn Kobes will provide the tax perspec= tive. Knowledge Sharing Joe Darensbourg is preparing a plan to share best practices among groups. = He is also spearheading the Global Accounting Intranet site, which is one o= f the media we can use. A Web Advisory Team has been formed so that each B= U will have input into how we can best communicate using this site (still w= aiting for ETS and Europe to appoint representatives to this team). Ideas = for knowledge sharing include soliciting tips to be reviewed by the Web Adv= isory Team and then posted to the intranet site, forming user groups in coo= peration with the ISC (ETS has groups already in place), setting up a forum= to ask questions of other users (either as part of eThink or separately) a= nd encouraging participation in the Houston ASUG (SAP user group). We'll w= ant to coordinate with the ISC's efforts to avoid duplication (they have FA= Qs on their web site). Alternate Hierarchies Caroline Lothian is working to compare and document how the each BU uses al= ternate hierarchies for reporting. This specifically addresses team reporti= ng, but also includes anything other than the legal rollup. A common desig= n for team report hierarchies is necessary to build canned reports in the d= ata warehouse, since we expect you will want to include data at drill-down = levels such as BU, line of business, team, profit center and cost center. B= eyond a team hierarchy, we're really looking to share best practices rather= than build a common standard. Number of Entities and Cost Objects Currently we have about 1,900 legal or accounting entities and nearly 200,0= 00 cost objects in SAP. As far as we know, this is the largest number amon= g all of SAP's customers. We want to be proactive in controlling these num= bers before they have the possibility of bringing our systems to their knee= s. In addition, the large number of entities and cost objects result in ex= tra costs related to tax compliance and accounting maintenance, as well as = the intangible costs related to higher complexity. Jill Erwin is heading a= n initiative to first find out how the BUs use various cost objects and whe= ther there may be a way to simplify their use, and then to identify ways to= ensure that new entities and cost objects are set up only when that is the= best way to accomplish Enron's objectives. Training and Change Management In our interviews, we heard about some problems that may be able to be reso= lved through specific training. We will also need training on the new tool= s and initiatives that will be implemented in Project Sunrise. It is also = important for us to continue to communicate with various accounting groups = as to what Project Sunrise is doing so that we can ensure that we provide w= hat users really need. Madeline Chan and Dave McEllin are taking the lead = on what approach we should take on training. We have also spoken with the = Change Management team in the ISC (under Andy Lawrence), who has agreed to = provide direction and resources as well as help ensure that together we are= providing seamless service to our users. =20 Other Issues Other areas that we intend to address in Project Sunrise include the automa= tion of buckets and e-schedules, balance sheets by profit center, intercomp= any issues and foreign currency issues. In addition, we working with Susan= Bellinghausen and Rick Boehm (ISC) to provide better reporting related to = payroll distribution and labor distribution. As you can see, this is a very broad project, and we want to be sure each B= U is properly represented. If you'd like to offer additional resources to = Sunrise, either in general or related to a specific initiative, please call= Mark at x57193 or Jan at x33260. Attached is the mailing list. =20