Introduction – Replay of Session 1 – Sep 24, 2024
Session 1 was held on Tuesday, September 24, 2024 at 3pm BST.
The session was lead by Megan Pontier (Assistant Controller - North America) with support from Oscar Villacis (Senior Financial Analyst, Financial Reporting - North America).
Attendees included Ellie Deakin (NA), Gabriela Szkolnik (CIHL), Stela Ivanova (CIHL), Helly Summery (CIHL) and Carlos Trejo (NA).
Stephanie Casertano (Head of Finance Systems) joined near the end of the session.
To easily navigate the video, please click anywhere on the video and select Chapters on the right hand side.
Meeting notes generated by AI.:
- Vena Software Introduction: Stephanie and Megan introduced Vena software for budgeting and forecasting, emphasizing its integration with Excel and the daily refresh of actuals from M3 to Vena. This aims to streamline the budgeting process and improve data accuracy.
- Software Integration: Stephanie and Megan highlighted Vena's seamless integration with Excel, ensuring a familiar interface for users. They emphasized the daily refresh feature, which automatically updates actuals from M3 into Vena, enhancing data accuracy and timeliness for budgeting and forecasting activities.
- Streamlining Processes: The introduction of Vena is aimed at streamlining the budgeting and forecasting processes by consolidating data within a single platform. This consolidation is expected to reduce manual data entry errors and improve the efficiency of financial planning.
- Review Process: Stephanie clarified the review process in Vena, explaining that reviewers can leave comments but cannot change numbers. The review process is designed to ensure accuracy and accountability in budget submissions.
- Review Limitations: During the review process, individuals with reviewer roles are limited to commenting on the budget submissions without the ability to alter numerical data. This ensures that the original input remains unaltered, maintaining the integrity of the budgeting data.
- Ensuring Accuracy: The review process in Vena is structured to ensure accuracy and accountability. Reviewers play a critical role in verifying the data and providing feedback for any necessary adjustments, contributing to the overall reliability of the budget submissions.
- Concerns about Budget Submission Deadlines: Helly raised concerns about the tight budget submission deadlines, questioning the feasibility given the short notice. Stela responded, indicating flexibility in deadlines and acknowledging the need for coordination.
- Deadline Concerns: Helly expressed concerns regarding the feasibility of meeting the tight budget submission deadlines, especially considering the short notice provided. This concern highlights the challenges faced by teams in coordinating and compiling budget information within a constrained timeframe.
- Flexibility and Coordination: Stela acknowledged the concerns raised by Helly and indicated that there is flexibility in the deadlines. She emphasized the importance of coordination among teams to ensure that the budget preparation process is thorough and well-considered, despite the tight schedule.
- Access and Permissions: Ellie inquired about the process for reflecting costs across different cost centers and divisions in Vena, highlighting the need for global role access to manage divisional planning effectively. Stephanie assured that access adjustments could be made to accommodate global roles.
- Cost Center Reflection: Ellie's inquiry about reflecting costs across various cost centers and divisions underscored the necessity for global role access in Vena. This access is crucial for managing divisional planning and ensuring that costs are accurately allocated and reflected in the system.
- Access Adjustments: Stephanie responded to Ellie's concerns by assuring that adjustments to access permissions could be made to accommodate the needs of global roles. This assurance addresses the need for flexibility in permissions to enable effective management of divisional budgets within Vena.
- Training and Support: Stephanie and Megan committed to providing ongoing support and resources for Vena users, including a frequently asked questions document and individual assistance as needed, to facilitate the learning curve and ensure effective use of the software.
- Ongoing Support Commitment: Stephanie and Megan committed to providing continuous support and resources for users of Vena. They emphasized the availability of a frequently asked questions document and individual assistance, demonstrating their dedication to facilitating the learning process and ensuring users can effectively utilize the software.
- Facilitating Learning Curve: The commitment to support is aimed at easing the learning curve associated with the new software. By offering resources and personalized assistance, Stephanie and Megan aim to ensure that users can quickly adapt to and effectively use Vena for budgeting and forecasting purposes.