Case Study

Modernising Financial Reporting for an Investment Management Firm

A global investment management firm upgraded its financial reporting by migrating from legacy QlikView reporting to Microsoft Power BI, establishing a robust, centralised data model and automating complex data extraction processes. The solution significantly enhanced reporting efficiency, ensured compliance with IFRS and investment standards, and empowered finance teams with greater flexibility and self-service reporting capabilities.

Background

Client: A global investment management firm with £16+ billion in assets under management
Industry: Financial Services / Investment Management
Challenge: Migration from legacy QlikView reporting to Microsoft Power BI for financial reporting

Challenge

Our client, a leading investment management firm, had been using QlikView for their critical financial reporting needs for several years. As the organization evolved, they required a more modern, flexible, and integrated business intelligence solution. Their existing reporting system faced several limitations:
• Manual bi-weekly data extraction processes from multiple systems including Agresso (GL system), eFront, and various Excel spreadsheets stored on SharePoint
• Complex data transformations performed within QlikView that needed to be replicated and improved in Power BI
• Critical financial reports including Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet statements requiring exact formatting according to specific business requirements
• Need to maintain two different reporting bases (IFRS and Investment) with different transaction handling rules
• Requirements to produce board-level presentation materials directly from the reporting system
• Lack of centralized data transformation logic resulting in potential inconsistencies across reports
The company's three most critical reports were the Accounts Model (P&L and Balance Sheet), KPI Report, and Agresso to eFront Reconciliation. These reports formed the foundation of their annual financial reporting and needed to be faithfully reproduced in Power BI while improving the underlying data architecture.

Solution

DataCactus proposed a comprehensive solution to migrate the client from QlikView to Power BI while enhancing their overall data architecture and reporting capabilities. Our approach focused on:

1.Foundational Data Architecture
• Configuration of the Power BI Gateway to securely connect to on-premises data sources
• Establishment of service accounts with appropriate permissions for data access
• Conversion of existing Agresso stored procedures to work efficiently with Power BI
• Creation of a robust dimensional data model to support all reporting requirements

2.Financial Statement Development
• Design and implementation of the primary financial statements (P&L and Balance Sheet)
• Replication of critical business logic for both IFRS and Investment reporting bases
• Integration of adjustment capabilities allowing finance teams to make manual adjustments and roundings as needed
• Implementation of BTOP (Balance sheet, Trading account, Other movements, P&L) mapping structure to maintain consistent financial reporting

3.Security and Access Management
• Configuration of the Power BI workspace with appropriate teams, roles, and permissions
• Implementation of row-level security to ensure data access aligned with organizational roles
• Setup of scheduled data refreshes to maintain up-to-date reporting

4.Knowledge Transfer and Documentation
• Comprehensive documentation of the new solution
• Training sessions for finance and IT teams to ensure self-sufficiency

Implementation

The project was implemented in a phased approach, beginning with the most critical financial statements:
Phase 1: MVP Development (May-September 2024)

1.Initial Setup and Infrastructure
◦ Power BI Gateway configuration review
◦ Establishment of service accounts for data source connections

2.Data Integration Foundation
◦ Conversion of Agresso stored procedures for Power BI
◦ Initial setup of dimensions within the Power BI dataset

3.Report Development
◦ Design and creation of MVP reports (P&L and Balance Sheet)

4.Deployment and Testing
◦ Configuration of Power BI workspace
◦ Publishing of MVP reports
◦ Setup of scheduled refreshes
◦ User acceptance testing
The implementation was carefully coordinated with the client's finance team to ensure minimal disruption to their financial reporting cycle, with special attention to the team's availability for testing and feedback.

"The migration from QlikView to Power BI has transformed our financial reporting capabilities. DataCactus demonstrated exceptional understanding of our complex financial requirements and delivered a solution that not only replicated our existing reports but enhanced them through better data architecture and automation. The attention to detail in reproducing our exact financial statement requirements while modernizing the underlying technology has given us both continuity and improvement."

Finance Systems Manager, Investment Management Firm