QBE Mercantile Mutual (QBE MM) creates a new vision of its financial systems

Financial reporting times at QBE MM fell from 28 days to 5 days by using CFO Vision from SAS.

"This is a significant achievement and is helping measure the delivery of the core objectives of the venture", according to Mr Goodwin, Deputy General Manager, QBE Mercantile Mutual.

The remarkable 82 per cent reduction in reporting times in just 6 months demonstrated the commitment to realise the potential efficiencies that lay behind the joint venture deal. When QBE and Mercantile Mutual commenced their joint venture in October 1999, the prospect of substantial savings from back office merging and integration of systems, including data management and reporting, were a key consideration. QBE Mercantile Mutual inherited three general ledger systems with eight different segments. This proliferation of systems produced many unwanted symptoms, including manual processes, uninformed users and redundant data.

QBE Mercantile Mutual wanted to quickly replace all this with a flexible financial reporting system with slice/dice and drill down facilities, all within an enterprise-wide framework. "With a consolidated reporting system in place, we now have a single view of the new entity – a result that will lead to more improvements as we move into the next phase of the project.

"We chose CFO Vision, part of SAS' Total Financial Management Solution because it had the capacity to meet all our requirements and a successful track record to back up the claims", Mr Goodwin said.

CFO Vision was compatible with all existing systems and the ability to deliver quickly was also a key requirement.