Client & Context

The client is a global provider of infrastructure, engineering, digital transformation and managed services, operating across multiple geographies and business divisions. As it expanded through new service offerings and restructuring, finance operations grew increasingly complex — shared costs from corporate functions, enterprise systems, Centers of Excellence and internal service organizations had to be distributed accurately across hundreds of profit centres, entities and business units.

Several enterprise allocation processes had evolved independently, relying on spreadsheet models, offline calculations and manual journals. Methodologies varied across departments, making reconciliation difficult. Multiple ERP platforms generated data at different organizational levels, requiring manual transformation before allocation — limiting visibility into the true cost of delivering services and delaying month-end and planning.

Group Finance needed a unified platform to:

• Standardize allocation methodologies across the organization and automate complex recharge calculations
• Support enterprise planning and forecasting and Improve visibility into intercompany and intragroup transactions and Provide complete auditability of allocation logic Free finance teams to focus on analysis rather than manual processing
• Free finance teams to focus on analysis rather than manual processing

Challenges

Before the implementation, several operational and business challenges undermined the efficiency and reliability of financial planning and cost management.

• Manual cost recharge — Software licensing, enterprise services, insurance and shared operational costs were maintained in offline spreadsheets, with journals prepared by hand — raising effort and error risk.
• Multiple independent models — Departments maintained their own methodologies with limited standardization, so rules were interpreted differently and outcomes varied period to period.
• Complex ERP distribution — ERP operating costs required several sequential allocation stages — profit centre to track, to legal entity, to destination profit centre — all performed manually.
• IC / IntraCompany opacity — Sender/receiver relationships, partner validation and balancing charge-in and charge-out postings demanded significant manual effort.
• Inconsistent CoE allocations — Allocation bases differed across Centers of Excellence, making consistent, transparent distribution of shared costs difficult.
• Manual validation — Entities, profit centres, accounts, currencies and percentages were validated by hand, so errors surfaced late and caused rework.
• Limited auditability — Spreadsheet models offered little traceability of drivers, assumptions and logic, so audits required heavy manual documentation.

Our Approach

We designed an enterprise allocation framework that consolidated every allocation process into a single governed OneStream application — emphasizing automation, standardization, transparency and scalability, while letting Group Finance retain flexibility over allocation methodologies.

Design principles

• One governed application replacing many disconnected spreadsheet models
• Standardized Excel templates integrated with OneStream via the Excel Add-in, so planners keep familiar tools under controlled member selection and validation
• Workflow-controlled submission and approval on every module
• Centrally maintained drivers, tracks and allocation bases — business ownership without technical maintenance
• Automated charge-out / charge-in postings for balanced accounting across all stages
• Planning in local currency with simultaneous reporting-currency visibility

Each module was validated in a development application before promotion, with results reconciled from allocation input through to final posting.

Solution highlights

Five modules make up the delivered framework. Together they move the enterprise from fragmented, spreadsheet driven allocation to a single governed, automated operating model.

Cost Recharge Framework (1A & 1B)

• Module 1A automates centrally managed operating expenses with no specific counterparty — enterprise software licensing, maintenance contracts and procured shared services.
• Module 1B handles centrally managed insurance costs (e.g. professional indemnity), with its own business rules, account structures and recharge methodology.
• Planners work in standardized Excel templates, authenticate through the OneStream Excel Add-in, and submit via workflow — with automated validation of entities, profit centres, currencies and accounts, captured by Entity, Profit Centre, Currency and Planning Period in one template.

Inter Company & Intra Company Allocation Engine

• A dedicated engine automates both Inter Company and Intra Company recharge processes.
• Captures sender and receiver entities, profit centres, accounts, currencies and amounts, and automatically generates balanced charge-out and charge-in transactions.
• Plans in local currency with consolidated-currency reporting visibility, validating allocation relationships before processing for stronger control.

ERP Allocation Framework

• The most sophisticated component — a multi-stage engine distributing costs from ERP profit centres throughout the organization in four sequential stages.
• Two-phase Entity-to-Profit-Centre allocation: Round 1 uses imported headcount for early budgeting; Round 2 true-ups with StatKey-based headcount drivers as planning matures.
• Generates balanced Charge-Out and Charge-In postings automatically, greatly reducing manual journal preparation.

Center of Excellence (CoE) Allocation

• Automates distribution of shared-service costs from enterprise CoEs — Architecture & Design, Digital & Technology, Engineering Excellence, Sustainability and other specialist functions.
• Allocation bases are maintained centrally in OneStream and stay consistent across the planning horizon, with controlled updates when structures change.
• Supports staff and non-staff costs, automatically generating offsetting sender/receiver entries with full transparency over drivers.

Governance, Workflow & Reporting

• Workflow-controlled submissions, automated validations, standardized templates, configurable business rules and centralized maintenance across every module.
• Real-time visibility into submitted data, converted values, allocation results and reconciliation through OneStream dashboards.
• Standardized logic simplifies audit with complete traceability from allocation inputs to final financial postings.

Inside the ERP allocation engine

ERP allocation was the most complex part of the solution: a multi-stage engine that distributes costs from NextGen ERP profit centres across the enterprise. It runs in four sequential stages, each fully automated and traceable.

The four-stage ERP cascade

Two-phase precision: Round 1 lets teams start budgeting early on imported headcount; Round 2 true-ups with StatKey drivers as operational data matures — early start, progressively higher accuracy

The allocation modules at a glance

Governance as a design principle

• Every submission is workflow-controlled and validated before it enters the application
• Business rules, tracks and allocation bases are maintained centrally — business owns the logic, not the technical build
• Charge-out and charge-in postings always balance, keeping accounting clean across stages
• Complete traceability from allocation inputs to final postings makes audit straightforward

Results

The implementation fundamentally transformed the client’s enterprise allocation processes, moving finance from fragmented spreadsheets to a governed, automated operating model.

Key business outcomes

• Significant reduction in manual, spreadsheet-based allocation activity
• Standardized methodologies across multiple enterprise functions
• Automated execution of complex multi-stage ERP allocations
• Improved transparency of Inter Company and Intra Company recharges
• Faster budget preparation through workflow-enabled planning
• Higher data quality via automated validation and governed submission
• Stronger audit readiness through centralized rules and traceable drivers
• Flexibility to support restructuring without redesigning allocation models

Before vs. after

“Finance moved from fixing spreadsheets to trusting the numbers — with allocation outcomes leadership can stand behind.”

— Finance Leadership

What’s Next?

Enterprise cost allocation is one of the most complex areas of financial planning — it spans business functions, legal entities, operational structures and differing methodologies. This engagement showed that consolidating these processes into a unified platform materially improves transparency, governance and efficiency.

By integrating Cost Recharge, ERP Allocation, Inter Company and Intra Company processing, and CoE allocations into a single OneStream solution, the client established a scalable enterprise allocation framework built for continued growth — replacing fragmented spreadsheets with a governed, automated operating model that reduces effort while improving consistency and control.

Where it goes next

• Extend allocation coverage as new service lines and entities are added
• Layer management reporting and analytics on the standardized allocation results
• Automate driver and StatKey refreshes to further shorten the planning cycle
• Reuse the governed framework as a foundation for wider finance-transformation initiatives

This implementation reflects our expertise in delivering enterprise-scale OneStream solutions — aligning technology with finance-transformation objectives to modernize cost management, strengthen control, and build a future-ready planning platform that evolves with the business.