As a rapidly growing company, ArthroCare was suffering from too many sources of data, and not enough consistent information. Management wanted to create an environment of accountability where people have timely access to results and can act immediately, but the company’s transaction systems were not designed to support the type of sales territory and product line reporting needed. It was difficult getting data in the right hands because employees were utilizing too many Excel spreadsheets. As a result, ArthroCare needed a single source of the truth. 

ArthroCare leveraged Hyperion’s suite of applications and Archetype’s expertise to create solutions for multiple areas of their business. 

The first success was improving their financial consolidation and reporting process. Using Hyperion, ArthroCare created a consistent financial database and shortened their close cycle. Previously, teams had to collect the financial results and publish them manually. Now, dynamic reports provide immediate access to both internal and external reporting structures. 

Once the accuracy of the financial reports was assured, the solution was expanded to focus on the product line and sales reporting. ArthroCare now provides sales analysis daily, including drill-down to underlying detail. The Daily Bookings Report lets business units review month-to-date results and take immediate action if changes are indicated. Non-financial information and statistics are included, allowing the manufacturing group to understand and analyze unit trends. 

To provide a complete view of company performance, ArthroCare also incorporated planning and budgeting into the solution. Executives expect cost center managers to be accountable for their results, so it is critical that they participate in setting budgets and targets. Users now have a real-time environment to track results, analyze variances, and communicate throughout the organization. 

ArthroCare found that the changes helped create an environment of accountability where employees could take initiatives to make positive changes.  Manual data entry and multiple spreadsheets were replaced with dynamic and flexible reporting views with drill-down capabilities.  The project’s additional successes include: 

• Supporting rapid company growth (revenue growth of 47% and EPS growth of 160% from Q2 2002 to Q4 2003) 

• Improving the month-end closing cycle from 15 days to 7 days 

• Increasing the reporting audience and frequency from quarterly reporting for approximately 10 people, to now providing daily, weekly, and monthly reporting for over 50 people 

• Integrating actuals, plans, and budgets to create a complete view of company performance 

• Streamlining the consolidation process, enabling multiple acquisitions to be easily absorbed in an 18-month period 

• Enabling managers to check sales of new products and make immediate adjustments to affect trends 

• Incorporating operational data and statistics to provide value beyond Finance and deliver benefits throughout the organization