What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of the words Enterprise Architecture (EA)?
If your thoughts turned towards IT or you began to associate it with terms such as “database” or “computing platforms” then that isn’t totally wrong but know that that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Instead, turn your attention towards the mundane things you do, like filing for reimbursements — notice how there have been some seemingly subtle (but very welcome) improvements made over the past two years? These changes, no matter how big or small, are what EA is all about.
So what exactly is Enterprise Architecture? At its simplest definition, it is a blueprint that defines the structure of organizations and determines how it can effectively achieve its current and future objectives… and Financial Planning is no exception.
“The Enterprise Architecture in terms of the Great Transformation is to a great extent really more about automation and digitalization,” said Bevs Tolentino, AEV FVP of Financial Planning & Projects.
In 2020, the team went through a transformation exercise with the goal of future-proofing their capabilities, processes and systems. The voices of their customers and the aspirations of their team collectively identified the capabilities they needed to enhance or build, thereby, shaping their transformation roadmap. At the top of that to-do list was the need to improve their systems.
“We found that the system was really our limiting factor because we had a lot of manual processes but the capabilities we needed to enhance were reliant on automated processes and digital functionalities,” she shared. “[At the time of the exercises] the finance and treasury teams were belabored with layers upon layers of manual processes and an on-premise ERP system which was way overdue for an upgrade.”
The on-premise ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning system is characterized by physical servers supported by an entire team, and specialized hardwares and softwares.
The drawback [with our on-premise ERP] is that AEV has already outgrown the configurations we set up in 2010. So along the way, we had to do work-arounds that led to manual processes. In the long run, we had this accumulation of manual work-arounds.
– Beverly Tolentino, First Vice President of Financial Planning & Projects, AEV
Beginning in January 2022, the [finance] team took the leap and migrated to a cloud-based ERP system through Project AFF’X and instantly experienced all the benefits that come with a modern suite as it automated a whole host of processes, thereby increasing efficiency and drastically reducing the lead time in accomplishing tasks.
“Think back to how we used to do reimbursements: what used to take us several days, now we can disburse it within 24 hours from the time of approval!” Beverly exclaimed.
For the treasury team, the move to the cloud addressed a major pain point — bank reconciliations — a daunting and time-consuming task that involves ensuring that the cash amount indicated in the bank statement is consistent with the records of the company which is then painstakingly reconciled manually by the team’s accountants.
But since the introduction of Project Hamilton, the team is now able to extract the bank statement directly from the bank itself — a feat made possible due to the integration of Project Hamilton with the partner banks.
“What this new system does is it will match the records (dates, amounts, etc.) and automatically flag inconsistent or non-matching data, which will then be investigated by the accountant. Before Project Hamilton, this was all done manually so you can imagine how time-consuming it is.”
Despite all the gains and improvements thus far, she maintains that this is only the beginning of the Great Transformation of the finance and treasury teams.
“While 24-hour reimbursements are a definite improvement, we’re not stopping there,” Tolentino declared. “Our next level would be one that can include optical character recognition (OCR), so you won’t need to input or scan receipts and documents anymore. Because all this is related to processes and systems, the EA framework is the one that has to steer us to the right path.”
She adds: “So if another team or CSU wants to update their platform, we’re thinking: how are we going to relate to that process? We want to do a lot of things, so EA is there to steer us and help us prioritize where to focus our resources, and we hope to move that needle with our GT.”
Among the many milestones and accomplishments of the team includes being the first SBU to be granted a permit by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to utilize electronic invoice and receipts — a shining example of the GT2025 in action as it demonstrates how the Group is helping transform bureaucracies like the BIR and digitizing the way we work with the public.
