From Excel to Integrated Financial Planning at RheinEnergie
RheinEnergie AG, one of the leading energy providers in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, set out to digitise its financial planning as part of a comprehensive transformation project. The company-wide migration from an older SAP system to SAP S/4HANA presented an opportunity to fundamentally rethink planning. Previously, financial planning was primarily carried out using decentralised Excel files, which led to poor data quality, time-consuming manual processes, and a lack of transparency. RheinEnergie recognised the need for an integrated EPM solution to enable efficient and high-quality centralised planning.
The aim of the project was to implement a centralised planning platform based on Jedox for cost centre, cost type, and profit centre planning. In the medium term, the application is also intended to support balance sheet and cash flow planning, as well as further modules. Particular focus was placed on improving the quality of
planning data and automating interfaces to the SAP system.
The project was embedded within the SAP migration and therefore had to contend with ongoing structural changes and system adjustments. In parallel, data structures and source systems – particularly SAP S/4HANA, SAP BW, and Tableau – were redefined, adapted, and integrated.
Find out all about the highlights:
Quality Improvement: Data quality and planning depth have significantly improved
Increased Efficiency: Uploads to the SAP system are now automated with a single click rather than manual
Validation & Transparency: Centralised reports and workflows enable structured review and approval of plans
Successful cooperation as a key factor for project success
RheinEnergie AG is one of the leading energy suppliers for electricity, gas, water and heat in North Rhine-Westphalia. Based in Cologne, the company supplies around 2.5 million people, industry, trade and commerce with energy and drinking water. RheinEnergie has holdings in numerous municipal utilities in the Rhineland.
| Industry | Region | Application | Software |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy & Utilities | Cologne, Germany | Financial Planning | Jedox |
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STRATO and bdg jointly developed the concept for the implementation of a BI/CPM solution for controlling. Board was chosen as the software; the intuitive and user-friendly design of the application was particularly decisive, enabling it to be used as a self-service BI.
The classic Excel-based planning process for merchandise planning reached its limits with the constant growth of Zalando, Europe’s largest online platform for fashion. Too time-consuming, error-prone and not very homogeneous: Merchandise planning was no longer in line with the dynamic business environment and was in danger of completely losing sight of important key factors in an overly sluggish planning process.
Zalando relied on bdg to implement a complex solution in Jedox for merchandise planning.
The result: the planning time and effort were radically reduced and the quality of the planning was significantly increased.
