HAYNE Solutions and Topps – An IBM Planning Analytics Case Study
For over 70 years, Topps has harnessed partnerships and licences with global brands such as UEFA Champions League, Premier League Football, Bundesliga, WWE, Pokémon, Doctor Who, Nat Geo and Star Wars to deliver over 900 products in 55 countries. Topps is known for delivering some of the world’s most loved collectables, from cards to stickers and albums to figurines.
Having approached HAYNE Solutions, Topps needed to upgrade their existing IBM Cognos TM1 system to IBM Planning Analytics to take their planning process to the next level.
Struggling to manage their large inventory in 55 countries, much of the planning process involved risky, labour-intensive and manual data transfer across the business. Managed by just two people, the planning process was exclusive, inefficient and clunky.
With HAYNE’s support and expertise, upgrading to IBM Planning Analytics brought Topps three key improvements:
- Automation of many timely and risky processes.
- The capability of direct data upload from departments.
- The Executive Team & Sales now have direct access to unique dashboards with which they manage their own planning process.
By upgrading, Topps were also able to take advantage of additional IBM Planning Analytics functionality, including the Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW), which would help them meet a key objective of significantly improving their planning process.
As a result, by the end of the project, Topps had an enhanced model that no longer required manual adjustments to reach ‘one version of the truth’. HAYNE Solutions had delivered the company a future-ready, enhanced financial and business planning model that was efficient, automated, and allowed data owners to have full responsibility for their own data. Moreover, to empower Topps to maximise their investment, HAYNE delivered IBM Planning Analytics Training supported by suitable documentation.
More information, including the challenges faced and solutions implemented, about the Topps case study can be found on HAYNE’s website here.
For another IBM Planning Analytics case study on TechStories, click here.
