Executive summary
This project was initiated in 2019 to standardise the financial processes in Schibsted. A total of 60 legal entities were in scope and more than 250 people were involved. A major component was to implement one common Global template (processes, system, and governance) across Schibsted. By November 2022, all companies in scope were on-boarded to the new Global template. The project will contribute to both cost reduction and cost avoidance in Finance Operations.
Background
Before this project was initiated in 2019, Schibsted’s accounting teams were organised in two large centres in Norway and Sweden.
These centres serviced many of our family brands in News Media, Marketplaces and start ups. The financial processes weren’t standard which made working together across locations and businesses challenging.
This project was therefore initiated to enable:
- Faster reporting and decision making
- Better business insights
- More efficient financial services
- Agile onboarding of new companies
Learn more about the background for the project in this video.
The scope of the project
The project involved standardising and harmonising the core financial processes in Schibsted. A major component was to implement one common ERP system.
This entailed setting up a new global template including;
- One common set of harmonised and automated finance processes.
- One standardised common financial steering model (chart of accounts and financial master data) supporting flexibility for local business as well as ensuring central functions and group wide definitions.
- One central governance framework to ensure processes and steering model is kept updated and to a high quality standard.
- Consolidation of Schibsted’s finance shared services into one organisation
Based on a pre-study, the project recommended Dynamics 365 (D365) to be rolled out as the new group-wide ERP system in Schibsted. The deployment project started late 2019, and all companies in scope were on-boarded to the new Global template by November 2022. These were simultaneously also onboarded to the new system for accounts payable management, ExFlow.
All legal entities on the legacy systems (UBW in Norway and Navision in Sweden) and handled by the shared service centre were in scope. In total 60 legal entities were in scope.
With one common ERP system, global processes, and a common accounting system, Schibsted finance will be able to meet the expectations of the business areas for process standardisation and financial reporting for functions and business areas across legal entities and geographies.
Project outcome
Scope
More than 60 companies were onboarded, including:
Verdens Gang AS
Finn.no AS
Blocket AB
Svenska Dagbladets AB
Aftonbladet Hierta AB
Aftenposten AS
Schibsted Norge AS
Schibsted Sverige AB
Schibsted ASA
* See the complete list at the end of the article.
People
- 250+ people were involved
- 1500+ people were trained
- 100+ training sessions
- 100,000+ working hours from the core project team
System
- 22 pre-systems integrated
- 1800+ test cases performed
- More than 1 600 data files loaded to D365
- Migrated and created 9,500 vendors, 14,000 customers, and 2,300 fixed assets
The project team consisted of both internal resources and external consultants, including implementation partners.
In Q1 2021, the two pilot companies were onboarded to the new Global template and D365. The deployment of the other companies occurred in a span of 12 months:
- 18 companies in April 2022,
- 22 companies in August 2022,
- 20 companies in November 2022.
Benefit realisation
With a global template and a common accounting system, the project will contribute to both cost reduction and cost avoidance in Finance Operations.
The stabilisation and optimisation of our processes (i.e automation) and the more Schibsted grows (i.e number of transactions), the higher the monetary benefits of the new Global template and accounting system will be.
* Companies onboarded to D365
Verdens Gang AS
Schibsted Partnerstudio AS
E24 Norges Viktigste Næringslivsavis AS
Elton Mobility AS
Manus AS
Max Social AS
Maximo AS
VGTV AS
Bare Åsane AS
PodMe AS
Aftenposten AS
Askøyværingen AS
Bergens Tidende AS
Bygdanytt AS
Forlaget Strilen AS
A/S Lokalavisene
Schibsted Norge AS
Stavanger Aftenblad AS
Vestnytt AS
Schibsted ASA
Schibsted Production AS
Janaflaten 24 AS
Schibsted Trykk AS
Schibsted Vekst AS
Schibsted Trykk Bergen AS
Schibsted Trykk Oslo AS
Schibsted Godare AB
Matkanalen AS
Schibsted Eiendom AS
Schibsted Tillväxtmedier AB
A Perfect Guide Scandinavia AB
Aftonbladet Hierta AB
HB Svenska Dagbladets AB & Co
Klart Vädertjänster AB
Omnipunktse AB
Schibsted Marketing Services AB
Svenska Dagbladet Holding AB
Svenska Dagbladets AB
Schibsted Tillväxtmedier Annonsförsäljning AB
Schibsted Sverige AB
Schibsted Nova AS
TVNU Sweden AB
Lendo Part of Schibsted AS
Schibsted Norge SMB AS
Compricer AB
Lendo AB
Schibsted Fintech AB
Vinguiden Nordic AB
Schibsted News Media AB
Distribution Innovation AS
Helthjem Mediapost AS
Helthjem Netthandel AS
Morgenlevering AS
Schibsted SMB AB
Schibsted Delivery AS
Schibsted Distribusjon Øst AS
Schibsted Distribusjon Vest AS
Kickback AS
Lendo Topco AS
Schibsted Products & Technology Norway AS
Zoopit AS
Schibsted Enterprise Technology AB
Blocket AB
Finn.no AS
Schibsted Products & Technology AB
Schibsted Nordic Marketplaces AS
Schibsted Denmark Holdco Aps
Schibsted Denmark ApS