MHR Analytics, the leading provider of business analytics solutions today announces the launch of their new Financial Workforce Planning (FWP) solution which has been created in partnership with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The council has forecast that the new system will save staff 264 days, which were previously spent on setting pay budgets, preparing management information and monitoring performance against forecasts.

The MHR Analytics FWP solution which is based on the IBM Cognos TM1 solution, can be applied to organisations in any industry and takes automated feeds from the HR, payroll and finance systems. It gives Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council a single view of the cost and forecasted cost of the workforce, together with the ability to automate, create and generate the Medium Term Financial Strategy and create in year budgets.

Historically, budget setting within the Metropolitan Council was carried out by multiple teams using Excel spreadsheets – a very labour intensive process that was prone to data inaccuracies and difficult to aggregate. MHR Analytics’ FWP solution will allow department heads to reduce time spent on traditional budgeting cycles that can run for three to six months consuming a significant portion of accountants’ and managers’ time.

Users will be able to see the latest status of any plan, showing actual performance alongside forecasted targets, with the ability to look at data at every level within the organisation to be better able to drive and match expenditure to resources.

Further benefits of MHR Analytics’ FWP solution implementation include:

• Scenario planning – impact of living wage, changes to staffing structure
• Automation of the business and people budgeting process
• Timely, accurate data on workforce management and planning
• Central control of budget status
• Accurate data integrity for greater confidence in decision-making
• Consistency of calculations like FTE’s (full time equivalent, the hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis)
• Vacancy management reporting
• Incorporation of HMRC calculations including pay awards, pay protection, pension contributions and redundancy modelling

Speaking about the new software, Richard Douthwaite, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council said: "A time consuming, inconsistent process has been replaced by a fully integrated, single version of the truth. We are also able to incorporate scenario planning with regards to living wage and NI rate changes. Throughout the implementation our relationship with MHR Analytics and its developers has been collaborative and highly productive. We believe it will deliver the benefits and accuracy we’re looking for.”

Nick Felton, Director of MHR Analytics, commented: “With people costs typically making up 80% of organisational cost, it is essential that an organisation has the ability to forecast, model and be in control of its current and future people costs. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has shown great vision in creating the flexibility and visibility of its Financial Workforce Plan, driving out huge savings in the processes and gaining immediate insight to future headcount costs.”

MHR Analytics will be hosting the official Financial Workforce Planning (FWP) launch events in London and Edinburgh on the 6^th and 20^th Octoberrespectively. During the event attendees will hear first-hand insight from Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, who have worked in partnership with MHR Analytics to develop its new FWP solution, aiming to save an estimated 264 FTE days on budget setting.

For more information on the event please visit the MHR Analytics website here.