How automated transfer pricing adjustments saved 480+ hours

Manual work on transfer pricing adjustments in Excel spreadsheets can take a lot of working hours. Platforms like Alteryx change the game by automating these tasks and extending them to produce the results, which can then be uploaded to the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

How an Alteryx solution helped our client

For a Pharma client with 40 entities, the PwC team has created an Alteryx workflow which automatically:

• determines whether an adjustment is needed to land in the target margin range
• calculates each entity’s adjustment needed to hit the desired rate
  
• accounts for differences between distributors
  
• accounts for correct target margin by country
  
• auto pairs transactions with trading partners
  
• completes a summary tab, and
  
• ultimately populates a spreadsheet for Journal Entries for accounting
  

The process can be run on a monthly basis, not quarterly, as previously.

How commercial billing automation can save your time and prevent mistakes

Our client was looking for ways to streamline their payment team’s process of calculating payments owed to partner vendors. We created an Alteryx workflow that helped save 350+ hours a year.

What was the problem?

• The payments team would manually sift through invoice data from the billing system to calculate payments owed to partner vendors.
• The billing system could not be relied upon because of custom rules / logic required for discount calculations and contract pricing.
  
• In the past, review of manually recalculated partner payments in Excel spreadsheets revealed formula errors as well.
  

The Alteryx-based solution created by the PwC team brought the following benefits:

• Invoice detail data is automatically analyzed and recalculated to determine partner discounts and payments
• An upload template for the ERP system is created
  
• The Alteryx workflow prepares a review package
  
• The new automated approach allows for flexibility in “coding” payment rules and ensures a consistent application of those rules throughout the process
  

How to streamline monthly financial reporting to headquarters with Alteryx

On a monthly basis, our client prepares an internal reporting package for headquarters. To make this process more efficient and smooth-running, we helped them to automate it.

What was the issue?  

For several days, the finance team was manually gathering the data from multiple systems and in different structures and formats to combine it into one large report on a spreadsheet. 

Limitations of the standard spreadsheet software caused a slow computation process. As a result, the reviewing employee was not able to perform the cross-checks properly, and human errors were difficult to identify in the report.

What was the solution?

Using the powerful capabilities of Alteryx and in collaboration with the client, the PwC team mapped the entire process, defined which parts are suited for automation and designed an Alteryx workflow which generates the required report. 

Furthermore, our team also incorporated the review steps into the automation solution, resulting in an even smoother process to prepare the final report.

What was the result?

The automation solution delivers the internal report in the required structure and format, and the cross-checks’ results in 15 minutes, almost without any manual input from employees.