Pilkington plc - http://www.pilkington.com/

Author - Pilkington Group Treasury (May 2002)
Contact : Caroline Peet +44 (0)1744 693 427

Pilkington and City Financials (CF) first encountered each other in the Summer of 1999, when Pilkington began using a database for banking facilities which CF had developed. At the time, Pilkington were using an integrated Treasury System which was stable and integrated, but was unlikely to be able to be developed much further.

Early in 2001, it became apparent that the current system supplier was intending to exit the Treasury Management System area - and that Pilkington would have to look for a new system. eTC from City Financials was included in a long list of possible systems - which were then gradually whittled down until two remained, including eTC. Extensive discussions, hands on demonstrations and increasingly urgent time constraints led Pilkington to the conclusion that eTC would be an ideal system, and that it could be implemented in the time available - contracts were signed in August 2001.

A quick implementation was one of the key requirements of the new system for Pilkington - and City Financials helped make this happen. Implementation started the week after the contracts were signed. As much standing data as possible was extracted from the old TMS, cleaned up using Excel, handed over to City Financials for them to upload into eTC and then cross checked in the system by Pilkington staff. Account data, settlement instructions, even outstanding foreign exchange deals were all quickly and easily uploaded. More complicated standing data was entered by hand, and transactions such as interest rate swaps were re-keyed to ensure that they were correct. By the end of September, a parallel run had started, which completed on schedule and successfully.

Pilkington's previous system had enabled straight through processing, and it was important that eTC was configured to enable this from the start. Links to Crossmar and NatWest Bankline were configured, and an exchange rate import from Reuters arranged. Confirmations to internal companies are e-mailed as PDF files, along with statements of inter-company accounts and loans. Management accounts for 14 companies are completed on the system, including some not used as Treasury companies.

The major improvement resulting from the system implementation for Pilkington has been in the accounting - previously a notable amount of work had to be completed on spreadsheets using figures re-keyed from the old TMS. With eTC, most of the companies are prepared entirely within the system, and reports printed off for the Group consolidation system. A recent year end went smoother and quicker than previous years.

Creating new reports is also easy - meaning that some spreadsheets which were previously e-mailed to various Group companies each month are now generated automatically by the system, and sent on a template with Pilkington specific text on it.

Overall, the implementation achieved the initial objectives of providing a replacement for the current system quicker and cheaper than any of the alternatives considered. The improvements in working practices so far have allowed various members of the team to work smarter, and as we increase our use of the various features of the system, we expect further efficiencies.

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