Philips

Project

ROFO, or the Rolling Forecast Tool, was the first project Philips selected us to carry out for them back in 2002. A web-based financial planning, controlling, and forecasting system, ROFO is used by the Central & Eastern Europe Philips branches to plan revenues and expenses, and to create forecasts.

ROFO helps perform financial planning through the analysis of a multitude of parameters and how they influence each other. Melon’s implementation captures Philips’ complex business processes and fully meets their accounting needs.

Implementation

One of ROFO’s main strengths is that it is a web-based solution with a spreadsheet interface, which allows it to deliver a desktop user experience. This is very convenient and fast and allows export to Microsoft Office Excel directly from the browser – a great fit for its users, mostly financial controllers. Being on the web, ROFO does not require any extra resources (both human effort and time) to be deployed or updated, ensuring that everyone is using the latest version of both the application and the data.

The system is comprehensive, yet flexible, processing years of data, which can often change over time not only in numerical values but also as a structure, following Philips’ evolution as a company. 

Scope

Some of the changes ROFO accommodates are territorial and structural changes within the company (divisions and product lines) as well as exchange rates, market state, etc.

After building the tool from the ground up using ASP.NET and Microsoft SQL Server, Melon has kept supporting and evolving ROFO until now and it is still actively in use, both by Philips staff and by auditors. It serves branches in 20 countries, handles different currencies and collects data from several internal systems (among which our client’s SAP system) to make quarterly forecasts.

Going into SaaS

A couple of years ago, the division running Philips’ new lifestyle entertainment brand wOOx needed customized versions of both ROFO and Marcom, the marketing and communication planning tool we developed for Philips in 2005 for their specific needs. After we delivered these customized versions, our client saw the potential of outsourcing the systems’ infrastructure and maintenance, so Melon now provides both systems as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and offers both the secure infrastructure and software development and support.

Both systems employ innovative technological solutions that optimize them for performance and bandwidth usage. This is how they meet the challenging requirements for fluid user experience and impressive data bandwidth in a web-based central application.

Testimonial

"Melon has been Philips technology partner since 2002, and I am pleased to confirm their excellent service. In the course of my work, I have often been impressed by Melon’s team responsiveness and professional attitude, and our cooperation has proved very beneficial for the smooth implementation of IT projects throughout the Philips ISO Region covering more than 20 countries.

I can say with confidence they are a reliable partner with expert technical solutions and excellent customer service. "

Lazar Detchev

Regional IT manager

Philips Domestic Appliances & Personal Care, CEE & MEA

Results

• The system has been in active use by Philips for over 10 years now;
• It helps the company’s financial controllers in their strategic planning and reporting;
• It's deployed in over 20 countries and in all Philips’ latest ventures.