UTAC tests vehicles for some of the world's most demanding industries. Their global operations run on precision. Their finance processes didn't. With budgeting spread across Excel files, two ERP systems, and teams in the UK and France, consolidation took hours and confidence in the numbers was low. UTAC needed a planning environment that could keep up with the scale and complexity of their business. Together with Finext and Vena, they built one. In eight weeks
· Reduced consolidation time from 3 hours to 15 minutes
· Completed an 8-week implementation on time and on budget with Finext
· Enabled self-service reporting and visibility, including globalconsolidated headcount at the click of a button
“Vena has come in and revolutionised how we’ve done our budgets. Every cycle gets better, and we’re seeing more and more time savings.” — Rachel Cundell, FP&A Manager, UTAC.
The Challenge: Managing Global Complexity WithFragmented Tools
UTAC has shaped the future of mobility for more than a century. With 250 kilometers of test tracks, 30 laboratories around the world, and 1,300 experts advancing autonomous, connected, and electric vehicle technologies, the organisation supports a wide range of customers across automotive, transport, petrochemical, tyre, and defense industries.
Yet despite its global footprint, UTAC’s budgeting and forecasting processes were still managed entirely in Excel. There was no audit trail, no centralised ownership, and no easy way to consolidate data flowing from both Oracle Fusion and Sage in their respective UK and France centers.
“Confidence in the numbers was not at the level we required, primarily due to the lack of an audit trail, which made it difficult to reconcile and track changes consistently,” Rachel explained.
Consolidation required hours of manual work, and it was difficult for the FP&A team to produce a global view. As UTAC grew, so did the need for a planning platform that could support international operations, improve accountability, and eliminate repetitive manual tasks.
The Implementation: How Finext Helped UTAC Move Quickly and with Confidence
UTAC selected Vena for its ease of use, Excel-native interface, and ability to deploy quickly without sacrificing governance. With the guidance of Finext, the team completed the implementation on time and on budget in just eight weeks. Finext brought structure, clarity, and experience, helping UTAC align requirements, clean up metadata, and design a scalable model for the organization.
“We could pick up Vena straight out of the box,” Rachel shared. "Finext challenged us, supported us and helped us build a system that continues to improve every cycle.”
“Finext’s professionalism and knowledge made our implementation a success”.
From the outset, the focus was on moving quickly to go live for the next budget cycle without creating stress, and building a solution people could trust.
Working through joint workshops, short decision lines, and continuous alignment, Finext helped UTAC design and deploy a structured planning model in just six to eight weeks. The approach balanced pace with clarity, keeping the project calm and focused while maintaining shared ownership. UTAC retained control over key decisions and content, while Finext ensured progress stayed on track.
Finext also played a key advisory role in helping UTAC structure complex metadata and think beyond the initial scope of the project. By bringing ideas UTAC had not previously considered, the team built a foundation designed for future use, not just the immediate budget cycle. Data is now loaded into Vena through finance-owned flat files from Oracle, aligned with the month-end close.
“Having Finext on board was calming,” said Rachel. “They pushed us, made us think about things we hadn’t considered, and enhanced the system with ideas we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves.”
The Solution: A Fast, Integrated Planning Environment Ready for Global Scale
Vena now provides UTAC with a unified, controlled planning environment that gives teams confidence in every number. Audit trails and drill-down capabilities allow UTAC to trace every entry back to its source. Operational leaders run their own cost center and workforce reports, and HR and Finance teams can see global consolidated headcount instantly.
This new visibility strengthens discussions around hiring and workforce planning. For the first time, UTAC can evaluate new-hire requests across regions with a complete, accurate view of workforce data.
Vena has helped UTAC respond more quickly to change as well. When the UK government announced National Insurance rate adjustments, the FP&A team was able to quickly and easily model the impact across more than 400 employees.
Budget consolidation time dropped from three hours to 15 minutes by a single team member. And by cascading one of their reports into others thanks to real-time data updates through Vena’s database, the team now saves 10 minutes every time they run this report, which adds up over time. This frees up the team to focus on being strategic partners and drive impact within the business.
“Even small enhancements save us hours. We’re excited to see what more we can do with what we already have,” Rachel added.
Building on their success with Vena, UTAC plans to expand into cash flow modeling, more detailed benefit calculations, and broader workforce planning across additional countries.
“Vena has given us confidence, visibility and time back in our day. Each budgeting cycle gets smoother, and we keep finding new ways to improve with the system.” — Rachel Cundell, FP&A Manager, UTAC
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