About The University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is a prominent public research institution located in Arlington, Texas. It operates with an endowment of $218 million, offering diverse undergraduate and graduate programs across various fields of study.
Situation
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) aimed to modernize its legacy planning processes as part of a broader university-wide innovation initiative. The university faced a disconnect between its technology directives and its budget planning systems, which were siloed and reliant on manual Excel processes. This led to extensive manual intervention throughout the budgeting cycle, causing inefficiencies and inaccuracies.
Action
To address these challenges, the UTA implemented Oracle’s Planning Cloud with the expertise of Centroid. This solution created a collaborative budgeting culture by connecting disparate business units on a common platform for operational budgets. By leveraging Hyperion as a foundation for Planning Cloud, the university was able to cut licensing costs by 57%.
Impact
The implementation of Oracle’s Planning Cloud brought significant improvements to UTA. The university developed budget and forecast variance models, KPI analysis, and long-range “what if” scenarios.
This transformation resulted in a 50% reduction in steps for budget input and a 40% decrease in the time required to produce the annual budget. The Controller of the university noted that the Centroid team “came in and led us through design on the Long-Range Planning and Budgeting… and created the revenue/expense planning just as we wanted. Thanks for sending your team to work with us; they are very knowledgeable and easy to work with.” The University of Texas at Arlington successfully modernized its budgeting processes, further accelerating the university’s innovation goals and enhancing overall efficiency.