Tribune Media simplified their monthly capital spending forecasting process by implementing Anaplan. Their previous process was manual, time-consuming, and did not reconcile to their general ledger. With Anaplan, they can now forecast capital spending across 300 projects in a systematic, standardized way. Users can input monthly forecasts, track projects, and view consolidated forecasts. Actual spending is uploaded from their ERP into Anaplan for reconciliation. This provides Tribune Media with a single system of record for capital forecasting and analysis versus budget.

1. Capital Spend
Forecasting in
Anaplan
How Anaplan Simplified
the Monthly Capital Spend
Forecasting Process at
Tribune Media

2. Debbie DeSalvo
Senior Director
Lisa Panico
Planning & Analysis
Senior Director Manager
Planning & Analysis

3. Tribune
Media Profile
• Industry: Media & Entertainment
• 2016 annual revenues $1.9 billion
• ~ 2016 annual capital spend $73M
• ~ 300 capital projects annually
• ~ 5,000 FTE in 2016
• 42 owned local television stations
reaching more than 50 million
households
• National entertainment network WGN
America reaching 80 million households
• Tribune Studios original production
television series (i.e. Outsiders &
Underground)

4. Why Tribune Media Needed a Better
Solution for the Capital Forecasting
Process?
• Manual
• Time-consuming
• Missing reconciliation to G/L
• Cumbersome pulling from
multiple data sources
• Not standardized
• Inefficient with consolidation &
tracking projects
Historical Process was:
Resulting in:
• Missed deadlines

5. Why Anaplan?
• Already using Anaplan for financial
forecast
• Systematic solution
• Fewer touches, “set it and forget it”
• Forecast has one system of record
• User access can be limited to
specific companies
• Workflow tracker
• Multi-dimensional
• Monthly actuals can be uploaded
from Workday into Anaplan
• Creates a reconciliation process
with the general ledger in Workday
• Easy to add/update and track
project information
• Consolidation is real time

6. Solution Architecture Overview
Monthly Actuals
Accounting
General
Ledger
New project
data updated
via import
CSV file
Actuals
updated via
import of CSV
file
Financial
Planning
Capital Spending Actuals loaded daily
during month-end close

7. Project
Worktag &
Project ID
New
Capital
Projects
Created
New Capital
Projects
Approved
Users at
stations/business
& Corporate FP&A
Real-time data for all user groups
Data Hub
Input
monthly
forecast
Monthly Capital Forecast Process with Anaplan
Capital Spending
Actuals
Invoices
processed
/Journal
entries
posted to
CIP/PPE
Specific G/L
journal
sources
imported
into Anaplan
Project
Worktag &
Project ID
Month-End
Close Reconcile
actuals with
Workday G/L
Update/add
project
information
Consolidate
and variance
to Budget
analysis
Corporate FP&A
Users at
stations/business

8. Add/Update Project Screen in Anaplan
Drop-
down
options in
Anaplan
Project
ID-link
from
Workday
Project information
input in Anaplan
Data uploaded from
Workday

9. Quarterly Report Budget vs. Forecast
Q1 FY17 Q2 FY17 Q3 FY17 Q4 FY17 FY17
Current Forecast Television & Entertainment 2,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 8,000,000
Current Forecast Corporate 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 4,000,000
Current Forecast Real Estate 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 4,000,000
Current Forecast Technology (SC) 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 4,000,000
Current Forecast All Companies 5,000,000 5,000,000 5,000,000 5,000,000 20,000,000
2017 Budget Television & Entertainment 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 4,000,000
2017 Budget Corporate 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 800,000
2017 Budget Real Estate 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 4,000,000
2017 Budget Technology (SC) 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 4,000,000
2017 Budget All Companies 3,200,000 3,200,000 3,200,000 3,200,000 12,800,000
Forecast vs. 2017 Budget Television & Entertainment (1,000,000) (1,000,000) (1,000,000) (1,000,000) (4,000,000)
Forecast vs. 2017 Budget Corporate (800,000) (800,000) (800,000) (800,000) (3,200,000)
Forecast vs. 2017 Budget Real Estate 0 0 0 0 0
Forecast vs. 2017 Budget Technology (SC) 0 0 0 0 0
Forecast vs. 2017 Budget All Companies (1,800,000) (1,800,000) (1,800,000) (1,800,000) (7,200,000)
Variance
to Budget
Analysis
Consolidated
Capital
Spending

10. Tribune Media
Capital Process
Anaplan Automation
Journey
Anaplan go live
March 2016 for
February close &
2+10 Forecast
(incl. “Project
Worktag”
mandatory
validation rule in
Workday)
Training
February 25/29
2016
Roadmap
Communication
to users
Feb 11, 2016
Model Testing
Jan 2016
Planning
Dec 2015-Jan
2016

11. Anaplan
Implementation
Success
• Standardized the process
Included users during all phases
• Requested constant user feedback
• Moved ownership to business
• User testing of model
• Clear communication
• Training
• Corporate ownership of the project
• Change Management