Case Study
Acme Brick Improves Planning Efficiency with OneStream and MindStream Analytics
Acme Brick, a major manufacturer and distributor of brick and masonry products, was relying on an outdated TM1 solution for sales planning, production planning, expense planning, and income statement reporting. The process was slow, cumbersome, and difficult for end users to navigate.
Acme Brick needed a finance and reporting environment that reflected how the business actually operated, not just how the source system had originally been configured. That meant improving structure, reducing friction, and creating a workflow people could rely on.
MindStream Analytics approached the engagement with a focus on practical execution, making sure the solution improved day-to-day usability while also strengthening the long-term planning and reporting foundation.
The Challenge:
Acme Brick wanted to streamline planning, shorten cycle times, and build a stronger foundation for future planning capabilities across the business.
The legacy TM1 solution created a slow and inefficient planning experience. This created unnecessary friction for the team and made it harder to move from raw data to useful insight.
The planning cycle took roughly three months, limiting agility for the business. This created unnecessary friction for the team and made it harder to move from raw data to useful insight.
Acme Brick needed a scalable platform to support future expansion into additional planning processes and reporting needs. This created unnecessary friction for the team and made it harder to move from raw data to useful insight.
As demands for timely analysis and cleaner reporting increased, Acme Brick needed a more structured approach that could support both current needs and future growth.
The Solution
MindStream Analytics implemented OneStream as an app-like, dashboard-driven planning solution that made the process faster, easier, and more scalable for users and administrators.
Deployed a dashboard-driven planning experience with a landing page for selecting location, scenario, and planning processes. This change helped align the system more closely with business requirements and reduced dependence on manual workarounds.
Executed more than 75 complex calculations through dashboards, including allocations and cube seeding rules. This change helped align the system more closely with business requirements and reduced dependence on manual workarounds.
Delivered a plant unit cost analysis report that continued supporting a long-standing internal business process. This change helped align the system more closely with business requirements and reduced dependence on manual workarounds.
Added an admin dashboard to simplify tasks such as consolidations, calculations, reforecasts, and scenario analysis. This change helped align the system more closely with business requirements and reduced dependence on manual workarounds.
Rather than delivering a one-off fix, MindStream focused on building a cleaner operating model inside OneStream. That gave Acme Brick a solution that was easier to manage, easier to trust, and better suited for future reporting and planning needs.
Key solution components included:
The Result
The new OneStream solution significantly improved speed, usability, and visibility across the planning process while preparing Acme Brick for future growth.
Reduced planning cycle time by several months. In practical terms, that meant better visibility, faster turnaround, and more confidence in the information being used to support decisions.
Improved performance so users could update and calculate results within seconds. In practical terms, that meant better visibility, faster turnaround, and more confidence in the information being used to support decisions.
Enabled full consolidations in less than two minutes for the entire company. In practical terms, that meant better visibility, faster turnaround, and more confidence in the information being used to support decisions.
Improved budget completeness tracking and visibility during planning season. In practical terms, that meant better visibility, faster turnaround, and more confidence in the information being used to support decisions.
Overall, the engagement helped Acme Brick move beyond short-term pain points and establish a more dependable framework for reporting, planning, and financial analysis over time.