Australian universities are dealing with complex challenges in an accelerated timeframe. The predictability of established markets has been disrupted, Federal Government funding conditions will change and there is a renewed focus on financial position, performance and sustainability.
KPMG Australia’s Cost & Performance Analytics Solution for Education provides a holistic view of costs and performance across your institution enabling you to view and analyse actuals, plans and develop ‘what if’ scenarios both at an institutional (enterprise) level and at a more granular level across your faculty, school, course and units.
Benefits
| An automated, repeatable and scalable technology solution which enables you to: |
Provide a holistic view by consuming data from multiple source systems
Complement existing planning and forecasting systems, business intelligence tools and activity-based costing insights
Provide multiple views, including rapidly aligning internal and external views (e.g. organisational hierarchies vs ‘Fields of Education’)
Decrease manual effort and time to complete compliance reporting (e.g. The Department’s ‘Transparency in Higher Education Expenditure Data Collection’)
Rapidly perform ‘what if’ scenario modelling to plan and manage operational risks
Provide cost reduction opportunities through the provision of actionable insights using current data
How does it work?
Our Cost & Performance Analytics Solution has been developed with the education industry for the education industry.
The Solution allows you to capture your costs and revenues on an ongoing basis, to allocate these through your organisation using drivers to provide you with insights to the lowest level including unit level and or field of education.
It then allows you to forecast the expected performance, undertake strategic scenario analysis, and to highlight areas to watch and or levers to adjust.
Ultimately it provides insights to support strategic decisions.
In the current evolving environment, the KPMG Cost & Performance Analytics Solution has provided a framework for understanding costs built on a simpler set of drivers and allocation methodologies, that is easier to understand.
The model provides a mechanism for testing scenarios and for playing around with different drivers to test the outcomes of those changes.
The KPMG team led the project providing clear timelines, with clarity around deliverables, as well as identifying and monitoring risks along the way. Weekly meetings and regular email updates made the process very inclusive and ‘easy’. It was a pleasure to be part of this project.
What's in the box
Our Cost & Performance Analytics Solution is designed to help you permanently add speed and flexibility into resource allocation and accelerate decision-making.
- Data sources: directly connect to source systems including ERP, HRIS, Student Information System, Planning & Forecasting, BI tools, spreadsheets and direct entry to flexibly streamline processes
- Cost drivers & allocations: model drivers including FTE, EFTSL, Hours, Courses & Units for ‘what-if’ scenarios on cost and revenue within the powerful modelling engine to improve foresight
- Multiple viewpoints: Flexibly report and analyse the attributes most important to your institution for granular visibility:
- Faculty/School/Discipline/Course/Unit
- Staff Classification: Academic, Professional, other
- Activity Type: Teaching, Research, Back-office, etc.
- Employment Type: Full-time, Part-time, Casual/Sessional
Options to suit maturity
Every university is uniquely complex, so our solution is highly scalable to suit the needs, complexity and maturity of your institution.
Phase 1: Foundational
- Leverage existing data and underlying drivers to develop key cost insights and margin analysis to a granular level.
- Scenario analysis to inform planning budgeting and forecasting.
- Map to DESE Cost of Education reporting requirements.
Phase 2: Integration
- Builds on Foundational level with full integration to source data, systems and allocation calculations to optimise systems and data to expand driver-based insights to provide an automated and repeatable solution.
Phase 3: Transformation
- Leverage AI and predictive capabilities with deeper analytics capability through additional allocation levels.
- Connects to broader planning and reporting processes.
Want to see more?
To learn how the Cost & Performance Analytics Solution for Higher Education can provide you with a holistic view of your costs and performance, provide your details and a member of our team will be in touch.
Contact us
Contact us for further information, or submit a Request for Proposal.
