UTAC Accelerates Global Budgeting and Builds Confidence Across the Organisation With Vena

Enabled self-service reporting and visibility at the click of a button

Reduced consolidation time from 3 hours to 15 minutes

Completed an 8-week implementation on time and on budget with Finext

The Challenge: Managing Global Complexity With Fragmented 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.

An automotive tester driving a new electric vehicle prototype on a controlled test track

The Solution: A Fast, Integrated Planning Environment Ready for Global Scale

UTAC selected Vena for its ease of use, Excel-native interface, and ability to deploy quickly without sacrificing governance. With the guidance of Vena’s Solutions Partner, 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 group.

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“We could pick up Vena straight out of the box,” Rachel shared. “Finext’s professionalism and knowledge made our implementation a success. They challenged us, supported us and helped us build a system that continues to improve every cycle.”

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.