Andrey Yudaev

Columbus and Nordgold, as part of a corporate finance automation project, have developed the CN Planning Analytics for Mining Industry solution - a highly effective tool for automating management accounting, budgeting, financial planning and reporting for mining companies.

The CN Planning Analytics for Mining Industry solution is built on the IBM Planning Analytics platform - OLAP systems for working with large amounts of data, planning and monitoring in real-time, organizing a single information space for the entire company, as well as advanced analytics and forecasting. The joint solution of Columbus and Nordgold has been recognized by IBM as a standalone scalable industry solution and is listed in the IBM Global Solutions Directory for offering to mining companies around the world.

The solution is based on the best management accounting practices and strict adherence to key industry standards. The following functional modules have been developed and are available for implementation in the system:
1. Budget model (strategy/business plan) and forecasting model for various types of mineral development / subsequent production;
2. Model of management reporting (dashboards / comparative tables for all key indicators in production, finance, WC, personnel and capital expenditures);
3. Structure of key performance indicators of the industry based on WGC and CIME standards;
4. Personnel management module for planning costs and headcount;
5. Module for calculating and analyzing working capital;
6. Benchmarking module (integration with Mitraq);
7. Module of capital investments (approval, analysis of the budget versus actual, post-investment monitoring).

The implementation of CN Planning Analytics allowed Nordgold to:
1. Create a unified system for analyzing data on the production and finances of the company;
2. Carry out a quick and deep analysis of changes in business performance;
3. Promptly generate a management report after the end of the reporting period;
4. Compare the results of the company with the best practices and data of competitors;
5. To increase the efficiency of work on CAPEX projects: the system of project approval, compliance of costs with the planned budget, post-investment analysis, etc.
6. Build highly accurate individual financial models of gold mining enterprises.