Case Study
Hill Labs finds the right formula for faster financial planning with NSPB
At a glance
How Hill Labs connected planning with NetSuite, halved the time spent preparing financial information for Board reports and made rolling forecasts easier to maintain.
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Hill Labs is a New Zealand analytical testing laboratory, providing testing services across a wide range of sectors from soil and water to food, wine and honey. Behind that breadth sits a highly complex planning environment: six locations, thousands of tests, around 97 business units to budget and approximately 500 permanent full-time equivalent employees, supplemented by a seasonal workforce.
As the organisation grew, the systems that had supported a smaller Hill Labs were no longer keeping pace. Finance was working across disconnected platforms, with uploads, downloads and manual handling required to bring information together. The challenge was not simply to replace an ageing planning tool. It was to build an integrated planning and reporting foundation that could support continued growth without continually adding people and processes.
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Analytical laboratory testing
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NetSuite + NetSuite Planning & Budgeting (NSPB)
50% less time spent preparing financial information for Board reports.
Around 50% less budgeting effort for some managers in the first NSPB budget cycle
One connected model supporting approximately 90+ business units and 500 permanent FTE, plus a seasonal workforce
The challenge: Growing complexity, disconnected systems
Hill Labs previous budgeting and forecasting system was no longer keeping pace. Reporting flexibility was limited, Finance relied heavily on Excel for Board reports, and month-end required a two-to-three-hour upload process.
Budgeting could stretch across two to three months, involving more than 20 people. Forecasts had to be created separately, with no rolling forecast or practical way to quickly model changes across the year.
“Every year the cost kept going up, but we weren’t getting anything else for it. We were still relying heavily on Excel for the Board reports, and without support we had reached the point where we could only do so much with the system.” Kirsty Holdaway, Chief Financial Officer, Hill Labs
The solution: One connected planning model
NetSuite partner Annexa implemented NetSuite as the first phase of Hill Labs' finance transformation, recommending Pivot2 to deliver specialist planning and budgeting capability in Phase 2.
Working closely with the Hill Labs Finance team, Pivot2 implemented NSPB to connect financial planning with the organisation's real business drivers.
The solution introduced:
Direct integration between NetSuite and NSPB.
Rolling forecasts combining actuals with the outlook for the remainder of the year.
Driver- and trend-based budgeting to reduce manual input.
Flexible workforce planning for salary changes and seasonal movements.
Smart View reporting with analysis and drill-down by business unit.
Integrated P&L, balance sheet and cash flow planning.
Rather than having managers build budgets independently, Finance could prepare more of the assumptions and indirect costs upfront, allowing managers to focus on the operational drivers they know best.
The impact: Faster reporting, easier forecasting
The biggest immediate improvement was Board reporting.
With integrated data and purpose-built reports, Kirsty can access financial information faster, analyse results by business unit and drill into the detail behind the numbers.
“I’d say it has halved the time I spend preparing the financial information that goes into the Board reports.” Kirsty Holdaway, Chief Financial Officer, Hill Labs
Rolling forecasts have also become easier to maintain. Actuals flow into the forecast each month, while Finance can adjust assumptions through Smart View without updating every individual business unit.
“Updating a rolling forecast is certainly easier. We can change a few numbers and quickly see a different view of the year. That’s something we simply didn’t have before.” Kirsty Holdaway, Chief Financial Officer, Hill Labs
Workforce planning is now more precise, with the ability to model multiple salary increases, bonuses, commissions and allowances across different months.
The first NSPB budget cycle was also shorter, despite the team implementing and learning the new model at the same time. Some managers spent around half the time preparing their budgets.
More than a technology implementation
For Hill Labs, Pivot2's value extended beyond the software.
The team understood the accounting and FP&A requirements behind the model, helping translate complex financial processes into a practical planning solution.
“We weren’t just dealing with an IT person. Pivot2 understood what we were trying to achieve as accountants and what the business needed. They’ve been supportive, responsive and willing to understand what we’re going through.” Kirsty Holdaway, Chief Financial Officer, Hill Labs
Built for what's next
Hill Labs now has a connected planning platform designed to grow with the organisation.
With integrated three-way planning already making cash flow reporting easier, the next stage will bring capital expenditure more fully into the balance sheet and cash flow forecast, alongside further opportunities to expand reporting across the business.
The result? A stronger financial planning foundation, less manual effort and more time for Finance to focus on the business.
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