How Saab Modernised Contract Management and Financial Planning
“Mercur is a flexible system that improves and streamlines business management and decision-making.”
“Mercur is a flexible system that improves and streamlines business management and decision-making.”
Headquartered in Sweden, Saab is a global defence and security company delivering advanced solutions for military defence and civilian security. Saab Aeronautics, based primarily in Linköping, develops and manufactures the Gripen fighter aircraft. The business area also produces aircraft components for commercial aviation, acts as a subcontractor to major aircraft manufacturers and develops unmanned helicopter systems.
Saab Aeronautics operates complex, long-term customer contracts that require detailed financial control, forecasting and reporting across the full lifecycle of each programme.
Saab Aeronautics needed to replace a business-critical but severely outdated contract management system supporting its Gripen programmes. The legacy solution was more than 35 years old, designed for a single user and impossible to modernise, yet central to progress reporting and internal business control.
At the same time, the finance organisation faced increasing pressure to improve budgeting, forecasting and analysis across all contracts in the business area. Each contract functioned almost like a standalone company, requiring detailed insight into profitability, cash flow, balance sheet impacts and long-term forecasts.
Previously, this work relied heavily on Excel. Around 70 interconnected spreadsheets were used to manage budgets and forecasts, creating a slow, manual and error-prone process with limited transparency. Saab needed a flexible, future-proof solution that could support both contract management and financial planning, without increasing complexity or dependency on IT.
Mercur Business Control replaced the legacy contracts system and consolidated contract management, budgeting, forecasting and analysis into a single platform. Saab built a multi-dimensional contract model where costs, revenues and forecasts could be analysed by attributes such as product, price, business area and indexation.
Standardised input forms and shared ownership of data reduced reliance on Excel and shortened budgeting and forecasting cycles by several weeks. Information is now entered once, owned by the contributor and immediately available across the organisation.
Finance and business controllers can analyse outcomes, budgets and forecasts through intuitive reports with drill-down functionality. Data can be aggregated or sliced from multiple perspectives, supporting both detailed contract follow-up and consolidated business analysis.
With manual data collection removed, controllers have shifted from compiling numbers to performing higher-value analysis and supporting better-informed decisions across the business.
For implementartion, think beyond existing frameworks and focus on structure and user-friendliness from the start. Appoint a clearly identified internal project manager and anchor the project early in the organisation.
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