POLYMETAL RELIES ON ANAPLAN TO RUN DEVELOPMENT SCENARIOS FOR ITS ORE DEPOSITS

KORUS Consulting has completed the implementation of the Anaplan-based Financial Modelling System at Polymetal.

Polymetal is a major global producer of primary silver and the second largest gold-mining company in Russia. It mines precious metals in four Russian regions of Magadan, Sverdlovsk, Khabarovsk and Chukotka as well as in Kazakhstan and Armenia. When it comes to the development of ore deposits, Polymetal does everything in-house from exploration to daily operations. The company's strategies pivot on setting up processing centers (hubs) to be at maximum efficient and responsible in deployment of its financial and human resources while reaching higher return on investment. November 2011 Polymetal became the first Russian premium listed company at the London Stock Exchange (POLY Ticker). Company's shares are listed in FTSE 250 and FTSE Gold Mines indexes.

Previously Polymetal had run its financial modelling in MS Excel. However, the tool limitations were well known. It was impossible to swiftly consolidate data, to collect several report versions, to model company's long-term development scenarios based on changed macro parameters or to assess the rationale for acquiring new ore fields. So, the company's management committed to changing the system and raising the modelling to a new level. Anaplan – one of the most innovative cloud-based planning platforms – was chosen to address the challenge. KORUS Consulting (Anaplan's partner in Russia) teamed up with Polymetal to deploy the system.

The integrator's project group faced the task of improving the current modelling practices by having standardized approaches to generating financial models across all company's ore deposits. Then it was needed to move the modelling to the new platform and to enhance its capabilities with scenario analysis and data visualization.

As commented by Vsevolod Teplyakov, Head of Business Planning of CPM Department at KORUS Consulting, 'Anaplan is among the top market solutions for budgeting, business planning and financial modelling due to its broad functionality, actively developed platform, high performance and unique architecture. These features make Anaplan appealing to major companies and corporations as once deployed it enables them to fine-tune planning models for finances, sales, staffing and any other business aspect.'

The project was complete within the unprecedentedly short time frame of 2.5 months when the following components were integrated into the system: the ore field model tuned up to the specifics of industrial processes across all ore deposits, the model of mining and processing works, the consolidated group model and the scenario modelling.

Darya Sidorova, Projects Head in CPM Department at KORUS Consulting says that 'this project stands out among other similar projects as we bypassed the Methodology Set Up stage and from the very start were implementing the model right in the system. Thus, the model got automated literarily "on-the-fly" when customer requests were implemented directly into Anaplan within short lead times. For instance, the ore field reference model was set up in the system just one month after the project kick off. Then gradually the system functionality grew by adding specifics of other fields, by adjusting the consolidation, scenario modelling, analytical dashboards, etc."

'We appreciate the project at Polymetal – a leading gold mining enterprise in Russia - for several reasons. Firstly, having chosen Anaplan for its strategic financial planning the company ensured the highest benefits for the business. Plus, it maximized the use of key advantages offered by our platform, i.e., scenario-base, flexibility and agility in response to changes. Secondly, a natural, even 'native' to Anaplan approach was employed here: 'creative modeling' was practiced and tasks were co-refined as the system was being implemented. This helped to complete the project within a short time. Finally, we were very much impressed by the top management involvement in and commitment to the project success. We strongly felt that the company genuinely pursued to implement a tool for strategic business management. We are grateful to Polymetal and wish this company to deliver new 'golden' project based on the Anaplan platform', states Evgeny Velesevich, Anaplan Country Manager for Russia and CIS.

'Investors, corporate management and auditors set a high bar for the information quality used in our financial models. The new capabilities of the Anaplan-based financial modeling system explain why we expect to improve the reliability of data, to reduce report generation time, and - most importantly - to have a convenient tool for decision making therein including assessment of asset performance subject to various macro parameters,' highlights Maxim Nazimok, Deputy CFO at Polymetal. 'We already operate the system and are able to generate the financial model that encompasses life of eight active ore fields, processing hubs and planned projects. Anaplan provides for modelling and review of various developmental scenarios and for selection of the option most fit to company's pursuits. Previously, in excel spreadsheets similar tasks took days to deliver and interested users had no on-line access to the single version of the model. We are very glad that KORUS Consulting became our implementation partner. Its staff has a vast experience of and beyond automation. What's more, they know how to listen to the customer and to hear his concerns. All of it helped us to rapidly build a practical tool for achieving our tasks.'