Integrated Circulation Reporting Short Term Solution - Scoping & Approach

5th December 2013

2

Current Challenges

• Circulation data resides and is reported in multiple QlikView applications

• Some data resides in spread sheets e.g. Newsstand and Bulk

• Newsstand and Bulk data not reported via QlikView

• No visibility of 3rd party “Starts” volumes in QlikView

• No reporting of P&L revenue via QlikView

• Budget/Forecast data for all input routes not available in QlikView

• Different timings of payment data and circulation data from 3rd parties

• Historical 3rd party iTunes data pre-Sep 2013 is not available in QlikView

• Consolidation is a manual labour intensive process

3

Impacts

• The Impacts

Lack of a consolidated view of circulation impacting business decisions

Risk of over or under stating circulation volumes and revenue

Inefficient use of resources – central and regional

Risk of erroneous reporting – copy and paste errors

Reporting does not meet “end-to-end” business need

• Who is impacted

Senior Management

Circulation – global and regional

Finance – month end reporting

4

Approach

• Initiate project to provide a short term solution for integrated circulation reporting via QlikView

Initial analysis phase to agree requirements and high level design - @ 6-8 weeks

Followed by build, test and implementation of the solution – timelines TBC after analysis phase

• Use an Agile approach to build a QlikView prototype in parallel to the requirements analysis phase

• Identify potential options for long term solution

5

Project Goals/Objectives

No Goal/Objective Success Measurement Metric

1 Provide Senior Management with integrated circulation reporting to include all input routes – QSS, 3rd party, Bulk & Newsstand

Single access point for all circulation reporting via QlikView including P&L revenue

2 Improve existing report formatting and visualisation

Updated KPI Dashboard and appropriate drill down capability in QlikView with weekly, monthly, MTD and YTD views

6

Project Stakeholders

• Michael Brunt - EVP and MD, Global Circulation

• Stefan Beurier - CFO, The Economist Circulation

• Anna Rawling – VP, Engagement and Retention

• Toby Burton - Finance Director, Global Circulation Analysis

7

Short Term Solution - In Scope

• Define and implement Integrated Circulation Reporting Dashboard to report: Active circulation volume

Revenue (Input Route derived & P&L)

RPC

Starts Volume including iTunes (Single Issues, free trials, common & post expires excluded)

Retention

• Integrate P&L revenue

• Define and implement template(s) for capturing:

Actual/Estimated Volume & Revenue for global Newsstand & Bulk

Budget/Forecast for Third Party Starts Volume (iTunes only)

Budget/Forecast Starts Volume, Circulation Volume & Revenue for QSS (excluding Americas)

Actual Circulation Volume & Revenue for iTunes pre-September 2013

Actual Circulation Volume & Revenue for MULs and WorldPay

• Define and implement appropriate level of drill down capability

• Define and implement Static Reports

• Define and build prototype in QlikView

8

Short Term Solution - Out of Scope

• Routing all data via strategic CDW

• Orders reporting for Americas

• Renewals reporting

• Changes to existing QSS and 3rd party data feeds

• Reconciliation between input route revenue and P&L revenue

9

Short Term Solution - Overview

10

Next Steps

• Project Team

Agree KPIs for integrated circulation reporting

Series of sessions to elicit, analyse and validate business requirements

Draft of business requirements document

Sessions to review and sign-off requirements document

Estimation for build, test and implementation phase

• What we need from the stakeholders

Make yourselves available for consultation

Provide subject matter expertise

Focus on “what we need in the future” rather than “how we do it now”

Aim for a single global reporting model

11

KPIs for Integrated Circulation Dashboard

VARIANCE between Actuals for current FY against Budget/Forecast for current FY and/or Prior Year’s actuals

No. KPI Enables Business To: Priority 1 Average active paid subs Volume

variance Measure growth/decline and take appropriate action MUST

2 Earned Revenue variance Measure growth/decline and take appropriate action P&L revenue will be used for closed months and input route revenue will be used for any open month

MUST

3 Revenue per Copy (RPC) variance Measure growth/decline and take appropriate action MUST 4 YTD average weekly circulation

volume to be displayed against the budgeted average weekly circulation volume target

Monitor how year is progressing versus budget MUST

5 YTD cumulative earned revenue to be displayed against the budgeted FY earned revenue target

Monitor how year is progressing versus budget P&L revenue will be used for closed months and input route revenue will be used for any open month

MUST

6 Starts Volume variance Measure growth/decline and take appropriate action MUST 7 Retention To be defined MUST 8 Sales Revenue variance Measure growth/decline and take appropriate action COULD