How FUTUROOT Delivered Big-4-Level Insight at 50% of the Time for Renewable Power Capital
- Client: Renewable Power Capital (RPC)
- Industry: Renewable Energy Investment Platform
- Region: UK, Spain, Italy, Finland
Exec Summary
Following the successful go-live of SAP S/4HANA, RPC’s CFO wanted objective confirmation that financial controls, approvals, and process discipline were operating as designed. FUTUROOT provided that evidence in 6 weeks: process exceptions affecting 12% of total PO value, approval bottlenecks impacting 54% of spend, and concrete validation of 73% improvement in process adherence. RPC gained the answer to its fundamental question with speed, precision, and actionability that traditional approaches couldn’t match.
At a Glance
- 6 weeks: Time to insight (vs. 8-12 weeks standard)
- 100%: Transaction coverage (820POs with millions of £ in procurement value annualised)
- 12%: Proportion of PO value with process exceptions
- 2: Process fixes implemented during engagement
- 50%: Faster than traditional consulting delivery
The Challenge
Renewable Power Capital, a PE-backed renewable energy platform, completed its SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud implementation in November 2024. The CFO initiated a post-implementation validation to ensure process discipline had stabilized. Additionally, the stakes for validating control integrity were exceptionally high.
CFO Michele Pietsch needed to answer a fundamental question: “Are we back to our intended process discipline?”
RPC considered traditional Big 4 consulting but rejected the approach: 8-12 weeks, interview-driven, sample-based analysis would be too slow and too shallow. What RPC required was rapid, data-driven truth—a complete diagnostic “MRI scan” of their financial operations.
The Solution: 100% Transaction Intelligence in 6 Weeks
RPC deployed FUTUROOT to perform comprehensive Procure-to-Pay analysis. Unlike traditional consulting methods relying on interviews and samples, FUTUROOT ingested 100% of transactions directly from S/4HANA Public Cloud and Central Invoice Management systems.
Analysis scope:
- 820 Purchase Orders
- 845 Purchase Requisitions
- 814 Invoices
- November 2024 to September 2025
The platform identified specific control exceptions, process bottlenecks, and risk concentrations invisible to manual review or sampling approaches.
The Findings: Five Critical Insights
1. Quantifiable Control Gap
FUTUROOT identified process exceptions in up to 12% of total PO value(across multiple high-value transactions) where creator and approver roles overlap – identifying a 12x improvement opportunity versus the <1% industry benchmark. The analysis identified users prone to these exceptions and notified RPC of areas of risk exposure requiring attention.
2. Persistent “Maverick” Spend
While some control deviations were attributed to go-live challenges, the data revealed that a small % (up to 8%) accounting for less that 1% of total spend continued as maverick spend beyond stabilization – identifying the last mile opportunities for total discipline and process adoption.
3. The Approval Bottleneck impacting 54% of total PO value through extended cycle times
RPC was aware of potential approval bottlenecks but needed specificity for remedial action. FUTUROOT revealed opportunities to manage resource concentration
- Bottlenecks / dependencies on specific approvers at various levels of approval workflow.
- Bottlenecks with regards to high value procurement requests at the top level of the approval Matrix.
This highlighted the need to review approval matrix and a better workload distribution to smoothen and speed up process.
4. “Invisible” Spend Through Policy Exceptions
The analysis uncovered several low value process vulnerability across 100-125, attributed to a particular region creating weighted list of priorities for the CFO’s agenda.
5. Evidence of Recovery
The analysis also validated positive trends. Retroactive POs had dropped 73% post-March (almost 4 times less than previously), providing concrete evidence that S/4HANA stabilization efforts were working. The CFO now had proof, rather than just anecdotal evidence, of process discipline returning.
Business Impact
Immediate Action
RPC implemented two critical process corrections during the 6-week engagement:
- Restricted manual PO creation to prevent control bypasses
- Locked down PR edits after PO creation to maintain audit trails
Strategic Validation & Shift From Audit to Continuous Monitoring
Rather than delivering a one-time report, FUTUROOT established the foundation for quarterly monitoring. RPC moved from reactive “health checks” to proactive financial discipline monitoring, ensuring remediated processes remain controlled.
The FUTUROOT Difference
| Traditional Consulting | FUTUROOT |
| 8-12 weeks | 6 weeks |
| Sample-based analysis | 100% transaction coverage |
| Interview-driven observations | System log data analysis |
| Generic recommendations | Specific users, amounts, vendors |
| One-time deliverable | Continuous monitoring capability |
FUTUROOT delivered the depth of Big 4 analysis at half the timeline, providing specific, actionable intelligence rather than generic process improvement recommendations.
Key takeaway: 100% transaction coverage at 50% traditional timeline, enabling rapid risk identification and immediate corrective action.
As a CFO, I can’t rely on ‘I think’ or ‘we believe’ when it comes to financial controls. FUTUROOT Control Tower showed me critical points of bypassing controls, where bottlenecks existed, and how much was at risk. That’s the kind of intelligence that drives real remediation. Six weeks from insight to action.
Michele Pietsch, CFO, Renewable Power Capital