Workday Adaptive Planning · New Zealand

Amy Watson Consulting

Implementation, modelling, and training for Workday Adaptive Planning

Product Implementation Certified · Co-owner of Planning Systems Group · New Zealand delivery as Planning Systems Group NZ

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Amy Watson
Hands holding a pink coffee cup — home office warmth
Amy Watson, Chartered Accountant
Hands holding a pink coffee cup at a home office desk

About me

Experience, systems, and lasting value

The Consultant

Adaptive Planning Torchie award, 2017 — Modelling Ingenuity

I am a Chartered Accountant with over 21 years of accounting and industry experience, and 16 years as a CA since 2010.

Since 2014, I have specialised in Adaptive Planning modelling, administration, and implementation — winning the Adaptive Planning Torchie award in 2017 (San Francisco) for Modelling Ingenuity.

I am passionate about what this platform delivers: versatile business planning and a serious finance tool.

I co-own Planning Systems Group, a Workday Adaptive Planning partner across Australia and New Zealand. Amy Watson Consulting is the New Zealand trading name — full partner capability with a local presence.

The System

Workday Adaptive Planning is best-in-class web-based software for budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.

Its versatility supports intelligent forecasting as well as modelling for compliance — IFRS 16 leases, transfer pricing, goodwill, banking covenants, and other financial metrics.

If you can build it in Excel, you can build it in Adaptive Planning — then scale with security, version control, and multi-user access. Used worldwide from SMB to enterprise.

The Value

From Excel conversion to bespoke forecasting solutions, I build efficient, accurate models that finance teams can maintain — plus integration, reports, dashboards, training, and lifecycle support.

Get in touch to discuss your planning needs or to arrange a demo.

Planning Systems GroupWorkday Adaptive Planning

Services

Implementation, model lifecycle, and capability building

For organisations standing up a new model or strengthening an existing one — plain language for buyers, technical depth for the people who will own the system.

Who it's for

The same audience across all three offerings: organisations coming into Adaptive Planning— whether for the first time or after using the platform elsewhere and needing a fresh build, conversion, or uplift. Engagements are shaped around your planning process, not a one-size-fits-all template.

Modelling capabilities

Underpinning implementation and lifecycle work is solid financial modelling — the kind of structure that survives month-end and forecast roll-forwards.

  • 3-way financial modelling

    Standard linked Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow — so movements in one statement flow through to the others with a clear audit trail.

  • Operational planning sheets

    Travel, Capex, and Personnel models that feed the financial statements rather than sitting as disconnected spreadsheets.

  • Balance sheet depth

    Accounts payable and receivable, GST, term loans and fixed-term loans, prepayments, and leases — built so month-end and forecast roll-forwards stay coherent.

Team collaborating on planning implementation

Service 01

Workday Adaptive Planning implementation

End-to-end implementation and integration, delivered through Planning Systems Group with local engagement from Planning Systems Group NZ. Product Implementation Certified — focused on models finance can actually run.

What an engagement typically covers

  1. Discovery and design

    Clarify planning cycles, chart of accounts, organisational structure, versions, and reporting needs. Agree what “good” looks like before sheets are built.

  2. Model build

    Design and build the Adaptive Planning model — P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, workforce, and supporting sheets — with maintainability in mind from day one.

  3. Excel model conversion

    Translate existing workbook logic into Adaptive Planning where it still serves the business, and simplify where Excel has become fragile or hard to scale.

  4. Integrations

    Connect Adaptive Planning to your general ledger and wider ERP landscape where it makes sense. Exact connectors depend on your systems; the focus is reliable actuals loads and a repeatable integration pattern.

  5. Dashboards and reports

    Build the views finance and leadership actually use — variance, forecast, workforce, and board-ready packs — so the model pays off beyond data entry.

  6. Go-live and hypercare

    Support cutover, first real planning cycle, and early issues so the team is not left alone the week after go-live.

Timeline and engagement size

Work is usually phased — discovery and design first, then build, integration, and reporting, with go-live and hypercare as a deliberate close. Scope and duration depend on model complexity, number of entities and sheets, data readiness, and how much Excel conversion or integration work is involved. Smaller conversions and targeted builds can move relatively quickly; multi-entity, multi-sheet programmes with ERP integration are planned in stages so each phase has a clear outcome.

Workspace for Adaptive Planning model development

Service 02

Model development and lifecycle management

Support after go-live — development, structural change, and documentation — with a clear goal: equip your team to administer Adaptive Planning themselves.

  • Model development

    Extend or rework sheets, formulas, dimensions, and versions as the business changes — new entities, products, planning processes, or reporting asks.

  • Lifecycle management

    Help you plan upgrades, structural changes, and cleanup so the model stays healthy rather than accumulating one-off fixes.

  • Enablement, not a retainer admin desk

    The goal is for your team to run day-to-day administration themselves. Engagements are scoped around building capability, not an open-ended “we’ll run your instance forever” arrangement.

  • Documentation and runbooks

    Written guides for how the model works, how to maintain it, and how to handle common admin tasks — so knowledge stays with the client after the project.

This is not an ongoing day-to-day admin retainer. If you need hands-on help for a defined piece of work — a new sheet, a redesign, or a runbook for your admins — that is the fit. Day-to-day user support and instance babysitting are not.

Training and advisory session

Service 03

Training and advice

Adoption sticks when people know how your model works — not just how Adaptive Planning works in theory. Training is practical, role-aware, and tied to the sheets your team actually uses.

Formats

  • End-user workshops

    Group sessions for planners and finance users: navigating sheets, versions, filters, imports, and the habits that prevent common mistakes.

  • Admin training

    Deeper sessions for model owners — dimensions, access, versions, integrations touchpoints, and how to make safe structural changes.

  • One-to-one coaching

    Targeted time with individuals who own a process or sheet, working through real scenarios rather than generic slide decks.

  • Written guides

    Concise how-to material tailored to your model and processes, so training does not disappear after the workshop ends.

Office hours

Scheduled advice and coaching are available in New Zealand time, 9am–5pm, Monday to Thursday. Book time for walkthroughs, design questions, or follow-up after a workshop — without a full project in flight.

Not sure which offering fits? Start with a conversation about where you are in the journey — greenfield implementation, Excel conversion, model uplift, or training for an existing instance.

Get in touch

Contact me

Let's talk about your planning needs

Reach out for implementation, model development, training, or a demo of Workday Adaptive Planning.

Email
info@amywatsonconsulting.com
Phone
027 814 4385
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