Consolidating GRC Data to Save 400 Assessment Hours in Year One

A GRC Management Case Study

OVERVIEW

Even prior to its merger, Warner Bros. Discovery, a global entertainment corporation operating with many subsidiaries, looked to streamline its Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) processes. After struggling to unify processes between multiple tools across its financial compliance and internal audit teams, Warner Bros. Discovery chose Onspring to implement concise, efficient workflows, real-time reporting, and day-to-day dashboards starting with their SOX compliance.

By implementing Onspring, Warner Bros. Discovery now has an all-in-one GRC solution that simplifies, modernizes, and transforms the company’s approach to financial compliance and internal audit. They credit Onspring for saving the company countless hours and dollars spent tracking and inputting data in multiple places.

Profile

Company:
Warner Bros. Discovery

Industry:
Entertainment

Scale:
In 200+ countries/territories and 50 languages

Solutions:
Governance, Risk & Compliance Suite
SOX Compliance

Annual Savings

400 hrs

Assessments & PBCs

100 hrs

Control Changes & Narratives

200 hrs

302 Certifications

100 hrs

Reporting

$7k

Recording time

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Challenge

Upon surveying its current tech stack, Warner Bros. Discovery realized that its financial compliance and internal audit departments were using disparate tools that made it difficult for data and work to flow properly.

That wasn’t the only challenge. Warner Bros. Discovery was also experiencing:

Differing yet interdependent requirements from a bevy of teams, such as financial compliance, internal audit, process owners, external audit, information security, and ethics and compliance
Numerous GRC tools with limited functionality and a lack of customization being used to meet the needs of each team
Heavy reliance on manual processes due to a lack of clear workflow
Lack of data visibility for end users (e.g., control owners, executive certifiers, and senior management) as a result of disparate tools

“Prior to Onspring, we were utilizing separate tools, emailing each other back and forth and using Excel spreadsheets to communicate updates. As you can imagine, not only was this inefficient, but it was also really hard to keep track of everything.”

Jen Fortini

Director, Internal Audit

Warner Brothers Discovery

Solution

Both financial compliance and internal audit teams came together to create a list of business requirements and four top priorities to evaluate GRC software solutions.

Remove manual processes and improve workflow efficiencies

Warner Bros. Discovery was looking for a tool that would centralize and organize all necessary, shared information in one place rather than in many silos. The tool should also give teams autonomous control to update or change automated processes.

Eliminate the possibility of contradicting data

The platform needed to be easy to use and quick to configure each unique GRC process, so that it could become a one-stop-shop for every department. One source of documented truth would prevent data conflict and error-prone manual data tracking.

Offer robust reporting tools and capabilities

Warner Bros. Discovery wanted a tool with joint reporting capabilities between teams, allowing them to establish a more efficient approval workflow between the groups.

Create enhanced visibility across teams and departments

The company needed a platform that offered access control for different user types plus self-service reporting to eliminate the need for constant admin adjustments.

With the support of senior management, the team selected Onspring, the only solution that met each of these requirements, making Onspring the hub for their audit and compliance processes.

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Result

By implementing Onspring for their GRC processes, Warner Bros. Discovery has experienced massive, measurable successes, including:

Improved workflows for control changes, narratives, etc.

Automated control self-assessments and PBCs within Onspring

302 certification report automation using data already documented within Onspring

Elimination of external, process-specific tools due to Onspring’s enhanced reporting tools and capabilities

“Onspring has created an amazing sense of value within the organization,” says Leslie McGuirk, CPA, CIA, and Vice President, Financial Compliance at Warner Bros. Discovery. “Our external auditor can access Onspring for all of our control information. We’ve completely moved away from using manual tools for controls purposes, so that’s been a big efficiency, not just for our teams but for our controls centers too because they no longer have to upload documentation to support what we need.”

All of Warner Bros. Discovery’s GRC data is now housed inside Onspring, consolidating information across the company’s financial compliance, internal audit, information security, and ethics and compliance departments.

Similarly, by using Onspring’s 302 certification automation, Warner Bros. Discovery can provide fully automated reports by leveraging data already documented within the tool, saving an estimated 200 hours per year in 302 certification processes.

“Prior to building out the 302 Certification module within Onspring, we would have to export data from our other tools across departments, format it and manually upload it to DocuSign where we needed to collect the necessary signatures,” Jen says. “This process was very time-consuming because there were too many steps, and everything needed to look perfect for our stakeholders.”

Warner Bros. Discovery also leans into Onspring’s live filtering feature to self-serve select data for user-specified reporting. Admins no longer need to re-format and export data each day into email reports, saving about 100 hours per year on reporting alone.

Onspring’s timekeeping dashboard was a bonus, allowing team members to log individual hours, which is linked to a larger report that records all staff time against each project. This feature has improved Warner Bros. Discovery’s efficiency and saved the company an additional $7,000 per year in licensed cost for separate timekeeping software.

“We’re incredibly happy in choosing Onspring as our GRC platform,” Jen says. “And what’s more, Onspring’s GRC product just gets better and better with the different enhancement roll-outs that Onspring makes each quarter, so they always stay on top of changing consumer needs.”

“Onspring isn’t just a tool we use; I feel like it’s become part of who we are,” Leslie adds. “It’s brought us together as a team and made everything better.”