Success Story - Williams

Challenge

Williams’ income tax team had two challenging goals for modernizing quickly: reducing manual effort and maintaining strong controls while moving to a paperless environment. When an analyst departed just as Form 1120 work was set to begin, the team saw an opportunity to reassess their workflows and identify new ways to drive even more efficiency.

The primary constraint was not multiple ERPs—it was the time required to gather, print, organize, and prepare adjustment reports for analysis. Workpapers and templates were well managed and compliant, but assembling materials for review demanded significant manual effort. Streamlining these steps, particularly through batch printing and automation, would give analysts more time to focus on higher-value analysis.

As Williams’ Senior Tax Analyst Leslie Hagelberg put it, “We wanted our analysts to have more time to actually analyze—that was the objective.”

Solution

A Corptax client since 1996, Williams has continually evolved its processes over nearly three decades of use. This time, a focused automation effort to streamline adjustments grew into an enterprise-wide process improvement—enhancing control, visibility, and analytical focus across provision and compliance.

Data quality and standardized mapping. The team standardized GL-to-Corptax mappings at the account/sub-account level and tax-sensitized data to enable consistent downstream automation. Using the Corptax Data Import Connector, they reformatted four key fields (account, sub, FERC, intercompany) within the import process, allowing data to enter Corptax cleanly and uniformly. This visibility into standardized data ensured that data entering the system was accurate, traceable, and ready for analysis. Hagelberg noted, “you simply set up the connector and forget it”—as once configured, the routine required little ongoing intervention.

Automated adjustments at scale. With consistent mapping in place, Williams built a single set of automated adjustments run by entity groups for both provision and compliance—replacing one-off execution and manual printing with centralized, batch-run automation affording greater control and visibility. Reviewers could now see every adjustment across entities in one place. New investment-level profiles removed manual steps in investment-level balance-sheet tie-outs, clarifying partnership activity and improving accuracy and review efficiency.

Platform and Services support. An Oracle Cloud conversion prompted a remap and cleanup initiative to further strengthen data governance and control. CSC Corptax^® Professional Services facilitated large-scale entity code changes and helped configure import routines, minimizing administrative overhead during the transition. Williams also submitted a product enhancement request related to automated adjustments output/printing, which Corptax implemented, further enhancing transparency for Williams. This work was part of the Blue Skies cloud conversion project and was recognized with a Champion Award for its impact.

Process discipline. The team initially ran legacy and new processes in parallel to verify results and build confidence in the new approach. Next, they leveraged variance screens to monitor multiple ledger imports in real time. This allowed them to gain visibility into differences, focus on the drivers behind the variances, and resolve exceptions faster.

Leslie Hagelberg captures it best, “Our analysts can finally focus on what matters—true analysis.”

Results

Automation delivered more than speed—it empowered sharper insights and better decisions at every stage of reporting.

• Automated ~90% of adjustments. Coverage climbed from ~750 (early year) to 1,400+ automated adjustments, delivering compounding time savings.

• Saved 58 hours per cycle (vs. 31 in year one). Quantified efficiency increased from ~31 hours to ~58 hours as automation scaled, plus additional time saved by eliminating one-off tasks and reprinting.

• Preserved capacity during peak periods. Automation effectively offset a lost headcount at Form 1120 kickoff, stabilizing throughput without replacing staff.

• Detected variances much faster. Repeated ledger imports (e.g., 7+ times during year-end close) combined with variance screens accelerated identification of changes and reduced rework.

• Improved tax-basis balance sheet. A recent automation win removed manual steps in categorizing partnership book income by investment. By leveraging imported GL data, Williams now reverses income at the partnership level—providing clearer visibility in the tax-basis balance sheet and supporting ongoing efforts to streamline processes and improve transparency.

• Allowed analysts to perform higher-value work. Time shifted from clerical preparation to substantive analysis—improving engagement and quality.

• Received recognition. The initiative earned internal recognition (Champion Award) and demonstrated how Williams’ feedback to Corptax led to product enhancements that benefit all users.

Williams proved that even long-time Corptax clients can discover new opportunities to automate, accelerate, and refine their processes. By challenging “same as last year” thinking, the team proved how continuous improvement can deliver lasting results.