Finance Analytics · Data Fabric · S/4HANA on SAP BTP
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How Clorox built the foundation for autonomous finance on S/4HANA and Datasphere
Delivered 2025
Mindset helped Clorox accelerated its ERP financial close by building a unified analytics layer on SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud, part of the company's enterprise-wide transformation to real-time, autonomous finance.
By the numbers
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Faster
ERP financial close cycle
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Real-time
Finance reporting on Datasphere + SAC
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July 1, 2024
Wave 1 go-live (Canada ERP, Global CFIN & EPM)
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of sales
From #1 or #2 share brands on the platform
Before
Scattered data, slow closes
- Financial data scattered across multiple legacy ERPs and boundary applications, with no single source of truth.
- Meaningful analysis required a dedicated task force, and the company ranked in the back third of its SEC peer set for filing speed.
- Over-customized systems that couldn't adapt when consumer behavior shifted.
After
Real-time finance on a clean SAP core
- A unified Datasphere data layer with SOX-compliant guardrails, giving Finance clean numbers in real time.
- A materially faster financial close, and a Reporting Power User network running reports without IT.
- Global Central Finance and EPM live on schedule, with the North America estate following in Wave 2.
“Rooted in our IGNITE strategy, Elevate is an enterprise-wide transformation that will accelerate innovation, streamline operations and reduce costs. We are building momentum on our strategic investment to transform our digital capabilities and culture through technology and data to get closer to our customers and consumers.”
Why this matters
Clorox ran one of the most public SAP transformations of 2024, and Mindset built the analytics layer: Datasphere plus SAC, a data guardrails architecture, and a Finance team that can now run its own reporting.
The challenge
Clorox ran its business on historical data that was scattered across multiple legacy ERPs and boundary applications. Getting a meaningful number out of the system typically required a dedicated task force, and the company ranked in the back third of its SEC peer set for filing speed. Decisions were slow, and the underlying systems were too customized to adapt quickly when consumer behavior shifted, as happened sharply during the COVID-19 e-commerce surge.
The problem was structural. No single source of truth existed for financial data. Teams sourced reports from wherever they could, which meant inconsistent numbers, slow closes, and a finance organization that depended on IT for every analytical request.
Clorox's answer was 'Elevate', an enterprise-wide transformation under its IGNITE strategy, built on SAP S/4HANA, SAP Datasphere, and SAP Analytics Cloud. The program's design principle was clean core: fit-to-standard wherever possible, with data guardrails that route everything through Datasphere so SOX key-control reports source from the SAP core.
What we did
Mindset partnered with Clorox on the analytics layer of the Vista ERP program. The work centered on setting up SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud as a coherent finance analytics platform, defining the guardrails architecture that keeps SOX-controlled data sourced from the SAP core while non-key reports draw from the data lake.
Beyond the technical build, Mindset worked directly with Clorox's Finance team to develop SAP architecture skills inside the business. That knowledge transfer took a concrete form: a Reporting Power User network, designed from the start as the first step toward the finance organization running its own reporting without IT dependency.
The transformation ran in waves. Wave 1 covered Canada ERP, Global Central Finance, and Global EPM, with a go-live date of July 1, 2024. Wave 2 followed with North America through late 2025. Wave 3 covers the rest of the world. The presentations Clorox and Mindset gave together at the 2024 Data Platform Summit and BTP Executive Summit documented the approach publicly.
The outcomes
The ERP financial close got materially faster. That improvement came from the unified data layer built on Datasphere, which gave Finance clean, real-time numbers without the task-force effort that used to go into producing them.
The Reporting Power User network went live as planned, putting day-to-day reporting in Finance's hands and beginning the shift toward IT independence. The data fabric foundation, built with S/4HANA contextual data flowing into Datasphere, is the platform Clorox will run its autonomous finance roadmap on.
Wave 1 went live on schedule on July 1, 2024. Clorox's CIO and CDO, Chau Banks, said publicly that the company entered the transformation with a clear understanding that short-term volatility was part of the deal, and that investing in training and two-way communication made the difference in adoption.
If we built this today
Concept · not delivered scopeA trusted number without the task force.
This is a forward-looking concept, not the scope we delivered on this engagement. It is the build we would reach for now, grounded in SAP that ships today.
This consumer goods company ran on historical data scattered across legacy ERPs and boundary apps, so getting one meaningful number usually meant standing up a dedicated task force.
The data product
Cloud ERP Intelligence
Grounds the agent in real-time SAP S/4HANA finance data routed through SAP Datasphere, so the numbers carry meaning and lineage rather than living in scattered boundary apps. This is what keeps SOX key-control reporting sourced from the core.
Intelligent Application on SAP Business Data Cloud
The Joule agent
Financial Insight Agent
Reads the governed finance models in SAP Datasphere and SAP Business Data Cloud, then answers the business question in plain language and drafts the analysis instead of waiting on a task force. It proposes the variances worth a closer look and where the close is slipping.
SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere, SAP Business Data Cloud, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Central Finance · PROPOSE · Time to a trusted answer (and SEC filing speed)
The Fiori app
SAP Analytics Cloud with embedded Joule
Finance asks for the number in natural language and Joule answers from the governed model, with the lineage right there. No dedicated task force to assemble the report.
Embedded in SAP Analytics Cloud
The honest first move is mining the reporting process in SAP Signavio, mapping the boundary-app sprawl in SAP LeanIX, and letting MIND accelerators carry the old models onto the new core.
What we built
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A materially faster financial close
SAP Datasphere analytics foundation
Built the unified data layer that consolidates Clorox's financial data from S/4HANA and legacy sources into a single, governed platform for finance reporting.
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Real-time finance insights for the business
SAP Analytics Cloud finance layer
Delivered real-time financial insights and reporting dashboards on top of the Datasphere data model, replacing the manual, task-force-driven process.
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SOX controls maintained with clean data lineage
Data guardrails architecture
Designed the guardrails that route all data through Datasphere, so SOX key-control reports source from the SAP core while non-key reports draw from the data lake.
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Fit-to-standard approach across the global ERP estate
Clean-core S/4HANA design
Applied fit-to-standard principles across the Vista ERP program, rationalizing duplicative boundary applications and keeping the SAP core clean.
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Wave 1 go-live on schedule, July 1, 2024
Central Finance and EPM global deployment
Deployed Global Central Finance (CFIN) and Global EPM as part of Wave 1, giving Clorox a consolidated financial view across entities before the North America go-live.
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Finance team running its own reporting without IT dependency
Reporting Power User network
Built and enabled a network of Reporting Power Users within Clorox's Finance organization, designed as the first structured step toward IT-independent reporting.
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SAP architecture skills embedded in the business
Finance team SAP architecture upskilling
Worked directly with Clorox Finance leadership to transfer SAP architecture knowledge, so the internal team could own and extend the platform.
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Long-term autonomous finance roadmap enabled
Data fabric strategy foundation
Laid the architectural groundwork for Clorox's long-term data fabric strategy, with S/4HANA contextual data as the core and Datasphere as the fabric layer.
A look at the work
Presented publicly
We took this work to the SAP stage.
Clorox is live on S/4HANA, Datasphere, and SAP Analytics Cloud for its finance close, on a fit-to-standard foundation with SOX guardrails built into the architecture.
“Mindset has pushed our Finance org to thinking in ways that were not on our roadmap when we kicked off the project.”
