Hearst connects finance, HR, and procurement with Oracle
Media company uses Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications to speed close, improve planning, support HR, and manage supplier spend.
United States | Media and Entertainment
“As we continue to grow and diversify, having a single, standardized cloud platform gives us the flexibility and discipline to scale. It allows us to integrate new businesses faster, operate more efficiently, and make better decisions across the portfolio.”
Disconnected systems slowed enterprise decisions
For more than a century, Hearst has expanded from newspapers and magazines into television, healthcare, financial information, ratings, and other businesses. Today, the company operates more than 360 businesses across 150 countries and supports approximately 20,000 employees. As Hearst grew, finance and HR teams worked across many legacy systems.
Finance
Finance managed 19 general ledgers and dozens of tools tailored to individual business units. Quarterly closes stretched into weeks, forecasting varied across the portfolio, and analytics stayed siloed.
Human Resources
HR faced similar challenges. Thousands of job codes, manual onboarding, and fragmented workforce data made it harder to support consistent reporting, onboard acquisitions, and connect workforce planning with business performance.
Procurement
Procurement and supplier processes also reflected that complexity. Hearst needed more consistent controls across business units, a clearer view of spend and cash management, and better ways to manage supplier payments across a large vendor base.
A common cloud foundation for finance, HR, and procurement
Hearst launched Project UniFi to replace decades of legacy systems with Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite. The project brought together Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)—including Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and Oracle Fusion Cloud Procurement—and Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM).
With Oracle Cloud ERP, Hearst standardized financial management, procurement, subscription billing, project accounting, and inventory operations. Manual reconciliations and approvals were automated, and reporting was centralized across the organization.
Planning and forecasting moved to Oracle Cloud EPM. Hearst replaced six separate tools with a common model for budgeting, scenario planning, and performance analysis.
A major milestone was consolidating 19 general ledgers into one chart of accounts. That work gave Hearst consistent financial definitions across business units and geographies, supporting faster close, stronger controls, and more reliable reporting.
“We’re excited about Oracle’s generative AI-powered reporting features, as we believe it will help us further accelerate financial insights and decision-making.”
HR data connected with business performance
On the HR side, Oracle Cloud HCM gave Hearst one data model for HR, talent, and workforce management. Hearst reduced HR job codes from 7,000 to 1,700, created a shared-services HR help desk, and improved the employee experience for 20,000 people globally.
By connecting finance and HR data, Hearst can align workforce analytics more closely with business results. That gives finance, HR, and business leaders a more consistent view of performance across the portfolio.
AI supports cash management and supplier relationships
Procurement became an important part of Hearst’s connected operating model. With Oracle, the company brought supplier, payment, and spend processes into the same foundation used for accounting and planning.
Hearst is using automation and embedded artificial intelligence to support invoice recognition, cash management, and supplier-payment decisions. Intelligent payments help identify suppliers eligible for early-payment discounts, improving cash flow while strengthening 40,000 vendor relationships across the portfolio.
Applying the model across the portfolio
As Hearst expanded into ratings and financial information businesses, the standardized Oracle Cloud model gave the company a consistent way to onboard new operations, apply common controls, and deliver timely insight.
Oracle Integration and prebuilt adapters helped Hearst connect the new cloud applications with third-party, on-premises, and custom applications. This supported a phased rollout from a 25-year-old legacy environment.
Results across finance, HR, procurement, and operations
Hearst reported measurable gains across the business:
- Accelerated financial close by 66% after consolidating 19 general ledgers into one chart of accounts
- Standardized processes across eight business units in 150 countries and improved forecasting accuracy through integrated EPM models
- Used early-payment discounts across 40,000 vendors to save hundreds of thousands of dollars and strengthen supplier relationships
- Supported 20,000 employees with a more consistent HR experience, reduced HR job codes from 7,000 to 1,700, and accelerated new-hire productivity by more than 30 days
- Reduced IT support costs through quarterly updates and fewer customizations
These changes help Hearst evaluate acquisitions, integrate new businesses, manage supplier relationships, and run a diversified portfolio with more consistent data and processes.
A foundation for continued growth
Hearst’s move to Fusion Applications changed how finance, HR, procurement, and operations work together. Teams now spend less time managing disconnected systems and more time delivering insight across the business.