In today’s economy, all companies are contending with a dynamic business environment characterized by volatile commodity prices and exchange rates, a shaky global financial system and slow growth in many countries. Many of them rely heavily on desktop spreadsheets to support the data collection and analysis related to their capital-asset planning. However, spreadsheets have inherent limitations that make them the wrong choice.
Planning for Fixed-Asset Investment Requires the Right Tool Not Just a Spreadsheet
Posted by
Robert Kugel on Oct 20, 2011 9:12:00 AM
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Topics: Big Data, Planning, SAP, Office of Finance, Operational Performance Management (OPM), Planview, Budgeting, contingency, IBM, Oracle, Business Performance Management (BPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM), agile, capital spending
SAP Advances Enterprise Performance Management in Version 10
Posted by
Ventana Research on May 18, 2011 5:09:17 PM
SAP announced the release of version 10 of its SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Solutions suite, an enhanced and updated set of applications and capabilities for executives and managers. In our Value Index assessment of financial performance management suites and my analysis of it last year, Ventana Research gave SAP’s offering the highest score, and this new release builds on that solid foundation that I already assessed in my blog. It has been several years since SAP began acquiring and assembling its performance management and analytical software assets, and the company has progressed to the point where discussing the integration efforts is becoming irrelevant. This release revamps the user interface of the different components to provide a more consistent look and feel – a crucial factor in facilitating training and improving user productivity. Outside of the suite itself, the current release is designed to integrate better with ERP, SAP NetWeaver BW, risk management and BI. In facts it establishes a foundation for finance analytics that I have researched and is essential for doing what I call and have written about in putting the “A” back in FP&A.
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Topics: Planning, SAP, Forecast, Office of Finance, Operational Performance Management (OPM), budget, Budgeting, XBRL, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Mobility, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Business Performance Management (BPM), CFO, Financial Performance Management (FPM), Information Management (IM), Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM), agile, budgeting software, CEO, Corporate Finance, Financial Performance Management, Integrated Business Planning
Alight Planning sells planning and budgeting software mainly to midsize companies and stresses its software’s ability to support a more effective approach to corporate planning and budgeting. It calls this “agile planning,” a term used to contrast a traditional, highly deterministic method of drawing up and executing plans with an “agile” mindset that is better able to deal with the high level of economic volatility that most businesses confront today. In many respects Alight’s approach is consistent with what Ventana Research refers to as “integrated business planning,” which I have written about as a business priority and an area that I have extensively researched.
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Topics: Planning, Forecast, Office of Finance, Operational Performance Management (OPM), budget, Budgeting, CFO, Financial Performance Management (FPM), Sales Performance Management (SPM), Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM), agile, budgeting software, CEO, Integrated Business Planning
