Features and  Benefits

Create plans and models to fit your business needs

• Sophisticated modeling capabilities let you create linked models that accurately reflect cross-functional interdependencies.

• Build models in days, not months. Import data definitions from sources such as ERP systems.

• Change underlying business logic and principles quickly and easily. Compare alternatives and assess the impact in real time.

• Driver-based planning and flexible rolling forecasts provide greater visibility into likely operating performance.

• Finance manages the solution without the need for arcane programming languages or scripting. No IT input is required.

• Take advantage of rich Built-In Functions to add power and sophistication to your business models.

Spend less time on process, more time on analysis

• Drill-down and multidimensional slicing-and-dicing help you explore data, evaluate models, and test assumptions in minutes. Quickly compare current performance with historical actuals and external benchmarks.

• "Break-back" automatically spreads high-level targets across any profile, such as previous-period actuals or projected seasonality, and across multiple dimensions such as products, customers, territories, or time periods.

• Unified view of plan data connects with key metrics and information so you can make decisions instead of debating definitions and accuracy.

• Eliminate unproductive activities such as tracking down numbers, fixing broken links and debugging macros.

Enable high participation across the enterprise

• User-friendly Web browser or familiar Microsoft® Excel® interface require minimal training and encourage participation, collaboration and commitment.

• Single sign-on provides immediate access to linked, role-specific planning templates while pre-defined rules ensure that individuals see only the templates they require.

• Distributed architecture is optimized for end-user performance, even with thousands of concurrent users across divisions and geographies.

• Complex calculations at the client give users instantaneous response and eliminate unnecessary traffic and server consumption during high-use periods.

• Users enter information in their own business language—not finance terms—and predefined formulas translate that into financial data such as gross revenue, net income, or earnings per share.

• Users can work offline. Plans and forecasts are automatically updated when they check back in.

• Online administration makes it easy to change data structures, user rights, model parameters, and more—24x7—without taking the system offline.

• Advanced personalization features blend planning and analysis to improve user productivity and accuracy and empower uses to take greater control of their view of the planning process. New features include: hierarchy support, sorting and hiding, freeze panes, user tab management, calendar selector, zoom and word wrap.

Build effective Plans using enterprise data

• Extend data from Oracle® and SAP® applications.

• Cross-enterprise planning data stored in a single repository provides perpetually accurate information on demand.

• Synchronized enterprise plans link operational and financial plans to show the impact of operational change on financial performance.

• Dynamic linking of individual plan components in real time facilitates consistency and accuracy.

• Planners can attach files to a cell, model or submission of a forecast.

• Quick commands allow users to modify plans and analyses, while an audit trail tracks all changes.

• Powerful business intelligence and scorecarding tools in IBM® Cognos® 8 Business Intelligence produce detailed, multi-dimensional reports and analyses.

Streamlined workflow management

• Collaborative features facilitate communication to shorten planning cycles and enable managers to e-mail groups based on hierarchy or workflow status.

• Reviewers can quickly monitor workflow status—not started, in progress or ready for review—with intuitive, color-coded icons.

• Distributed administration shares role-based responsibility for planning across functions, geographies, and business units.

• Corporate policies are enforced with validation rules that review data entry values prior to submission.

• Continuous feedback loop minimizes the multiple iterations and negotiations that can slow down—or even shut down—the planning process.

• Automatic aggregation displays the impact of new forecasts and plan contributions in real time to let you pinpoint gaps at a glance. No overnight batch processing.