Evaluation of planning tools

Unfortunately, most companies still rely on Excel as their planning tool of choice. This makes planning and the associated process untransparent, unstable, insecure, error-prone and time-consuming when it comes to getting alignment within the organisation. 

Our new white paper seeks to remedy this lack by helping FP&A leaders in all industries selecting a sophisticated tool to enhance and streamline their planning process. It presents a comprehensive survey of where planning tools fit in, focusing on their pivotal role in organisational success. Furthermore, it provides a clearly structured approach to assessing your organisation’s requirements and finding a planning tool to match.

• Understand the importance of proper planning processes and tools:
  Seeing processes and tools as the linchpin when it comes to operationalising strategy into financial and non-financial KPIs and resource allocation
• Adopt a systematic approach to facilitate the selection of the right tool:
  How to define overall objectives, business requirements and pain points of the relevant functions as the basis for a list of  requirements and evaluation criteria for your organisation
• Understand the capabilities of the most widely used tools:
  Anaplan, Board, OneStream, Oracle, SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC), and Wolters Kluwer CCH Tagetik
• Adopt tried-and-tested decision criteria for your process:
  Examining the functional and system capabilities needed to meet business requirements, understanding the deployment options (e.g. on-premises versus cloud solutions) and the change management required for successful adoption
• Find the right professional support for a good decision:
  How to get personal guidance on evaluating your current system, understanding state-of-the-art processes and systems and ensuring the seamless adoption of your new planning tool. 

The white paper highlights the critical role of planning tools in the modern organisational landscape and the importance of making informed decisions to select the right tool. Planning tools are not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are a variety of factors to consider. It’s important to remember that every organisation has its own set of objectives, requirements and constraints. What works for one may not work for another.

This means it’s important to be familiar with the evaluation process and have a solid overview of the most common tools and their capabilities. The white paper should give you a better understanding of the main criteria on which to base your choice.