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BPM Partners: Mid-sized Companies See Business Benefits in Abandoning Spreadsheets Used for Budgeting and Planning

Survey Results and Webinar Highlight Benefits of Automated Performance Management Solutions for Improved Financial Results...

PROPHIX to Demonstrate Innovative Partner-Specific Performance Management Solution at 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

PROPHIX Software will unveil its latest innovation in Performance Management at the 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, July 13-16, 2009. PROPHIX version 5.1 is a mature, open and scalable platform that enables the Microsoft partner community to capitalize on the growing adoption of Performance Management solutions...

PROPHIX and SedonaOffice Bring Performance Management to Security Alarm Industry

PROPHIX Software is pleased to announce its partnership with Ohio-based SedonaOffice. The partnership enables to SedonaOffice to market and sell PROPHIX Performance Management solutions to the security alarm industry...

PROPHIX Announces Customer of the Year Award Winners at Annual User Conference

Imdex Limited named "PROPHIX Customer of the Year" Award winner in a special awards ceremony held at the 2009 PROPHIX User Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida...

PROPHIX Brings Speed and Control to Financial Consolidations

Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PROPHIX has announced the release of its Financial Controller, a module that streamlines consolidation cycles. Financial Controller brings speed and internal control to the process of closing the books, and improves the accuracy of consolidated financial information...

PROPHIX Software and Corporate Renaissance Group Bring Performance Management to India

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PROPHIX Software, a leading provider of financial business intelligence and performance management solutions specializing in forecasting, corporate budgeting, strategic planning, consolidation, financial analysis and scorecarding, is pleased to announce a new partnership with Corporate Renaissance Group (CRG). The exclusive partnership allows CRG to offer PROPHIX Performance Management solutions to companies in India...

PROPHIX Version 5.1 Delivers Powerful Performance Management Solution to the Mainstream Market

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PROPHIX Software has released a new version of its industry-acclaimed Performance Management solution. PROPHIX version 5.1 brings powerful new collaborative workflow management and extended financial consolidation capabilities to the masses. With this release, PROPHIX continues to raise the bar and set the standard as the most flexible, fully-integrated performance management solution on the Microsoft SQL Server platform...

PROPHIX and Blum Shapiro Consulting Deliver Comprehensive Corporate Performance Management Solution to Mid-Market

PROPHIX Software and Blum Shapiro Consulting, an affiliate of Blum Shapiro are pleased to announce their partnership. This partnership delivers a comprehensive Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solution to mid-market organizations...

BPM Partners Names PROPHIX Software "Core Vendor" for Business Performance Management Solutions

PROPHIX Software is pleased to announce that BPM Partners, a leading authority on business performance management (BPM) products and services, has named the company a Core Vendor in the recently released BPM Partners Vendor Landscape Matrix...

PROPHIX and Paradigm Analytics Bring Performance Management Capabilities to Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server Customers

PROPHIX Software and Paradigm Analytics, a leading consulting firm providing Business Intelligence and Performance Management solutions, are pleased to announce their partnership. The partnership allows Paradigm Analytics to offer all-inclusive Corporate Performance Management (CPM) capabilities to its PerformancePoint Server and ERP customers...

PROPHIX Software Announces Appointment of New Director of Channel Sales

PROPHIX is pleased to announce the appointment of Cheryl Power as Director of Channel Partners. Cheryl will oversee the company's channel partners strategy and execution in the North American Corporate Performance Management marketplace...

PROPHIX to Present Strategic Planning Workshop at CFO Rising East

PROPHIX Software is showcasing their performance management solutions at the CFO Rising 2009 conference in Orlando, Florida. The 16th Annual Conference and Exhibition, hosted by CFO Magazine, is being held March 8-11, 2009 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate...

100% of Best-in-Class Companies Perform "What-If" Analysis on Revenue Forecasts - Can You?

PROPHIX Software has underwritten the latest benchmark report, "Financial Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting: Managing in Uncertain Economic Times," announced by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS). Free copies of this report are available at http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30411174&cid=5675.

PROPHIX Software Expands Presence In Czech Republic and Slovakia with Urbana Technologies Partnership

Urbana Technologies, a company dedicated to bringing Business Intelligence solutions to customers from all verticals, including banking and insurance services, finance, health services, CPG, automotive field, telecommunications and information technology, is bringing PROPHIX Corporate Performance Management solutions to the Czech and Slovak markets...

Corporate Performance Management a Key Investment in Uncertain Economic Times

Gartner Research Vice President Nigel Rayner recommends Corporate Performance Management (CPM) as a key investment in uncertain economic times. The entire video, entitled "Corporate Performance Management: Navigating an Uncertain Economy" and sponsored by PROPHIX Software, can be viewed at http://www.prophix.com/resources/podcasts/gartner2009.html...

PROPHIX Extends Planning Functionality in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Office PerformancePoint Server Customers

PROPHIX offers integration with SharePoint customers by leveraging Microsoft Reporting Services and its unique Smart Client interface. SharePoint access is available directly within the PROPHIX user interface – giving PROPHIX users the ability to fully access all SharePoint applications including Microsoft's BI offerings...

PROPHIX to Showcase Corporate Performance Management Solutions at the Toronto Financial Technology Show

PROPHIX Software will be showcasing their software at the Toronto Financial Technology Show on November 25th at the Metro Toronto Convention Center in Ontario, Canada. The Financial Technology Show is Canada's largest event for accountants...

Leverage Your Sage Data for More Strategic Planning at the Sage Summit

PROPHIX Software is proud to be sponsoring a session in the Exploring Integration track at the 2008 Sage Summit. The session, entitled "Leverage Your Sage Data for More Strategic Planning", will take place on Tuesday, November 18th at 3:30pm...

PROPHIX Webcast to Provide Strategies for Reducing Financial Consolidation Cycle Times

PROPHIX Software presents a free webcast entitled "Strategic Financial Consolidation Process: Reduce the Cycle Time" on November 12th, 2008. Register now at http://www.prophix.com/resources/performance-management-webcast/registration/...

PROPHIX Software Extends European Presence

PROPHIX Software and INDEX GmbH have announced their partnership. INDEX GmbH will sell and implement PROPHIX Corporate Performance Management software solutions in Germany, Switzerland and Austria...

PROPHIX Software Releases Enhanced Version of Performance Management Solution

PROPHIX Software, a leading global provider of financial business intelligence solutions, has released Version 4.2 of their award-winning Performance Management solution. This new version includes performance enhancements and additional functionality to further enrich the user and implementation experience...

Are You Strategic?

Mike — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:56 -0800

When you look in the mirror and ask “Are you Strategic?” you can reference the past year recognizing this recession will end, but have you been strategic enough to not lag behind?

Here's an excerpt from this excellent article.

For the most part, CFOs themselves seem to have conflicting thoughts on exactly where they lie on the strategic spectrum these days. According to a recent CFO magazine survey of about 150 CFOs (see our 2009 career survey), nearly 90% say they have a voice in corporate strategy. A solid 35%, however, say CFOs are generally stuck in too-siloed roles. And only 1 in 5 say they have spent more time shaping company strategy during the past year.

Read the rest of Are You "Strategic"?

Finance Executives Assess the Impact of the Recession on Their Career Opportunities

Mike — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:53:07 -0800

According to a recent CFO magazine survey of about 150 CFOs, nearly 90% say they have a voice in corporate strategy.

That means CFOs are key in explaining the likely financial and risk implications of various scenarios in order to make informed decision outlining best, worst and ideal outcomes. In conjunction to shaping corporate strategy

As seen in the below chart from the article, 54.6% of Financial Executives (CFO, VP Finance, Controller) selected Financial Planning and Analysis skills as the second most important skill set during the down economy.

Read Recession Impressions in its entirety.

US Securities and Exchange Commission Mandates Use of XBRL

Arwa — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:09:40 -0700

Last year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to approve rules that will require all registered companies to use eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) when submitting their financial statements to the SEC. XBRL is an xml-based report format. In this report format, each piece of data is identified with an xml tag. XBRL has been likened to a barcode for financial statements.

The aim of this report format is to give consumers of financial data including investors, analysts, financial institutions and regulators, the ability to receive, find, compare and analyze data much more rapidly and efficiently in a standardized format.

Companies that need to convert their financial statements into the XBRL format have a few different options. The firm can develop a solution in-house to fulfill the necessary filing requirements or can outsource the tagging process to external members such as filing agents or financial printers. The third option that provides a more logical alternative to people already utilizing financial reporting software is a bolt-on solution that uses the financial statements created by the firm and converts the reports to an XBRL format.

PROPHIX has the fundamental building blocks to create inherent XBRL reporting functionality. Find out how PROPHIX can help you transition to XBRL!

IFRS Replaces GAAP Financial Reporting Practices

Arwa — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:05:53 -0700

The movement to replace U.S. GAAP for U.S. public companies with IFRS has been widely talked about over the past several years. IFRS' replacement of the GAAP standards will bring about a global change in the accounting and financial reporting practices. If all internationally traded companies and firms with international operations report under IFRS, the need for reconciliations between the national GAAPs will be eliminated. The financial information they report will be consistent and comparable. The move toward this goal will bring about changes not only in the accounting practices but also the needs of these organizations.

The ultimate concern for many prospects becomes whether the PROPHIX solution will be able to accommodate the change from GAAP to IFRS. Our answer is a definite YES. PROPHIX provides the framework for how all these rules may be implemented and maintained by the business user without the need for additional resources (technical or otherwise).

Read more about the PROPHIX solution and how it can accommodate the change to IFRS.

This Recession Will End. Are You Ready For What's Next?

Mike — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:45:00 -0700

We just came across a great article from Deloitte entitled "Here Today. Where Tomorrow?".

Research showed that although most major companies surveyed believe that the U.S. economy will start improving in early 2010, many of those same companies will lag behind the general economy when the rebound occurs. The reason? Too much focus on short-term, tactical actions and little attention to structural changes and strategic investments that are needed to support growth in the new business environment.

Here's the article:

This recession will end. So far, they all have. But the recovery is not likely to follow a familiar pattern. And it's probably not as close as you hope. Nor is it realistic to expect a return to any familiar status quo. When we emerge, it will likely be into a new landscape.
If you're still in downturn mode, it's time to start thinking about what's next. And that will require a more structured, disciplined approach to understanding exactly where your company's strengths lie, where you're exposed and what to do about it.

Some see a recovery happening in the first half of 2010. Many others don't anticipate a recovery until the end of the year - or beyond. Whenever it arrives, most feel their individual businesses will lag behind the general economy when it finally arrives. Yet the same executives report little urgency in the actions their companies are taking to address reality.

Many are focusing on short-term concerns like liquidity and customer retention, not worrying about forward-looking areas like talent, profitable growth and structural change. Some leaders, however, are making aggressive moves, compounding the disadvantage for the ones that aren't.

Nobody said this was going to be easy, but this may be your best opportunity to reshape things as they should be in an ideal world. You'll want to give yourself the space needed to make these changes and shift into a strategic mindset. Formulate a plan that can be implemented and make it happen.

Great advice from a tremendous resource. The full 28-page report from Deloitte is available here.

New Research on Spreadsheet Usage for Budgeting and Planning in Midsize Organizations from BPM Partners

Mike — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:22:42 -0700

John Colbert from BPM Partners has published a great article on BeyeNetwork entitled "New Research on Spreadsheet Usage for Budgeting and Planning in Midsize Organizations".

Over the past ten years, BPM Partners has closely tracked the usage and benefits of analytically oriented software applications in all areas of business performance management. The budgeting and planning processes have been among the prime beneficiaries of dedicated applications. However, most software vendors first developed performance management applications with the large enterprise in mind, given the high price points and maintenance fees they could achieve in that target market segment.

In Q1 of 2009, BPM Partners conducted a survey of 221 midsize businesses to understand the current pains with their internal processes for planning, budgeting and forecasting. The survey sought to uncover trends in the technologies being utilized to support these processes, in particular to look at the differences between spreadsheet-based processes and those driven by a dedicated analytical application.

While spreadsheets are a standard tool for managers, allowing quick and easy calculation and presentation of data, they are essentially a desktop tool. Managing an enterprise process of any complexity typically requires an enterprise platform. When large corporations initially began to use dedicated applications for planning, budgeting and forecasting, only custom solutions were available. Software vendors then began to create packaged applications and users found that these systems could foster greater collaboration, improve data accuracy, reduce cycle times, enable deeper analysis, and provide a platform to drive and monitor their business processes. Initially, though, these systems were beyond the reach of midsize businesses. However, as technology improves and becomes more accessible from a cost and maintenance perspective, more and more small to mid-sized companies are finding ways to achieve the same efficiencies and benefits.

Today, an enterprise platform for budgeting, planning and analysis is presumed to address the following six aspects:

A spreadsheet-like interface to ease the way for new users

Workflow capabilities and privilege levels for data input, administration and data access

A central database to deliver consistent, reliable, up-to-date information in different views

Integration with different data sources including multiple general ledgers and other transactional systems

A variety of views and scenarios, which some term multidimensionality

Integration with common desktop applications for presenting information, such as compatibility with Microsoft Office or other end-user oriented reporting tools

This recent study determined they indeed can benefit from investing in such technology. Specifically, we were able to draw some conclusions about companies that have migrated from spreadsheets to dedicated applications for budgeting and planning.

To begin, our key “strategic finding” is that while in the past automated performance management applications didn’t have the right combination of price and functionality that midsize enterprises need, they now do, and successful implementations prove the advantages of adopting analytical budgeting solutions.

And none too soon. Companies in this size range have been squeezed between big-league information demands and their overreliance on spreadsheets. They have also gone through growth and organizational changes that their budgeting and planning simply could neither keep up with nor support.

Key Findings
More specific findings of the survey indicate that at companies that implement well-chosen analytical budgeting systems:

There is more success aligning financial goals across business units.

Management has a better understanding of their cost and performance drivers and has a more forward-looking view of the business.

Financial processes consume less time and fewer resources, and provide more flexibility for making changes.

Business unit managers play a more active role in planning.

Financial staff and other stakeholders are more satisfied with their planning and budgeting, and are better prepared to support growth.

Most users of performance management applications say that the technology has met or exceeded their expectations.

Complex performance areas such as operations and personnel/compensation can be managed more efficiently.

On the other hand, companies in the survey that continue to rely on spreadsheets and manual processes reported more difficulties than other respondents in several areas:

Keeping up with organizational and data model changes

Data integrity

Version control

Collaboration

Financial consolidation

Companies that use performance management applications for planning, budgeting and forecasting are generally satisfied with the software. This is not the case among midsize companies wholly reliant on spreadsheets for budgeting; and of all the constituents of the process, the finance department is the least satisfied. Of the 138 survey respondents whose primary planning, budgeting and forecasting technology is spreadsheets, only 27% of respondents say their finance staff is “very satisfied,” as compared to 47% of those whose primary technology is an automated performance management application (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Respondent Satisfaction by Technology Approach

Through our interviews with finance executives, we uncovered clear reasons why companies move from spreadsheet-based solutions to performance management applications:

Formula and linking errors in spreadsheet based systems undermine confidence in the data

Manual processes are labor intensive and don’t leave time for value-added analysis

Spreadsheet-based systems make it difficult to make changes to the data structure or to revise budgets or forecasts

Senior management wants more frequent forecasts and more flexible reporting

Additional Findings

Companies also report a lack of “ownership” of the processes by the business units, and key constituents of these processes are dissatisfied with the output, especially business unit managers (only 20% saying they are very satisfied), the finance staff themselves (only 27% very satisfied) and executive management (only 34% very satisfied).

Another key problem identified is an inflexible system that does not allow easy revision to forecasts and budgets. Conversely, in companies using an enterprise performance management application, over one-third of business users are said to be “very satisfied” with the output of the planning and forecasting process, along with 47% of both finance staff and executives.

Figure 2: Satisfaction with Budget and Planning Process by User Group

Nearly one-quarter of spreadsheet users plan a substantial change in their planning, budgeting and forecasting function in the next two years. A similar number expect to change their offline processes. With 50% planning to change their systems and processes, it is clear that there is urgency about finding a remedy to the existing dissatisfaction.

Users of enterprise performance management applications have a better handle on their businesses drivers. As compared to companies with spreadsheet-based systems, these companies are better able to define their key performance indicators and cost and revenue drivers, as well as their key financial ratios. In addition, they report a greater ability to align financial goals across business units.

Many enterprise planning, budgeting and forecasting solutions are available but most are out of the price range of midsize companies. The most common reservation that midsize companies had regarding performance management applications was anticipated high cost. Through due diligence, though, companies were able to find packages that met their needs in terms of functionality, ease of use, fast implementation and price.

In addition to these findings, the survey helped highlight some of the largest problems that remain for spreadsheet users including a significant 67% that say the process takes too long, and 55% report they do not have sufficient time to analyze data (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: Problems with Spreadsheets are Tied to Human Expertise and Coordinating Users’ Collaboration

Lastly, there is a tremendous gap in satisfaction between spreadsheet users and analytic application users, with only 27% of spreadsheet users reporting that their expectations were met or exceeded during the budgeting, planning or forecasting process compared to 74% of analytic application reporting their satisfaction (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Technology Investment Satisfaction

Conclusion
The results of the survey indicate that midsize companies gain many advantages from investing in performance management applications for planning, budgeting and forecasting. Some of the solutions available now offer the necessary comprehensive approach to enterprise budgeting with the requisite functionality at a price that midsize organizations can handle. This is a welcome change because in the past, analytic budgeting capabilities needed by midsize companies were not obtainable in their price range.

The research also indicates that while all midsize companies could benefit by moving beyond spreadsheet dependency, factors such as business complexity, management changes, organizational restructuring and perceived drawbacks to spreadsheet-based manual processes are the common catalysts for change. The experience of interview subjects affirms the benefits of migrating to more sophisticated planning tools, as well as the challenges. Due diligence in evaluating software solutions needs to address internal processes and system needs, as well as software cost, functionality, implementation best practices, training needs and other user experiences. Given that the midsize company is often pushed to upgrade its budgeting because of organizational growth and change, it’s particularly important that an automated analytic solution be based on a comprehensive vision of what enterprise software should deliver. Key aspects are central database reliability, multiple views of data and reports, familiar interfaces, workflow or other automation, and integration.

Managing in the Fog from CFO

Mike — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:13:16 -0700

CFO.com has a great article entitled "Managing in the Fog". Originally from The Economist, here's "Managing in the Fog" in its entirety.

"Not to beat around the bush, but the budgeting process at most companies has to be the most ineffective practice in management." Thus Jack Welch, the former boss of GE, in his book "Winning," which was published several years ago. Many firms that put their 2009 budgets together at the end of last year will no doubt agree with him. Most of them will have already been consigned to the shredder, as the economic crisis has blown away the assumptions on which they were based.

Faced with exceptionally volatile business conditions, senior executives are finding it harder than ever to gauge how their companies are likely to fare in the months ahead. According to a recent global survey of 1,300 chief financial officers (CFOs) by Tilburg University in the Netherlands, America's Duke University and CFO Europe magazine, a sister title of The Economist, finance chiefs say that the struggle to produce accurate forecasts now tops the list of things that keep them awake at night.

With even short-term horizons as obscure as the San Francisco skyline during a summer fog, companies are finding their standard budgeting and forecasting of little use. The usual trick of plugging figures from operating units into spreadsheets appeals to number-crunchers, but can often generate misleading targets, especially when conditions change fast. "The annual budget is even less of a meaningful document this year than usual," argues Cynthia Jamison of Tatum, a consulting firm that also provides clients with interim CFOs.

What can companies do? A few forward-thinking firms can provide inspiration. Hugh Courtney, a professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, thinks more companies should be using "scenario planning" alongside their financial models, which do not produce a large enough spread of possible outcomes to capture the flavour of today's uncertainties. Sten Daugaard, the finance chief of Lego, a Danish toymaker, says his firm generated a number of different scenarios as part of its 2009 budget, the first time it had used such an approach. It has developed contingency plans for each scenario so that it can react swiftly whatever the coming months throw at it.

Lego has also been using a monthly meeting of senior managers, known as the operations board, to pool knowledge of what is happening in its various markets. At each get-together, the firm's executives not only discuss what has been going on that month, but also make their best guess about what is likely to happen in the 12 months to come.

Some companies have formalised this kind of approach by creating "rolling forecasts". At the end of, say, the first quarter of a financial year, managers forecast the remaining three quarters again and then add an extra quarter's projections, worrying about only the most important financial variables. Many companies in Europe already use such systems, says Emery Sinclair of Revelwood, an American software-services provider, and firms in America are suddenly taking a lot more interest in them. One benefit of rolling forecasts is that they discourage executives from becoming too fixated on the present at the expense of the future.

In Praise of Short-termism
Yet with economies in free fall, managers also need up-to-date information about what is happening to their businesses, so that they can change course rapidly if necessary. Cisco, an American network-equipment giant, has invested over many years in the technology needed to generate such data. Frank Calderoni, the firm's CFO, says that every day its senior executives can track exactly what orders are coming in from sales teams around the world, and identify emerging trends in each region and market segment. And at the end of each month, the firm can get reliable financial results within four hours of closing its books. Most firms have to wait days or even weeks for such certainty.

Admittedly, Cisco's financial results have not made happy reading recently because, in common with many other large technology companies, it has seen demand for its products falter in the downturn. In early February it announced that its fiscal second-quarter revenues of $9.1 billion were 7.5 percent lower than the same period in 2008 and that its profit had fallen by 27 percent, to $1.5 billion.

In response to hard times, Cisco plans to cut $1 billion of costs this year by, among other things, harnessing its own video-conferencing and other communications technologies to reduce the amount its executives travel. It is also using these facilities to relay information from employees on the ground to its senior managers, and to get instructions from Cisco's leaders back out to its 67,000 staff. A rapid exchange of information and instructions is especially valuable if the company wants to alter course in stormy times.

If everybody in a company can rapidly grasp what they have to do and how it is changing, they are more likely to get the job done. But some firms are reluctant to share their goals with the wider world. Unilever, a big Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods group, has decided against issuing a 2009 financial forecast to investors, arguing that it is difficult to predict what is going to happen, given the parlous state of the world economy. "We're not just going to provide numbers for the sake of it," explains James Allison, the company's head of investor relations. Other companies that have decided not to provide annual earnings estimates for 2009 include Costco, a big American retailer, and Union Pacific, an American railway company.

Some firms, such as Intel, seem to have chosen to take things quarter by quarter. The giant chipmaker said in January that it would not issue an official forecast for the first quarter of 2009 after its fourth-quarter 2008 profit plunged by 90 percent. Several retail chains have also stopped providing monthly sales estimates because they cannot see what the future holds. Retailers, chipmakers and firms in many other industries may have a long wait before the economic fog finally lifts.

2009 Microsoft IMPACT Award Finalist for ISV/Software Solution of the Year

Mike — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:03:41 -0700

We at PROPHIX Software received some fantastic news this week from Microsoft. We're being recognized in the ISV/Software Solution of the Year category at the prestigious 2009 IMPACT Awards.

The seventh annual IMPACT Awards recognize excellence within the Microsoft technology partner community in Canada as well as the innovative solutions and value they deliver to customers. The IMPACT Awards also acknowledge technology partners for their achievements beyond revenue, growth and innovation, including awards for customer service, marketing and contribution to their communities. The winners will be announced at an award ceremony in Toronto on November 12, 2009.

We're very pleased to be recognized in this fashion, as these IMPACT Awards celebrate top technology partners who have shown outstanding service to customers and are paving the way for innovation in their respective fields.

Check out the full press release and cross your fingers!

BeyeNETWORK features PROPHIX Software and the Benefits of CPM Solutions

PROPHIX — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:54:46 -0700

In his Executive Spotlight interview with Mary Jo Nott, Executive Editor of the BeyeNETWORK, Bally Boodram, the VP of Marketing at PROPHIX Software, explains the widespread benefits of replacing Excel spreadsheets with a Performance Management Solution in a business of any size, and goes on to explore the unique advantages offered by PROPHIX Software.

During the interview, Mary Jo recognizes that most companies using Excel for financial purposes experience what she calls "Excel hell", where a multitude of spreadsheets are created by different users, leading to a lack of consistency in the data presented. Bally goes on to say that a solution to the issues created by Excel is the implementation of a Performance Management Solution, which helps manage the performance of a business. He suggest that an ideal Performance Management Solution should offer items such as workflow, automation, built-in security, reporting capabilities, scalability as well as the ability to connect to multiple systems.

From the discussion, it seems that PROPHIX Software offers the ideal performance management solution, as it offers not only the basic suggested items mentioned above, but also capabilities that enable companies to create consolidated views of the organization, variance reporting and monitoring of KPIs for quicker reaction to market changes, automation for faster and error-free data consolidation, as well as self-service reporting and analysis. With PROPHIX the end-user is enabled to drill down to detail reports and transactional data, which allows scenario management and better forecasting. In fact, Mary Jo summarizes PROPHIX's benefits as "better decisions made faster".

If you wish to view the complete interview click here or if you would like to learn more about the benefits of using PROPHIX Software, we invite you to watch our 11-minute autodemo.

Executive Dashboards Power R. E. Phelon

PROPHIX — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:05:39 -0700

Background

For over 60 years, R. E. Phelon Company, Inc. has been developing and manufacturing innovative ignition systems for the outdoor power equipment industry, from garden tractors and lawn mowers, to weed trimmers and chain saws, and for most everything utilizing a small gasoline engine. Founded in 1947, Phelon's global presence includes plant facilities in South Carolina, Massachusetts, Sweden, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

Challenges

R. E. Phelon has never really implemented a solid dashboarding solution. Their previous solution consisted of Crystal Reports and Excel. However, neither had the ease of use along with the charting capabilities they required to create effective dashboards, which managers could utilize on a regular basis for decision support. A major challenge for R. E. Phelon was minimizing the time it took to get closing information to end users, so their ideal solution would immediately pull data and clearly present the information in a visual format. They needed to create month-end dashboards that would include sales, production and financial information.

Why PROPHIX

Already using PROPHIX's performance management solution, R.E. Phelon implemented the Advanced Data Visualization (ADV) tool as soon as it was released. "We've always wanted to present our data in a visual format, so when ADV was announced at the 2008 PROPHIX User Conference, we were excited with the opportunity. PROPHIX has always been great with evolving their products," says Chris Wood, Plant Manager, R. E. Phelon.

Key Benefits

With the use of dashboards, R. E. Phelon's main priority was to get information into the hands of the people that need it. Chris explains, "With PROPHIX ADV, each department head can access their dashboard when the books close each month and pull information relevant to them." ADV is used in their monthend meetings to track KPIs, such as overtime premiums and inventory turns, and managers are able to drill down for further details. As months roll over in PROPHIX, their dashboards are automatically updated with the correct data.

To benefit the entire company, R. E. Phelon intends to display dashboards throughout the plant floors-distributing information as soon as it's available. Chris says, "The way that ADV is presented significantly reduces the learning curve for end users; more people would be involved, which would ultimately help us achieve corporate goals and optimize resources to the fullest."

Being in an industry that needs to closely monitor metrics, such as rising costs in raw materials and equipment downtime, R. E. Phelon relies on ADV for its interactive, visual analysis. PROPHIX ADV helps maximize operational visibility and creates a smarter exchange of information across the company.

Click here to learn about how other customers use PROPHIX Software to enhance their businesses.

OLAP Technology for CPM

PROPHIX — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:52:02 -0700

PROPHIX is a comprehensive CPM solution that emphasizes not only budgeting, planning and scenario analysis, but also makes extensive use of the underlying OLAP cube for budget process, planning, financial consolidation, data analysis, fiscal and non-fiscal reporting, and scorecarding.

PROPHIX customers benefit from our comprehensive approach. With such a strong OLAP foundation, customers are assured that our solution will grow as their requirements change.

PROPHIX’s OLAP foundation enables the following, distinctive features and functionality:

OLAP technology is purpose-built for slicing and dicing, and flexible reporting. Reports are simple to construct with PROPHIX, with the added flexibility of being able to have multiple aspects / views of the data on a single report which is where organizations typically wish to progress to once the fundamental P&L and Balance Sheet statements are done.
Workflow Administration and Control - Workflow Control with pictorial views of progress is key differentiator for PROPHIX that few in the CPM space can match.
Ad Hoc Analysis - Drag and drop functionality around the OLAP cube is unique to PROPHIX and is an essential component for analyzing data of a variety of types. Non-OLAP solutions struggle when reporting anything beyond what is standard.
Scorecards and dashboards with key performance indicators are easier to calculate and better presented with PROPHIX because of its OLAP foundation.
As an OLAP technology, PROPHIX is able to construct multiple cubes with different or common dimensions related. For example, a revenue planning cube can feed into the finance cube that may also pick up data from the personnel cube. This level of flexibility is not available in non-OLAP solutions.
Process management includes functionality like data manipulation (Infoflex) , allocations, forecasting functions, spreading, what-if analysis, and scenario planning.

Automatically load dimensional (Chart of Accounts) and transactional data.
Create Account mappings (Mapping tables) and connect to virtually any data source.
This type of functionality is generally an add-on or simply not available in non-OLAP solutions

Delta Analysis – patent pending. Unique to PROPHIX, this capability is powerful for analysis, comparing, and changing values. This includes Trend Analysis, What-if Analysis, and Year-over-Year comparison.
Report Binders and Report Types - Includes external/supporting documents (Word, Excel, PDF, PowerPoint), control security and distribution, and provides access to external systems. This includes all-encompassing reports, relevant financial data, enrollment data, detailed relational data (Journal entries), and management dashboards reflecting the true status of the organization viewable from one report. Users can protect the results, use PDF encryption, and distribute reports via email or store the reports centrally, schedule distribution, or include distribution as part of a larger process.
Drill thru to actuals – When analyzing key reports, users can view the transactional level detail (to find out the cause of the variance) through a right-click function in PROPHIX.
Audit - PROPHIX is an efficient multi-user system and as such, requires an equally proficient auditing tool. PROPHIX Auditing functionality tracks events within the model enabling users to see when and which account has been added to the structure or who logged into the model at a specified time. The events in the Audit Log are organized by module, and each module tracks specific types of events. We also have filter capabilities to hone in on one specific day or one specific user. These records are invaluable, especially to those companies who require compliance.
Excel Integration - PROPHIX allows the organization to offer both online and offline data entry at the manager level. This means that Excel can be used as the offline mode of entry and the technology can simply import in once the Excel spreadsheet is ready to be read. The online data entry gives the user lots of flexibility to construct a data entry template that includes multiple views of the data from the cube including the various driver accounts. Entry level products tend to be more rigid a restrictive on what can be presented to the user.
Ease of use for end users – with PROPHIX you can create templates that end users can access with a single click or even by using the offline mode as described above. Functionality is readily accessible, easing the learning curve for training.

Summary

OLAP technology is very powerful and is the foundation of many of the features and functionality in PROPHIX. Regardless of the size of your organization, your current and future requirements can be met with PROPHIX. This statement cannot be applied to non-OLAP solutions as they are limited in scope and do not have the flexibility to scale beyond simple budgeting and planning.

But don’t take our word for it. With more than 1,400 customers worldwide, we believe that our customers say it best. We invite you read one of our case studies.

The Benefits of OLAP Technology

PROPHIX — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:39:42 -0700

Over the years, finance professionals have been replacing spreadsheets to move toward OLAP-based planning solutions. OLAP has become the leading analytical standard for management reporting, budgeting and forecasting, data analysis, and financial consolidations. Let’s explore what OLAP is from a business standpoint, what the benefits of OLAP are and how PROPHIX has taken it one step further to simplify using OLAP for business planning and analysis.

What is OLAP?

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) is a technology that provides an interactive connection to business information. OLAP cubes are databases of information that replace the numerous spreadsheets you may be using today for business analysis and reporting. Executives gain insight into data through fast, accurate, and flexible methods to various views of business metrics that have been transformed from raw data into meaningful information.

No longer will spreadsheet errors and linkages be plaguing your financial reports and budgets. OLAP provides a direct link into underlying data sources for timely financial statement reporting and forecasting of results through budget planning and analysis.

Figure 1: Excel-Based vs. OLAP-Based Budgeting. OLAP-based budgeting no longer requires a myriad of complex, consolidated spreadsheets. The direct connection to and from your data sources, such as your General Ledger, gives users the ability to "interact" with data.

For example, variance reports comparing plan to actual can be automatically created and transactional source information can be viewed to truly understand the difference. At the click of the button, the Profit and Loss Statement can be dissected so you can quickly analyze sales by department or expenses by cost center.

Figure 2: Reports. At a click of a button, users can create reports that are specific to their needs. Data queries can range from the simple "who" and "what" questions to the more complex "what-if" and "why" queries. The data used to answer these questions is stored in a single database eliminating the need for complex linkage formulas.

OLAP analysis capabilities allow you to quickly answer questions such as:

How do this month’s sales for Products A and B across the western region compare with sales a year ago?
What is causing the significant discrepancy between this month’s actuals and budget variance?
What would be the impact on the bottom line if I opened a new store in the Western Region?
How do profitability ratios and liquidity ratios compare across entities?

Benefits of OLAP

OLAP applications for finance professionals offer many benefits to the budgeting and planning process. They put business context into underlying data sets and transform data into intelligible information for making business decisions—increasing timeliness, analysis and visibility along the way.

Eliminate manual tasks. OLAP eliminates the need to compile numerous spreadsheets since all data is shared on a centralized server across the organization; therefore, everyone is always looking at the same data. Even further, multiple roll-ups in OLAP allow users to view the same data from multiple points of view with a simple click of the button. Data is aggregated and summarized across multiple business units quickly and securely providing different consolidation and sub-consolidation levels on the fly.

Improve data analysis. Being multi-dimensional, OLAP business models allow users to analyze data across multiple business perspectives. The ability to analyze data in an ad hoc manner is inherent in the technology. The ability to drill through reported data to transactional details is also possible. OLAP gives users the ability to drag and drop and slice and dice the data to manipulate information to test different scenarios or find answers to business questions. Detailed as well as high-level consolidated data can be reviewed and analyzed within seconds.

Enhanced visibility. With multiple levels of security, from database-level to cell-based, users can have direct access to their own data, eliminating the need to rely on IT to create queries and produce reports. This puts information into the hands of the decision makers and brings confidence back to analyzing information. Stakeholders receive the right information at the right time.

In a survey conducted by DM Review, OLAP users were asked to assess the business benefits achieved from the technology. With a weighted score of 6.49, most users significantly improved their reporting processes.

Figure 3: Weighted Benefit Scores. Drilling Into OLAP Benefits, DM Review Magazine, March 2004

Summary

OLAP has become a best-of-breed technology for delivering financial information to key decision makers, and many application vendors continue to explore how to best implement this technology specifically for their users. With PROPHIX OLAP, the business modeling, analysis, and reporting capabilities have been implemented to cater to all types of business users. PROPHIX simplifies tasks, giving users more time for analysis and improving accountability.

To learn more about how PROPHIX leverages OLAP technology for better performance management, visit our Corporate Performance Management Solution page.

Supporting Articles to Help Business Performance

Mike — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:51:35 -0700

7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm (Source: HBS Working Knowledge)

Specific Knowledge and Divisional Performance Measurement (Source: HBS Working Knowledge)

BEyeNETWORK Spotlight Interview w/ Bally Boodram (Source: BEyeNETWORK)

The Emerging Leaders in Business Performance Management (Source: BEyeNETWORK)

Financial Software Winners and Losers (Source: CFO.com)

Outlines Budgeting and Forecasting, Cost and Profitability, Reporting and Consolidation applications as all winners in helping to bring visibility to your business.

Top 10 Concerns of CFO's (Source: CFO.com)

Outlines the top 10 internal and external concerns for CFOs

New Research on Spreadsheet Usage for Budgeting and Planning in Midsize Organizations (Source: BEyeNETWORK)

Economic Update August 2009 (Source: The McKinsey Quarterly)

Addresses the steps companies will take over the next 12 months and the focus on cautious growth and see trending toward improvement

Economic Update June 2009 (Source: The McKinsey Quarterly)

Where the Crisis Hurts. 2 of the 9 areas impacted most include the ability to strategically plan and the gathering of information.

How Finance Departments are Changing (Source: CFO.com)

CFOs are spending less time on responsibilities more easily left to others and increased time in areas that are important during a crisis.

Just-in-Time Budgeting for a Volatile Economy (Source: The McKinsey Quarterly)

A volatile economy makes traditional budgets obsolete before they're even completed. Here's how companies can adapt more quickly.

Strategic Planning: Three Tips for 2009 (Source: The McKinsey Quarterly)

The new reality for 2009 includes doing more with less, dealing with new regulation and oversight, and the importance of perception when business as usual is a thing of the past.

Building Businesses in Turbulent Times (Source: Harvard Business Review)

An economic crisis is a charter for business leaders to rewrite and rethink how they do business.

Managing in the Fog (Source: CFO.com)

A healthy skepticism approach through scenario planning and rolling forecasts is the best way to manage through the fog.

Leading Through Uncertainty (Source: The McKinsey Quarterly)

Companies that nurture flexibility, awareness, and resiliency are more likely to survive the crisis, and even to prosper.

Surviving Economic Downturns with Performance Management (Source: BeyeNETWORK)

Performance Management can have a positive impact on operational efficiencies, cost cutting efforts and individual employee performance.

Best of 2008: Spreadsheets (Source: CFO.com)

There's little doubt that spreadsheets are the most widely-used financial software application. But they are also the most-abused.

Are Spreadsheets Sabotaging Your Profits (Source: Brown Smith Wallace Consulting Group)

90 percent of businesses rely on spreadsheets for their forecasting software - using commercial software packages for forecasting produced better performance than spreadsheets.

CPM Addresses Information Challenges Technology Evaluation Centers)

Discusses challenges, how they affect the organizations operational effectiveness and what to look for in a CPM solution to help address these challenges.

Business Performance Management Basics (Source: Technology Evaluation Centers)

An Overview of Business Performance Management and Its Benefits to the Organization