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Jeremy Preston-Hoar How painful was that? / Looking forward to your next planning round?

Jeremy Preston-Hoar, Principal Consultant  :  24 January 2012 / 1:24 PM  :  0 0 comments

So, those of you whose year end is December will have probably spent the last few months of 2011 pulling the annual budget, forecast or plan together. Whatever you call it, it would have probably been a monumental effort, undertaken by many participants. Those, who have year-ends coming up in the first half of 2012, will probably be making preparations for, or be in the middle of a planning round.

Those of you using Microsoft Excel as a method for modelling, collecting data, and consolidating plan data may also have spent many hours tweaking your models, adding new cost headings, adding new cost centres, and all that other maintenance that requires careful control of the model to avoid breaking links or creating the dreaded #REF in your workbooks. Hopefully you also found the t...

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Tagged: SAP BPC  

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Jeremy Preston-Hoar How do you build an integrated planning model with good process flows?

Jeremy Preston-Hoar, Principal Consultant  :  23 June 2011 / 10:14 AM  :  0 0 comments

How many times have you heard the question “has the cost centre completed their departmental headcount forecast and have these changes been reflected in corresponding centres?” or equally, “why has one department updated the departmental spend forecast, but not updated the capex forecast?”

Using SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) some of these questions could become obsolete.

A good planning round relies on:

  • good process flows with everyone following the process in the  correct sequence
  • people following the same instructions and applying the assumptions to planning
  • SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) with its revolutionary Business Process Flow (BPF) technology is capable of d...

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    Tagged: BI  Business Intelligence  Consolidation  performance management  Process Improvement  SAP BPC  SAP BusinessObjects BPC  

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    Jeremy Preston-Hoar Does your planning model seem a little flat?

    Jeremy Preston-Hoar, Principal Consultant  :  14 April 2011 / 1:46 AM  :  0 0 comments

    In this second of a short series of blogs about planning and SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC), I want to challenge readers to think about the depth of their planning models.

    Planning models often focus on particular areas, typically overheads in the first instance. Effort is then spent building complex overhead planning models which often result in complex, large Excel files. These models will typically have monthly based input schedules with lines for each cost account, but in the interests of not adding any more complexity, some of the more detailed relationships to drive lines such as salary, costs to employ, or depreciation are left out. Salary costs, for example, are often manually entered numbers with no reference to the individual salary framewo...

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    Tagged: Business Intelligence  Business Modeling  Consolidation  SAP BPC  SAP BusinessObjects BPC  

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    Jeremy Preston-Hoar Are you descending into spreadsheet hell during the planning round?

    Jeremy Preston-Hoar, Principal Consultant  :  11 March 2011 / 9:32 AM  :  0 0 comments

    I've seen it over and over again in the time I've been an SAP consultant in Finance, and prior to that as an Accountant; businesses have complex planning models engineered by a select team of individuals built in Excel or other spreadsheet applications. These models underpin the future strategic direction of the business, may be responsible for critical decisions, and form the basis of guidance given to investors. However, how many people take time out to consider the implications of these models and critically appraise the points of failures in these models.

    These points of failure could include:

  • Architecture of the model is controlled by one or few individuals; any staff change could result in the architecture knowledge being lost
  • Comple...

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    Tagged: Business Intelligence  SAP BPC  SAP BusinessObjects BPC  

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