Budgeting, Forecasting & Strategic Planning
Organizations are challenged every day to provide clarity around anticipated and unforeseen business, industry, and economic events. The mechanisms for enabling this analysis are supported by an integrated budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning solution.
In order to achieve the level of financial predictability required by organizations today, WhittmanHart partners with their clients in the implementation, integration and configuration of budgeting and forecasting technologies. Furthermore, business processes and controls are coupled with the solution so as to support the operational and financial planning needs of the organization.
How quickly and to what degree of accuracy can your organization describe the impact associated with a business, industry, or economic event? At what detail?
How tightly coupled is your Budgeting/Forecasting solution with your General Ledger and Financial Close process?
Does your existing Budgeting/Forecasting solution allow for “What-if” scenario modeling? Does it support driver-based allocation logic?
OUR SOLUTION
WhittmanHart's Budgeting, Forecasting and Strategic Planning Offering provides services related to identifying, analyzing, and integrating business modeling and reporting applications. The foundation for these solutions is predicated on the deployment of enabling applications that support the operational and financial planning, modeling and reporting process required of all organizations.
- Assessing your current budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning capabilities. A through investigation of the processes, controls, and technologies will be conducted whereby justifiable recommendations are rendered.
- Articulating a financial and operational budgeting/forecasting strategy that closes the loop between plan modeling and reporting. By looking at the Planning function from a people, process, and technology perspective, WhittmanHart develops strategies that ensure a high degree of modeling flexibility while at the same time establishing the controls for audit-ability and accountability.
- Assist in the implementation and configuration of enabling applications to support the budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning processes. Once a strategy has been developed, WhittmanHart partners with their clients in the installation, integration, and configuration of today’s leading-edge technologies to support the budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning processes.
- Apply the business processes, technical infrastructure, and organizational make-up to ensure a stable and scalable solution. Deploying a functional budgeting/forecasting solution is half the game. Ensuring that the application, technical infrastructure and supporting processes scale with organizational demands is the cornerstone to WhittmanHart’s Financial and Operational Planning Solution.
Obstacles Overcome
- Granularity of Data. Establish the ability to capture supporting detail at a level that addresses the business needs of the organization.
- Modeling Flexibility. Capacity to support multiple, concurrent budgeting and forecasting disciplines including: Top-down, bottom-up, and Initiative-based.
- Application of Driver-based Planning Logic. Allow your budget and forecast to be a function of the business and economic indicators that impact your organization.
- Reporting and Analysis Capabilities. Evolve past static reporting to an interactive interface in which a high degree of data navigation and graphical rendering capabilities are exposed.
THE WHITTMANHART ADVANTAGE
Through a proven track record of successful implementations, WhittmanHart has the strategic vision, process wherewithal, and technical expertise to empower organizations with an advance level of financial and operational modeling capability.
Strategic Visioning. WhittmanHart has the experience to assess, evaluate, and recommend a budgeting and forecasting approach that takes into account the people, processes, and technologies required to support this corporate function.
Subject-Matter Expertise. WhittmanHart resources have diverse business experience in the industries we serve – from Financial Services to Consumer Products and Manufacturing. This experience allows us to design solutions that satisfy and improve business processes in conjunction with deploying enabling technologies.
Process Experience. We have implemented financial and operational planning solutions within multiple industries (Retail Banking, Mortgage, Insurance, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Retail) and understand the differences associated with these industry models.
Integration Expertise. Being disciplined in multiple technologies and enabling applications, WhittmanHart will provide clarity into best-in-class tools and solutions.
Technical Prowess. We bridge the gap between IT and the Office of Finance in establishing a solution that supports the business needs while at the same time adheres to the established standards and controls.
ARE YOU READY FOR THE POSSIBILITIES?
SITUATION
- Microsoft Excel-based planning system with manual consolidation and version control
- Plan data not synchronized with product and organizational granularity preventing effective analysis
- Planning was not based on the business models that drive earnings
- Inconsistent and unreliable reporting called into question the accuracy of plan results
SOLUTION
- WHc assessed the current planning environment and recommended a solution that included business driver models specific to the client’s products
- WHc implemented a planning solution enabling automated, consistent business logic plus near continuous consolidations.
- WHc developed industry specific business models to support the planning/forecasting process
- WHc implemented a solution that addressed the diverse functional requirements required from multiple lines of business
RESULTS
- Implemented for over 1,000 users and 500 products
- Eliminated manual processes
- Increased the frequency of forecasting from quarterly to monthly, thereby improving the usefulness of the information
- Deployed standardized and ad-hoc reporting capabilities that allowed the client to have confidence in plan results
- Incorporated business driver planning logic so that earnings discussions are now focused on the actionable behaviors that drive results
