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What is Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)?  At its core, FP&A is a holistic approach to strategic financial management.  The approach includes planning, budgeting, forecasting and analysis to secure a company’s health and growth trajectory.  FP&A combines financial data, operational data and market insights to provide a systematic view of the company’s current and future financial health. 

FP&A requires a deep understanding of the operational dynamics of the business, relevant industry trends and the broader economic landscape.  Serving as the architects of financial strategy, FP&A professionals craft detailed plans aligned with the company’s long-term goals and objectives.  How?  By providing a bridge between the raw data of day-to-day business operations and the strategic insights needed by senior management to make pivotal decisions. 

The FP&A team typically reports to the CFO.  In turn, the CFO seeks to better understand the current state of the company’s financial position and predict future revenue, expenses, profits and cash flows through data.  CFOs therefore often invest in dedicated FP&A software to aid in FP&A analysis. 

Why is FP&A so important? What does process entail, and how does it work in action? Keep reading to find out (and to check out some of our industry examples). 

The Strategic Importance of FP&A 

FP&A’s strategic importance cannot be overstated.  In today’s volatile and competitive business environment, the ability to plan effectively, anticipate future financial challenges and navigate strategic decisions with confidence is critical.  FP&A provides the foundation for this capability; it offers a comprehensive and forward-looking view of the company’s financial health.  Ultimately, FP&A enables businesses to be proactive rather than reactive, positioning them for sustainable growth and success. 

What Is the FP&A Process? 

FP&A aims to answer important financial business questions.  Below are just some of the key questions FP&A teams seek to answer throughout the process: 

To address these complicated, organization-defining questions, FP&A uses 5 core steps to create comprehensive financial plans and analyses. Typically, these steps come after the long-range planning (LRP) and the annual operating plan (AOP) process.  

1. Strategic Planning

The journey of FP&A begins with strategic planning, through which the overarching organizational goals and ambitions are set.  As a crucial first step, this stage defines the direction and scope of all subsequent financial planning and analysis efforts.  Strategic planning thus involves high-level collaboration with various departments to ensure the financial strategy aligns with operational capabilities and market realities. 

2. Budgeting and Forecasting

Central to FP&A is the dual process of budgeting and forecasting.  Budgeting involves tactically allocating resources based on the strategic plan to set financial targets for revenues, expenses and capital expenditures.  Acting as a financial blueprint, budgeting guides spending and investment decisions over a specific period.  Forecasting, on the other hand, extends the vision further into the future using historical data, market analysis and economic indicators to predict financial outcomes.  Providing a dynamic view of the company’s financial trajectory, forecasting allows for adjustments in strategy in response to changing market conditions or internal factors. 

    3. Financial Modeling and Analysis

    Financial modeling is another cornerstone of FP&A, providing a framework for analyzing the financial implications of various strategic decisions and scenarios.  Through models, FP&A professionals can simulate the impact of different strategies, market conditions and operational changes on the company’s financial performance.  This analysis supports risk assessment and thus helps companies mitigate potential financial setbacks and capitalize on opportunities. 

    4. Variance Analysis and Performance Measurement

    An essential aspect of FP&A is the ongoing analysis of the company’s financial performance against organizational plans and forecasts.  Through identifying discrepancies between actual results and budgeted or forecasted figures, variance analysis offers insights into why these discrepancies occurred.  This continuous evaluation process helps companies refine financial strategies, optimize performance and achieve strategic goals more effectively. 

      5. Reporting and Decision Support

      FP&A culminates in the synthesis and presentation of financial insights to senior management and stakeholders.  This stage involves the preparation of detailed reports, dashboards and presentations that highlight key financial metrics, trends and analysis.  By providing a concise view of the company’s financial status and outlook, this step supports strategic decision-making and ensures all stakeholders are aligned with the financial objectives. 

      Examples of Financial Planning & Analysis in Action 

      To illustrate the real-world application and importance of FP&A, let’s explore a few examples across different industries: 

      Conclusion 

      What is Financial Planning & Analysis?  As the post above establishes, FP&A is an indispensable business partner and function that helps organizations navigate uncertainty, capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks.  FP&A combines strategic insight with financial acumen, giving FP&A professionals a way to empower companies to make informed decisions and drive sustainable growth.  As businesses continue to operate in increasingly complex and volatile environments, the role of FP&A will only grow in importance. 

      Learn More 

      Looking to get started with FP&A? Check out our ebook called “Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting.” No form fill required!  

      Download the eBook

      Introduction

      Global organizations have relied on SAP BPC (SAP Business Planning and Consolidation) for their financial consolidation and planning needs. Unfortunately, the end-of-support for SAP BPC has been updated and set for 2030. Organizations are thus exploring modern SAP BPC competitors that offer the same capabilities. Yet those alternatives must also meet the challenges of complex global consolidation requirements, broader close capabilities (e.g., account reconciliations), and financial & operational planning scenarios, with the volumes of data needed to support those processes.

      Organizations are looking to finally deliver on the promise of one source of truth. To unify the full consolidation and close lifecycle and financial & operational planning with built-in dashboarding, reporting and analysis, from the balance to the transaction level in one solution. Ultimately, the goal is a single solution that meets the requirements of modern organizations and grows with them to meet future requirements.

      In this article, we’ll review SAP BPC competitors to examine the key features, capabilities and pros/cons. We aim to give you the information needed to make an informed decision about the right SAP BPC alternative for your organization.

      What Is SAP BPC?

      SAP BPC was developed to bring together consolidations and planning into one Excel-based interface to ensure familiarity among Finance professionals. With built-in financial intelligence, SAP BPC helped Finance streamline consolidations and produce consolidated Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statements. Because of its Excel-based interface, ability to cover multiple planning scenarios and a common data model, organizations were able to run their planning and forecasting scenarios and reconcile plans to actuals for variance reporting and analysis.

      With SAP BPC end-of-support set for 2030, many organizations have either already selected or are currently in various stages of selection processes to find SAP BPC alternatives.

      To produce this article, we evaluated numerous reviews and analyst reports, which serve as the typical starting point for selecting the right CPM/EPM platform. We then evaluated alternatives based on five key criteria:

      1. End-to-end management of enterprise-wide consolidation, close, and financial & operational planning and forecasting
      2. Built-in data quality engine, in the hands of Finance, to provide a strong, flexible foundation in integration and data quality
      3. Ultimate agility to adapt to varying levels of granularity in the business and across consolidation, planning and forecasting processes
      4. Optimized end-user experience to drive efficiency and effectiveness, eliminating time-consuming and error-prone manual processes
      5. Trusted insights from the balance to transaction level with transparency, auditability and actionable details behind every number

      Now let’s dive into an overview of the key features, highlights and benefits of SAP BPC for consolidation and planning. To help you find the right solution for your organization, we’ll cover the pros/cons and alternatives. Looking for more information on other top CPM/BPM software? Check out our review: 5 Best SAP BPC Alternatives for 2024.

      What Was SAP BPC Used For?

      SAP BPC

      For decades, global organizations have relied on solutions such as SAP BPC for global consolidations and planning processes. SAP BPC had built-in financial intelligence to streamline consolidations so that Finance could produce consolidated Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statements. In addition, SAP BPC had built-in planning capabilities (e.g., spreading) to streamline the planning user input during planning processes.

      However, SAP BPC never delivered on the promise of one solution. Most customers needed to manage separate consolidation and planning applications. Then, these applications would need to be integrated. Additional applications were often needed to bring everything together for analysis and variance reporting.

      SAP BPC Key Features

      SAP BPC is known for several key capabilities:

      SAP BPC Pros

      SAP BPC Cons

      SAP BPC Alternatives

      Enterprises today are looking to replace SAP BPC with more modern, cloud-based approaches to CPM/EPM. Many SAP BPC alternatives take the traditional multi-solution approach to CPM, which still results in complex management of multiple solutions, interfaces and integrations. However, solutions such as OneStream unify consolidation, close, and financial & operational planning, reporting, and analysis in one platform.

      Enterprises therefore have options to achieve organizational CPM/EPM goals and, with the right choice, can get closer to that elusive one source of truth. The following solutions are the best alternatives for end-to-end management of enterprise-wide consolidation, close, and financial & operational planning and forecasting:

      ·         OneStream

      ·         SAP EPM

      ·         Oracle EPM

      ·         Wolters Kluwer CCH Tagetik

      ·         Workday Adaptive Planning

      Conclusion

      With the looming end-of-support for SAP BPC, organizations are actively looking for alternatives. OneStream’s Intelligent Finance Platform is the only CPM/EPM solution that delivers end-to-end management of enterprise-wide consolidation, close, and financial & operational planning and forecasting in a unified platform. This platform enables Finance and Operations teams to better collaborate and finally deliver on a single source of truth.

      With over 1,400 customers globally, many successful migrations from SAP BPC to OneStream and a mission to ensure every customer is a reference, OneStream stands as the only truly unified platform for CPM/EPM.

      Learn More

      Want to know more? Check out OneStream’s video about what comes after SAP BPC/BFC/BCS here.

      Learn More

      In the previous post in our “What’s Next for Cartesis/SAP BFC Customers” blog series, we covered how many organisations are now facing the end of support for their Cartesis/SAP BFC application, currently announced for 2027.  Of course, this end date could be further extended if significant pressure is placed on SAP.  We also looked at some of the concerns/risks.  Plus, we detailed 5 key considerations for Cartesis/SAP BFC customers who are moving towards an evaluation process.

      Given the above challenges, current Cartesis/SAP BFC customers have 3 options to consider, as outlined in the first post in this series: 

      In this blog post, the focus will be on Choice 2.

      Choice 2 – Invest in SAP’s Unproven Next-Generation Products

      SAP has chosen a vastly different path than OneStream for the future of SAP EPM solutions.  Much like Oracle, SAP chose to continue with the legacy of the past by creating new, separate cloud solutions for each key EPM process area.  This suite of applications is still fragmented – rather than innovated towards the future of EPM where all processes can and should exist in one unified platform. 

      The previous generation of EPM applications was dependent on the technology available at the time.  Accordingly, the financial consolidation process was typically built in technology suited to processing data, running calculations and handling non-financial data/commentary.  The planning process was typically built using cube technology to handle volumes of data and fast analysis.  With the advancements now available, however, separating these processes is no longer necessary.  The latest technology can handle the differences in data granularity, differing levels of dimensionality and distinct process steps – all in a single, unified solution.

      The different path SAP has chosen results in this current fragmented suite of EPM products:

      1. SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
      2. SAP Group Reporting
      3. SAP Group Reporting Data Integrator – tool that gathers financial data from business units
      4. SAP Datasphere – latest generation of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
      5. SAP Fiori – a design system to create specific business applications
      6. SAP Profitability & Performance Management – separate product for automating all allocation-based business processes
      7. Account Reconciliations provided by Blackline
      8. Tax Reporting solution provided by a partner, promoted in SAP Store
      9. Lease Accounting provided by partner Nakisa

      Customer/Peer Reviews

      SAP does not have an entry in Gartner Peer reviews for Cloud Financial Close Solutions.  Does SAP not consider Group Reporting to be in this category?  SAP BFC does appear for financial consolidation, but no reviews have been posted since 2019.  The former Outlooksoft product – now SAP BPC also appears but with little focus on close and consolidation, and only 52 reviews have been given in the life of the product.

      SAP SAC appears on Gartner Peer Reviews as well – in Cloud Extended Planning & Analysis Solutions with 95 reviews and in Financial Planning Software with 112 reviews.  I would expect to see higher numbers given the number of customers SAP claims to serve. 

      Some of the Gartner reviews include dislikes, as shown in the excerpts from actual reviews:

      1. “Some of the features in planning that exist in EPM are not yet available in SAC, and user adoption is challenging as users are attached to EPM/BPC”.
      2. “Insufficient data modelling capabilities, product immaturity, oversold capabilities”.
      3. “Involves steep learning curve.  UI should be more polished and modernised”.
      4. “Sometimes we want to modify things, and the way to do it is very complicated.  It is not user friendly.  Simple things like conditional formatting or smart text are very difficult to add”.
      5. “Reporting/story building and editing is NOT intuitive or user-friendly at all”.
      6. “Getting started time needs quite some onboarding.  User community is not very active, but I guess this is due to the short time of tool availability”.

      In contrast, OneStream has 269 reviews in Financial Planning Solutions (4.6 average rating) and 258 reviews in Cloud Financial Close Solutions (4.7 average rating).

      Key Considerations

      The following key considerations/questions will significantly help facilitate the evaluation process and value assessment when you’re considering what’s next for your EPM solution: 

      SAP EPM Strategy

      I have the greatest respect for SAP’s ERP strategy, and the company has an excellent product – one well-respected by many.  Comparatively, the SAP EPM strategy is a very different story.  The EPM strategy is not taking advantage of technological advancements which can change the game for EPM solutions by unifying all processes. Regarding EPM & ERP, my best advice when I speak to organisations has always been consistent:  the EPM management layer is best kept separate from any ERP.  This separation delivers a degree of future proofing for the organisation, and being ERP agnostic leaves room for a lot of flexibility as the organisation evolves and changes over time.

      Reasons to Change

      Given those considerations, consider joining the more than 300 SAP ERP customers who use OneStream. Below are just some of the reasons these organisations moved to OneStream:

      Those reasons highlight why the most natural and capable successor to Cartesis/SAP BFC is OneStream.

      Move Forward with the Next Generation of CPM

      OneStream’s Intelligent Finance platform (See Figure 1) is completely agnostic to ERP strategy.  Rather than relying on a central ERP strategy, Intelligent Finance platforms integrate data from multiple sources – such as ERP, CRM, HCM and data warehouses – to create a single and governed version of the truth across finance and operational processes. 

      Figure 1 – OneStream Intelligent Finance Platform

      This interoperability is important.  Why?  It keeps the management layer technology independent from the transactional layers.  Any IT department that forces a move to a single tech solution is setting the organisation up for unnecessary costs and delays when future changes occur.  After all, you can never say never to changes in your business model or structure.

      To learn more about Choice 3 – evaluating alternate EPM strategies such as OneStream – and to understand why OneStream is the most logical move from Cartesis/SAP BFC, tune in for our next and final blog post in the ‘What’s next for Cartesis/SAP BFC Customers’ series.

      Learn more!

      Ready to join the organisations that have taken the step from Cartesis/SAP BFC to OneStream?  Check out our video here, and be sure to visit our website.

      Watch the Webinar

      In the ever-changing world of modern Finance leadership, the road ahead for Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) becomes more defined every day.  A significant transformation is taking shape, highlighting the imperative of consolidating connected planning to foster alignment among Strategy, Finance and Operations.  Not too long ago, this ambitious vision of seamlessly integrating financial and operational planning faced obstacles due to technological limitations.  In fact, the rapid evolution of planning processes often outpaced the capabilities of the supporting technology – a challenge to which many businesses can relate.

      However, the undeniable reality is that organizations now find themselves at a critical juncture – either embrace unified connected planning or risk incurring hidden costs.

      In the world of corporate performance management (CPM), modeling and planning toolkits such as Anaplan, Board and Essbase have been celebrated for their flexibility and speed in addressing departmental planning needs.  However, a critical issue arises when these toolkits are tasked with unifying planning processes across an entire enterprise.  The fundamental problem lies in the approach employed by FP&A teams, as the toolkits rely on individual planning models that must be interconnected.

      That reliance on disconnected models introduces data latency, risks and chaos.  The result?  A planning process that’s cumbersome, challenging to access, slow to consolidate and prone to inconsistencies.  Moreover, the reliance on disconnected models also often leads to user errors and incurs substantial data movement costs (see Figure #1).

      Figure #1: Modeling Toolkit Chaos

      Understanding the root of this chaos requires recognizing that these disconnected models primarily serve three purposes:

      1. Ensuring Consistent Data Collection:  The models are often used to maintain data consistency.
      2. Aggregating Disconnected Data:  The models are employed to aggregate data from various sources and systems.
      3. Inputting Data for Analysis:  The data is input into another planning model for in-depth analysis.

      The drawback of using disconnected models is the significant amount of time and effort invested in creating and maintaining them.  Exacerbating the issue, the models are frequently misused, leading to additional time spent on fixing and consolidating data.

      The Hidden Costs FP&A Modeling Toolkits

      In today’s corporate landscape, FP&A leaders have a newfound influence, empowered by technological innovations to shift the focus from static back-office tasks to delivering timely, accurate financial and operational insights across the enterprise.  However, when contemplating investments to unify connected planning, Finance-oriented CFOs and leaders must consider the common attributes and hidden costs associated with modeling toolkits:

      1. Data Hubs Created Due to Lack of a Unified Platform:  The absence of a unified platform necessitates the creation of data hubs, introducing complexity.
      2. Endless Design Possibilities and Flexibility:  While attractive, flexibility often results in ongoing costs and the need for continuous fixes.
      3. Data Inconsistencies and Validation:  Continuous effort is required to validate data across connected models.
      4. IT Expenses for ETL and Data Synchronization:  Technical deficiencies necessitate significant effort and IT expenses for Extract/Transform/Load (ETL), synchronized models and data repositories.
      5. Multiple Environments and Data Movements:  The need for multiple environments and data movements increases third-party app and data integration costs.
      6. Monitoring and Repairing Connections:  Substantial funds are allocated to monitor and repair the connections between models.

      While modeling toolkits are effective for departmental needs, the widespread use of these toolkits across the enterprise planning process generates hidden costs that cannot be ignored (see Figure #2).

      Figure #2: 4 Key Hidden Cost of Modeling Toolkit Chaos

      Hidden Costs to Consider for Unifying Connected Planning

      For FP&A teams aiming to unify their connected planning processes using modeling toolkits, below are four hidden costs that must be considered:

      Hidden Cost #1: Technical Debt Is More Than Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

      Scaling connected planning with modeling toolkits often focuses solely on the return on investment (ROI), overlooking the burden of technical debt.  Yet implementing a new entity or structure within the organization frequently requires rebuilding modeling toolkits, leading to increased technical debt and higher overall costs (see Figure #3).

      Figure #3: Hidden Cost of Technical Debt

      Key TCO Consideration

      Hidden Cost #2: Short-Term Gains Erode Organizational Efficiencies

      While modeling toolkits offer short-term gains by automating manual processes, using the toolkits can lead to near-term losses for large organizations.  These toolkits, despite efforts to connect toolkits, remain fragmented systems that lack scalability, posing a risk to organizational performance.

      Key Efficiency Consideration:

      Hidden Cost #3: Forfeiting Effectiveness Is Not an Option

      While efficiency gains are enticing, forfeiting effectiveness for the sake of efficiency can be counterproductive.  The fragmented nature of modeling toolkits often results in efficient work being applied to inaccurate data, increasing costs as teams seek correct information.

      Key Effectiveness Consideration:

      Hidden Cost #4: Poor Collaboration Increases Organizational Risks

      Collaboration breakdowns related to disconnected data sets can lead to costly mistakes.  Only a unified platform can effectively mitigate these risks by ensuring seamless collaboration among departments and applications.

      Key Risk Mitigation Consideration:

      Conclusion 

      Modeling toolkits, despite their merits, also come with hidden costs and complexities that can hinder enterprise-wide planning and performance.  FP&A leaders must carefully weigh these factors when considering the adoption of modeling toolkits for connected planning and explore more unified solutions to optimize financial and operational insights across the organization.

      Learn More  

      To learn more about how organizations are scaling connected planning, click here to read our whitepaper on the topic.  And if you’re ready to take the leap from spreadsheets or legacy CPM solutions and start your Finance Transformation, let’s chat!

      Download The White Paper

      Buying EPM software is a complex and time-consuming process – one that sometimes becomes a buyer’s nightmare. After all, the process involves managing stakeholder relationships and communicating with multiple software vendors and system integrators. The demands for thinking critically, meeting aggressive deadlines, navigating office politics and making compromised decisions further complicate the process. But overall, software vendors must satisfy the requirements based on very demanding standards to win the buyer’s heart. All those dynamics mean that demonstrating the application is perhaps the single-most important step in the buying process. What, then, does it take for you to get the perfect EPM demo?

      Demoing Is Hard for the Buyer and the Seller

      Every software demo team wants to hit the mark when it comes to your expectations. But have you ever gazed through the room after a demo and found your colleagues’ facial expressions looking unimpressed or bewildered – basically anything but impressed?

      Unfortunately, these situations happen often, for several reasons. To name a few, lack of preparation, misalignment between requirements and capabilities shown, discordant emotional states and more are all possible reasons. Preparing for a demo with the software demo team is therefore key for a successful outcome.

      Delivering an EPM demo is pretty much like conducting an orchestra. There is planning, selecting musicians with the right skills, assembling the orchestra, tuning the instruments, rehearsing and more. Then, during the concert the conductor ensures all musicians – the string section, the brass section, etc. – are following the music sheet. Otherwise, all the right notes will likely be played in the wrong order! In a similar way, the demo team needs to plan, understand the requirements, assemble a skilled demo team with influential representatives, rehearse and … rehearse, all to ensure a smooth and enjoyable demo experience for you!

      So why, then, can a demo go wrong? Or more importantly, what needs to happen to ensure every EPM demo is tuned to exceed expectations? This post walks you through 3 considerations for a successful EPM demo.

      3 Considerations for the Perfect EPM Demo

      The role of the Office of Finance is evolving to become a trusted business partner that enables and deploys the corporate strategy across the organization. Thus, an EPM solution must support the diverse cyclical processes that Finance teams execute (see Figure 1). The application must also be designed to scale and to accommodate the ever-changing needs from Finance. So when you’re shopping for an EPM solution, it must scale to support the future.

      The 3 key considerations below will help you make the most of an EPM demo:

      1. Actively engage discovery sessions

      A good discovery is key for a successful demo afterward. Demos can go wrong when insufficient time is apportioned to explain your needs in depth. To help ensure things go right, be open to feedback from the vendor’s team and engage in a discussion to level expectations. Discovery is also a great moment to identify risks and start digging up hidden costs:

      At the end of discovery, you should be able to answer the following questions:

      2. Use the demo to further qualify the vendor

      Interactions prior to and throughout the demo are a fantastic opportunity for you to further qualify the vendor: is the vendor being professional? Does the vendor understand your industry and business? Does the vendor have the right values and culture? Those questions matter because past behavior is a good indicator of future behavior. Thus, how the demo team works and delivers a demo may reflect the cultural traits on how the company may support you after the solution implementation.

      Also, experience has shown that an EPM solution is rarely understood with just one demo, so don’t be afraid of asking for follow-up sessions. In addition, don’t let your current software vendor tarnish the relationship with other vendors or cut down the time needed for assessing other products!

      3. Defining the right demo content

      Many EPM demos start with a nice-looking dashboard populated with clean data. All very appealing, but how does the data get in there? How easy is to build that dashboard? It is important that key technical aspects are demonstrated. That knowledge will save you many headaches in the future! Accordingly, always request the following points in the demo content:

      These aspects require different audiences, so splitting the EPM demo content into more than one session is a standard practice.

      Conclusion

      Investing time in preparation will help you better qualify the vendors and revisit the scope of each EPM solution to ensure you get the best from your investment. To ensure your EPM demo session is fruitful, clearly communicate your needs and expectations. Also consider the feedback you receive from the demo team to really build the best demo content.

      Finally, during the EPM demo, you shouldn’t focus only on the user experience. No matter how easy to use the tool is, adopting it is not a good move if it doesn’t provide the data, doesn’t facilitate the process or people don’t want to use the tool. Adequate demo time must be allocated to prove the EPM solution to ensure it fits the holistic financial process and not just isolated use cases.

      Rest assured that every demo team strives to thrill the audience with a stunning demo and end with a room filled with excitement:

      Ready for the Next Step?

      Meet our expert team of solution consultants, and book a demo of OneStream’s Intelligent Finance Platform.

      Request a Demo

      As modern Finance leaders navigate the turbulent global landscape, the path ahead for Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) gets clearer every day. A pivotal shift is occurring, emphasizing the need to unify connected planning to foster alignment between Strategy, Finance and Operations. Not too long ago, however, the ambitious vision of integrating financial and operational planning into a seamless ecosystem faced setbacks due to technological limitations. The rapid advancements in planning processes outpaced the supporting technology – a predicament many businesses might recognize.

      But here’s the truth:  organizations now stand at a crossroads – embrace unified connected planning or risk incurring hidden costs.

      Despite technological advances and increased data accessibility, Finance is still struggling to synthesize all planning across the enterprise into one cohesive and ongoing process. In fact, according to a 2023 report from the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC), only 26% of CFOs surveyed say their respective company’s approach to annual budgeting is valuable. Plus, even the CFOs themselves admit that improvements are needed

      Today’s Finance leaders must maintain board, investor and stakeholder confidence while providing actionable insight to line-of-business managers. To do so, CFOs and Finance managers must, now more than ever, deliver fast, accurate and valuable financial and operational information that can be trusted.

      Finance leaders can now leverage modern technology to rid themselves of legacy systems and processes while embracing future trends prevalent in today’s market.

      Key Trends Shaping Modern FP&A

      Spurred by technological advances, the speed of analytical disruption in organizations is already perpetually fast – and only getting faster. As Finance groups prepare for the transformation ahead, 3 key trends are reshaping the future of how organizations will generate value from reporting and analytics initiatives: 

      Key Trend #1:  The Rise of eXtended Planning & Analysis (xP&A)

      As Finance teams respond to a rapidly changing business environment, FP&A is extending its reach to include and collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Talent Management and IT to accelerate enterprise agility. This unifying framework – known as eXtended Planning and Analysis (xP&A) – enables continuous collaboration and performance management by using a single, composable platform and architecture. 

      Key Trend #2:  More Targeted Analytics

      Financial analysts and decision-makers are drowning in complex data. To better process that data, organizations are increasingly enhancing traditional dashboards with dynamic data-driven insights powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The resulting dynamic data stories generate insights as narratives, highlighting the most meaningful changes in the business for each user – with root causes, predictions and prescriptions for the roles and contexts. In turn, the enhanced data-driven insights reduce the risk that financial and operational analyses will be misinterpreted.

      Key Trend #3:  AI-Enabled FP&A

      The way Finance teams manage the data behind dashboards and visualizations is changing.  How?  Finance can use modern technologies to deploy a host of new models and tools to provide actionable financial and operational data that drive effective decision-making. More specifically, technologies such as ML and AI are leveraged to automate various tasks required during the analytics process – and to discover, visualize and narrate important findings in vast data sets. AI and ML ultimately enable Finance to reduce the time it takes to perform the day-to-day input- and output-focused activities that consume analysts’ time – without requiring the full-time support of data scientists.  (See Figure #1)

      Figure #1: OneStream’s Sensible ML

      As organizations navigate the ever-evolving landscape, staying ahead of the curve is paramount to success. While the adoption of modern technologies and embracing key trends can bolster an organization’s financial agility, there comes a crucial juncture when scaling connected planning becomes imperative. Recognizing the signs that indicate the right time for this strategic move can make all the difference in propelling a company towards its goals and sustaining growth.

      5 Signs It’s Time to Scale Connected Planning

      The continuous sophistication of organizations makes it challenging to harness technology to bolster Finance. When those challenges are coupled with the pressures of volatile revenue streams, Finance leaders are tasked with managing growth, optimizing emerging technologies, addressing globalization demands, evolving target operating models and empowering mobile employees. These leaders must also explore innovative avenues to boost productivity, optimize costs and maximize the value of relationships.

      If your organization is evaluating whether it’s ready for Finance Transformation, here are 5 key signs it’s time to scale connected planning.

      Sign #1 Increasing Complexity and Data Volume

      One clear indicator that it’s time to scale your connected planning efforts is when your organization experiences a significant increase in complexity and data volume. As the business grows, you’ll likely encounter more intricate planning challenges that cannot be effectively addressed with traditional planning methods. Instead, scaling your connected planning capabilities will allow you to leverage advanced analytics and data integration to handle complex planning scenarios, accommodate large data sets and gain deeper insights into business operations.

      Sign #2  Lack of Coordination and Collaboration

      Disconnected FP&A planning processes often result in silos, leading to a lack of coordination and collaboration between different departments. If you notice your teams are struggling to work together, duplicate efforts or encounter difficulties aligning plans, those signs are a clear indication you need to scale your connected planning efforts. By implementing an integrated planning solution, you can break down departmental barriers, encourage cross-functional collaboration and ensure everyone is working toward a shared set of goals.

      Sign #3  Inefficient Planning Cycles

      Are planning cycles taking longer than necessary, causing delays in decision-making and hampering your ability to respond swiftly to market changes? If so, those signals are telling you the time is now to scale your connected planning efforts.  Automating and streamlining your planning processes through connected planning will reduce manual work, eliminate redundant tasks and significantly speed up your planning cycles. In turn, this increased efficiency allows you to make informed decisions faster and stay ahead of the competition.

      Sign #4  Inaccurate Forecasts and Poor Performance

      If your FP&A organization is consistently struggling with inaccurate forecasts or failing to meet performance targets, your planning processes may be falling short. (See Figure #2) Scaling connected planning can help you improve forecast accuracy by leveraging real-time data and advanced forecasting models. With access to up-to-date information and robust predictive capabilities, you can make more reliable projections, identify potential risks and opportunities, and take proactive measures to achieve better performance outcomes.

      Figure #2: Modeling Toolkit Chaos
      Sign #5  Limited Scalability and Adaptability

      As your business expands and evolves, you need planning processes that can scale and adapt accordingly. Traditional FP&A planning methods often lack the flexibility to accommodate growth or respond effectively to market shifts. scaling connected planning enables you to handle increased demand, seamlessly integrate new business units or acquisitions, and adjust your plans to align with evolving market dynamics. Scaling therefore provides the scalability and adaptability needed to support your organization’s long-term growth strategy.

      Conclusion

      Connected planning is a powerful approach that can revolutionize how your organization manages its planning processes. Recognizing the signs that it’s time to scale your connected planning efforts is crucial for staying competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment. And by addressing increasing complexity, fostering collaboration, improving efficiency, enhancing forecast accuracy and enabling scalability, you can unlock the full potential of connected planning and propel your organization toward greater success. Embrace the opportunity to scale connected planning, and watch your business thrive in the face of changing landscapes.

      Learn More

      To learn more about how organizations are scaling connected planning, click here to read our whitepaper on the topic. And if you’re ready to take the leap from spreadsheets or legacy CPM solutions and start your Finance Transformation, let’s chat!

      Download the White Paper

      Data analytics is top of mind for higher education leaders, and they are looking to implement changes to transform the use of data across their institutions.  However, many are struggling to make the shift. Why? They are up against the challenges of disconnected Finance processes and systems, budget constraints and more. To overcome these, colleges must think bigger and look for long-standing solutions that simplify and maximize business impact. A modern Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solution offers a way to not only break technology and process barriers but also empower Finance with actionable insights.

      The Momentum

      Data analytics is gaining momentum in higher education.  While the past several years have seen a focus on data, the recognition that institutions need to prioritize data now more than ever gets clearer every day.  That prioritization can mean supporting data analytics by hiring staff, implementing processes, leveraging new technology and much more.  In doing so, making data a priority is becoming more important amid the challenging and competitive landscape in higher education.

      In that landscape, Finance and Operations teams deal with the complexity of evolving student needs, workforce requirements, funding constraints and other factors – combined with the pressure to be agile and move quickly.  And the best way to manage all of that effectively are tools that provide Finance and Operations with timely, trusted and relevant data.

      The Chronicle of Higher Education survey1 explored higher education views on the increasing use of data-driven decision-making. According to the survey, most college officials — 97% — strongly agree that institutions need to use data and analytics better to become data-driven institutions (see Figure 1).  

      Higher Education Data Needs
      Figure 1: College officials agree to better data

      Going further, when asked to rate where better data is needed at their institutions, 90% of college officials cited a need for better data in business and financial operations (See Figure 1).  This overwhelming agreement emphasizes the acknowledgment of a real need to get people relevant financial and operational data.

      However, making the shift to data-centric analysis and decision-making for Finance teams is easier said than done.  Why?  Universities and colleges must overcome key obstacles to establish changes that will last.

      So what’s restricting people from getting the necessary Finance and Operations data?

      The Barriers

      The survey1 highlighted that culture, tools and processes, and resource constraints represent barriers to progress in data analytics.

      According to the survey, the top three barriers to using data are as follows:

      1. Decentralized/siloed data collection
      2. Budget constraints
      3. Trouble turning data into action

      Breaking the Barriers

      How can Finance teams overcome these barriers with technology?

      University Finance teams have answered this question with a modern CPM solution.  Let’s dive into the top three barriers and discuss how having the right technology can mitigate the financial and operational data challenges institutions face today.

      Barrier #1: Decentralized/Siloed Data Collection

      Colleges and universities are complex not only because they provide different services but also because institutions use a number of systems and fragmented processes.  For example, considerable time and effort are required to pull together the annual budget across the different services at an institution.  Considerations include consolidating position and operating expenses, funding available, planned commitment spend, capital project information, tuition, enrollment data and more.  Does this web feel familiar?  (See Figure 2)

      Finance Processes and Systems are Often Fragmented
      Figure 2: Modeling toolkit chaos

      That web of chaos gets even more complicated with the applications, shadow systems and spreadsheets being used for financial reporting and planning.  Plus, as more funding sources, programs and services are added, the web only continues to expand!

      In the modeling toolkit web of chaos shown in Figure 2, each line represents not only a risk and cost, but also data latency and redundancy.  Even if that web includes all good products, they’re all developed on different technologies and don’t naturally work together, yet must somehow be connected.

      A modern CPM solution improves the toolkit chaos.  Having an intelligent platform that will simplify and unify Finance processes will remove the silos.  How?  A truly unified platform breaks the silo barriers and brings together data, analytics, plans, reporting and decision-making in a single solution.  This unification allows users to have one source of truth for data that can be leveraged for planning and reporting.

      Barrier #2: Budget Constraints

      The second largest barrier to improving data analytics is the budget.  Establishing data analytics requires having the right people, processes and tools in place takes time, effort and cost to implement.  Having all those pieces in place is tough, especially for budget-strapped institutions.

      So how can institutions break the barrier of budget constraints?  By establishing a long-term strategic vision of a cost-effective approach to improving data analytics.

      A CPM platform offers exactly that.  A modern CPM platform unifies financial and operational processes to provide a practical, long-standing approach that will help mitigate costs incurred and provide future benefits.  How?  Here are just a few of the ways:

      Ultimately, institutions can gain a great ROI by having a single platform that extends the use of the software to address evolving business needs.

      Barrier #3: Trouble Turning Data into Action

      CPM software is designed to help Finance turn data into action.

      A CPM platform can help institutions overcome trouble in turning data into action by unifying financial and operational data into a governed, flexible platform.  Users can leverage this data across the platform’s analytics tools via standard reports, self-service reporting, visualizations and ad-hoc analysis tools.  A modern CPM platform can provide data at the right level of detail for both Finance and non-Finance to empower them to make more data driven decisions.

      Conclusion

      With the shift to more data-driven analytics, institutions are feeling the challenges of data silos, budget constraints and trouble turning data into action.  But those challenges aren’t insurmountable.  A modern CPM platform helps Finance leaders overcome these hurdles and enable more data-centric analysis and decision-making.

      Learn More

      At OneStream, we understand the complexities, frustrations and challenges of managing disconnected information.  And that understanding is exactly why we are so focused on helping higher education teams unleash data analytics to enable confident decision-making. 

      At OneStream, we call this intelligent finance. 

      Want to learn more about how OneStream can empower your higher education Finance team? View our Higher Education website, or contact us for a demonstration.

      Learn More

      1 Anft, Michael (2023), Sponsored by AWS.Becoming a Data-Driven Institution: College Leaders Assess the Value and Challenges of Using Data to Make Strategic Decisions, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.

      In our most recent “What’s Next for Cartesis/SAP BFC Customers” blog post, we dove into the history of Cartesis and how the company came to be absorbed first into Business Objects and then SAP.  We examined the key positive reasons many organizations purchased, used and liked the Cartesis/SAP BFC application.  We also highlighted some of the challenges of using the application today:

      Ultimately, given the above challenges, current Cartesis/SAP BFC customers have 3 options to consider, as outlined in the first post in this series: 

      In this blog post, the focus will be on Choice 1

      Choice 1 – Continue with Legacy Cartesis/SAP BFC until Support Ends

      Many organizations are now facing the end of support for their Cartesis/SAP BFC application, currently announced for 2027.  Of course, this end date could always be further extended if significant pressure is placed upon SAP by a large group of high-paying customers.  This wait-and-see strategy is not, however, a reliable one for such a critical system.

      The Cartesis/SAP BFC solution is considered to have “solution maturity,” so SAP has effectively ended any new functional investment in this solution and consequently plans no new release or support packages for SAP BFC 10.1.  What does that mean?  Essentially, even now, if an organization goes through some form of change and needs to account for something differently than before, this capability may not be available in the solution.  The consultant community might not even be able to build the capability, let alone deploy it to existing SAP BFC users.

      The dwindling number of professionals/consultants who can implement, configure and support the Cartesis/SAP BFC application should be a major concern.  Why?  Well, should an organization manage to continue successfully using the application, building any additional capabilities will be challenging at best.  The impact of that reduced functionality could result in potential delays as the resource pool decreases and the remaining resources become busier.

      The above concerns are just the beginning, too.  Among those organizations that continue using Cartesis/SAP BFC, many other concerns apply, and some will only be further exacerbated once the 2027 end-of-support date has passed.  Here are a few of such additional concerns:

      If you’re running Cartesis/SAP BFC, your organization made an excellent choice at the time of adoption.  Many considerations likely led to that decision, and those considerations are also effective when examining what to do going forward. 

      5 Key Considerations

      These 5 key considerations will significantly help facilitate your evaluation process and value assessment: 

      1. Risk – Can you take the risk of running a solution that won’t be further enhanced?  How will the auditors view the looming end-of-support date for this critical application?
      2. Efficiency – How is your team suffering from using lengthy processes, manually moving data and navigating cumbersome administration?
      3. Effectiveness – The effectiveness of the system to deliver will reduce, and many workarounds may be required to handle expected or unexpected change.
      4. ROI/TCO – The long-term costs will likely be higher to stay with Cartesis/SAP BFC due to the separate applications and the multiple integration points – plus the significant administration burden required to manage key processes.
      5. Evolution – You must fully understand the advancements available in the next-generation EPM applications to meet both current and future requirements.  Then bring what you know into any evaluation and value assessment.

      In other words, take the time to fully review your current usage of Cartesis/SAP BFC and chart the correct course forward for your organization.  Choice 1 is really a delaying tactic rather than a realistic long-term option.  Any rushed decision to change – for example, selecting the wrong solution because there was no time for a proper process – will only cause unnecessary pain. 

      Cartesis/SAP BFC was one of the most technically strong and capable solutions available when your organization purchased it.  Today, you must follow the same process not only to avoid taking a downgrade in capability but also to ensure your organization moves forward with the next generation of solutions.

      Move Forward with the Next Generation of CPM

      OneStream’s Intelligent Finance platform is completely agnostic to ERP strategy.  Rather than relying on a central ERP strategy, Intelligent Finance platforms integrate data from multiple sources – such as ERP, CRM, HCM and data warehouses – to create a single and governed version of the truth. 

      This interoperability is important.  Why?  It keeps the management layer technology independent from the transactional layers.  Any IT department that forces a move to a single tech solution is setting the organization up for unnecessary costs and delays when future changes occur.  And as we all know, you can never say never to changes in your business model or structure.

      To learn about Choice 2 – invest in SAP’s unproven next-generation products – tune in for our next blog post in this series, in which we’ll examine the choice in more detail.

      Learn more!

      Ready to join the organizations that have taken the step from Cartesis/SAP BFC to OneStream?  Check out our video here, and be sure to visit our website.

      Download the Video

      Just when some light seemingly appeared at the end of the tunnel as the global pandemic waned, 2022 proved to be a challenging year for both individuals and corporations thanks to a host of other reasons.  Geo-political instability due to the war in Ukraine led the headlines for most of the year.  But higher fuel prices, widespread inflation, continued supply chain bottlenecks, rising interest rates and falling financial markets all played a role, too.  With planning and budgeting season here, what assumptions are CFOs and Finance executives making about what lies ahead in 2023?  And how are those assumptions impacting corporate planning?

      For the past few years, OneStream Software has sponsored Hanover Research surveys of Finance executives to better understand how they’re helping their organizations navigate the complexities of today’s economic landscape.  Hanover Research recently surveyed over 650 financial decision-makers in North America, as well as EMEA, to understand their expectations for 2023. 

      The survey asked about decision-maker’s expectations regarding inflation, a potential recession, supply chain disruptions, talent management, Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and technology investments.  

      Here’s a summary of what we learned from the 2022 Hanover Research Finance Decision-Makers survey.

      Key Objectives of the Survey

      Recommendations for Financial Decision-Makers

      The takeaways from the report emphasized renewed enthusiasm towards machine learning (ML) and its impact on organizational performance.  Increased economic uncertainty has emergedin recent months (e.g., inflation, tax reform, supply chain shortages, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a potential recession).  Amid that environment, businesses continue to reallocate spending within their businesses.

      Key Findings Every CFO Should Know

      Stormy Economic Conditions Ahead

      With inflation continuing to plague both individuals and enterprises, price increases are the number-one way businesses have addressed inflation (56%), followed by slowed hiring or reduced specific operational costs (47%) (see Figure 1).

      Almost half of businesses have slowed hiring or reduced specific operational costs, another significant increase from a year ago.

      Figure 1:  Preparation for changing inflation rates

      When asked how long they expect inflation to persist, three-quarters of financial leaders do not expect inflation to slow down until mid-2023 or later.  This group includes one-fifth (20%) who do not expect inflation to slow down until 2024 or later, representing a shifting timeline.  Last fall, half (54%) believed inflation would stabilize by the end of 2022, and earlier in 2023, under half (47%) expected inflation to slow in mid-2023 or later.

      Investment in Cloud Planning and Analysis Tools Increasing

      Over two-thirds of businesses regularly use cloud-based planning and reporting, and one in five (20%) report regularly using machine learning within their departments.  Looking forward, over half of financial leaders predict investing more in cloud-based solutions.

      Meanwhile, only one-third of companies (37%) predict investing more in machine learning, which is significantly fewer companies than predicted both last fall and earlier in 2023 (see Figure 2).

      Figure 2:  Data Analysis Tools Investment Changes

      When asked about the top use cases for artificial intelligence or machine learning, financial leaders surprisingly identified financial reporting as the top opportunity in the fall 2022 survey.  The financial reporting use case was followed by sales/revenue forecasting (41%) and demand planning (39%) as the second and third largest opportunities for organizations, respectively (see Figure 3).

      Figure 3:  AI/ML Learning Opportunities

      DEI and ESG Initiatives Still in Focus

      With ESG reporting guidelines converging and new mandatory disclosure requirements being proposed by the US SEC and regulators in other countries, investments in ESG and DEI remain a priority.  Half of the organizations surveyed expect to invest more in DEI and ESG goals and initiatives in 2023 compared to 2022 investments.  This change is a significant drop compared to expectations from earlier in 2023 (65% in DEI and 60% in ESG).  Still, over a third of enterprises expect to maintain their 2022 investment levels in both DEI and ESG in 2023 (38% and 39%, respectively) (see Figure 4).

      Figure 4:  DEI & ESG Investment Plans

      When asked about their plans to prepare for changing ESG Reporting requirements, nearly half of the financial executives surveyed have started or plan to start forming an internal ESG/Sustainability team to define policies and disclosures.  A similar proportion (41%) will begin (or have already begun) implementing new ESG/sustainability policies.  Compared to earlier in 2022, fewer are planning to invest in software to support ESG data collection and reporting.  Among those who currently don’t have a plan in place, half (50%) indicate they may implement a plan if ESG reporting mandates impact their organizations (see Figure 5).

      Figure 5:  Preparation for ESG Change

      Conclusion

      The results of the recent Financial Decision-Makers Survey highlight the ongoing business challenges CFOs and Finance leaders face as they look to drive performance ahead in 2023.  Inflation, higher interest rates, supply chain bottlenecks and recession are here to stay, and most Finance executives expect those challenges to continue into 2023

      The good news is that today’s cloud-based analytical software technologies are seeing increased adoption and proving their worth in helping Finance teams become more efficient, plan and navigate a volatile economic landscape, and increase their agility to respond.  Artificial intelligence and machine learning adoption still lag behind mainstream planning and predictive analytics tools.  But as these capabilities are embedded into modern planning, reporting and analytical software applications, Finance adoption is poised to expand rapidly. 

      Learn More

      This report delves into the latest trends in modern planning, reporting and analytics software applications, from predictive analytics to artificial intelligence and machine learning.  And with expert insights from leading CFOs, you’ll gain valuable knowledge and actionable strategies to stay ahead of the game with more effective planning and budgeting. 

      To learn more,– download our CFO Executive Outlook Report today to gain a competitive edge in 2023.

      Download the White Paper

      The buzz around ESG is real.  And the fact that it’s being so widely discussed underpins how it has really become a business imperative for organizations to develop a strategy for ESG reporting & planning and then take positive action. 

      Research shows that positive action on ESG pays off.  How?  By making companies more resilient in times of change.  Pandemic-related supply chain interruptions offer the perfect example.  Companies that invested in trusted relations with suppliers and employees got production back on track faster and grew faster than companies without those relations – underpinning the need to incorporate ESG across the organization.

      Introduction

      While moderating a recent joint webinar with PwC on ESG reporting & planning, I was joined by Julie Bogus (ESG Consulting Partner at PwC), Leonardo De Biasi (Performance Management & ESG Partner), and Liane Boyer (OneStream Senior Solutions Consultant).

      I kicked things off by quoting a statement from PwC’s research: “Now is of course time to get serious about climate risk.”  But I also emphasized that even more important is recognizing the positive opportunities that arise from taking action.

      Then I polled the audience with the following question: “How concerned are you that your organization does not have the right technology in place to support ESG reporting that meets the regulations where you operate?”

      The results were interesting – 49% of respondents felt somewhat concerned and 25% felt highly concerned.  Only 4% reported not being at all concerned.

      The Evolution of ESG

      After the poll results, Ms. Bogus explained the three key elements of ESG: Environment, Social & Governance.  But the focus for organizations, she emphasized, should be on more than just the environmental aspects (e.g., emissions/pollution/waste) to include a wider focus on the people impacted by an organization and the demonstrated governance and leadership.  She then described how not all topics are equally relevant to all organizations.  The relevance level depends on the industry.

      Next, she shared some key statistics (see Figure 1) to support the statement that organizational stakeholders know they must drive transformation with a positive ESG focus.

      Figure 1:  PwC ESG Consumer Intelligence Series 2021

      Ms. Bogus then spoke about the ESG landscape of regulations, some only in the proposal stage as with the SEC and others fully announced as with the EU.  Still, though, EU member states must ratify the regulation, which she emphasized could take another year.

      The reporting framework developed by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) (see Figure 2), Ms. Bogus went on to explain, underpins the reporting standards being developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the US SEC.

      Figure 2: PwC ESG Frameworks

      Below is a quick breakdown of the voluntary frameworks/standards Ms. Bous explained:

      When responding to a question, Ms. Bogus agreed the current frameworks are challenging to navigate.

      The Common Challenges

      Ms. Bogus then shifted to talking more widely about why many organizations today struggle to incorporate ESG due to having limited policies, procedures and governance, highlighting the following challenges:

      The OneStream ESG Solution

      At this point, I introduced OneStream and talked about how it’s a unified, Intelligent Finance platform that simplifies and unifies processes (see Figure 3). I specifically explained how organizations can perform all required reporting activity for ESG KPIs using the robust OneStream capability – a capability that has now successfully supported the financial processes of more than 1,200 customers worldwide.

      Figure 3: OneStream Solution for ESG Reporting & Planning

      Continuing, I focused on how OneStream delivers the capability that brings ESG processes to life with an accelerated implementation option through the OneStream ESG Blueprint.  This blueprint is available as a free download from the OneStream OpenPlace – Part of the Solution Exchange.

      Ms. Boyer followed with a short demonstration of some of the many ESG capabilities in the OneStream platform, including data upload, validation and workflow to ensure the quality of entries.  Specifically, she explained how data can be integrated from underlying ERPs, operational systems and HR systems.  She also highlighted how ESG metrics and commentary can be viewed down to an individual

      Figure 4: OneStream ESG Dashboard

      Panel Questions

      A panel session followed where I asked questions to Ms. Bogus and Mr. De Biasi. Here’s a breakdown of what our Q&A covered:

      To wrap up the Q&A, I asked Mr. De Biasi whether he sees financial leaders doubling down on ESG investments and initiatives again in 2023.  He referred to the second poll we ran during the webinar, the results of which showed that 41% of respondents reported investing in new technology.  While he saw that as a positive sign, it’s simply not enough.  And he explained why:  Every organization must have the right technology in place to meet all ESG reporting and planning requirements. Anything less simply leaves some organizations lagging behind competitors and over-exposed to risk.

      Learn More

      Need to invest in new ESG technology and want to learn more, read our ESG Whitepaper or check out the blog posts in our ESG series.  And if your organisation is ready to align ESG reporting & planning with financial reporting and get ahead of the upcoming disclosure mandates, contact OneStream today to get started.

      Download the White Paper

      Higher education Finance teams today are tasked with managing a complex and challenging business landscape – one that requires balancing evolving student needs, increasing people and infrastructure costs, resource constraints and more.  The ability to quickly problem-solve and steer the university through these challenges while maintaining financial sustainability is daunting.  But what if universities could not only navigate this complexity but also thrive?  Corporate Performance Management (CPM) makes both possible.  Designed to help maximize business impact, CPM empowers higher ed Finance teams to ensure their institutions keep up with the pace of change, uncertainty and organizational complexity.

      The value of modern Finance lies not in eliminating complexity but in effectively navigating it.

      Now more than ever, higher ed Finance teams face a diverse set of pressures and challenges, including the following financial constraints, external forces, internal complexities and operational obstacles:

      The ability to adapt to the above pressures and changing landscape while ensuring financial sustainability is complex with the tools and processes colleges and universities are using today.  To be more agile, Finance leaders are looking for ways to simplify and scale processes to keep pace with rapid change and plan effectively.

      Traditional Higher Education Planning Practices

      Traditionally, higher education institutions have used disconnected Finance processes and systems for planning and reporting.  Those efforts have primarily focused on the cumbersome, time-intensive annual budget process.  While the annual budget is important for funding allocations, control and accountability of spend, and communication with stakeholders, it relies on the assumption of operating in a stable and predictable business environment.  Today’s rapidly changing and uncertain business landscape shatters that assumption because the budget can quickly become outdated and difficult to revise.

      To address these limitations, colleges and universities must evolve to more agile processes that emphasize trust, collaboration, innovation and risk management. 

      CPM enables that evolution

      By design, CPM helps higher education Finance teams bring together an institution’s data, analytics, plans and reporting – all in one place – to conquer complexity and enable confident decision-making.

      What Is CPM?

      CPM is an overarching term used to describe the methodologies, metrics, and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance of an organization.

      CPM encompasses the core Finance processes of planning, reporting and analytics, with the goal of optimizing performance by aligning strategic initiatives with resources, activities and results.  Accordingly, CPM provides business leaders with a framework focused on key performance indicators (KPIs) and the metrics to measure “success.”

      That success may look different for each institution because of varying educational missions, communities served, programs offered, and so on.  Fundamentally, Finance leaders can define ‘success’ as the ability of an institution to achieve financial sustainability while effectively fulfilling the university mission and strategic initiatives (see Figure 1).

      Figure 1: Corporate Performance Management Processes

      Shifting the institution’s financial processes to include CPM to track strategic priorities, goals and initiatives is imperative for long-term financial sustainability.

      CPM gives Finance leaders peace of mind by giving them the tools to navigate the complexity and best serve their institution’s mission and students.  How?  By enabling more trust in data, better collaboration with stakeholders and more agility in decision-making.

      Trust in Numbers

      CPM tools combine financial and operational data from various sources to provide a clear view of institutional performance.  This view allows Finance to use one source of truth to monitor performance in real-time across various activities, including auxiliaries, academics, research and more. 

      Such transparency empowers Finance to have a comprehensive view of data and be more confident decision-makers.

      For example, as resource constraints continue to expand and change, Finance must understand the current state of funding resources.  Are they tied up in commitments?  Are they being used for future capital initiatives?  The answers to these questions and others provide transparency on how funding is being used to help identify where resources are being underutilized or what areas need additional funding.  Recognizing programs with excess funds creates an opportunity to instead invest them effectively in infrastructure, facilities, teaching and other areas in need of additional funding.  Finance can look at how to best support each area by asking questions to maximize the impact.  

      By having a sole source of truth for financial and operational data, higher education Finance leaders can trust the numbers and maximize the impact on the institution.

      Improved Collaboration

      Getting stakeholder alignment across the institution is tough, but having clear strategic goals and priorities aligned with resources, activities and results helps focus collaboration efforts.  When everyone is working toward achieving the same metrics and KPIs, Finance can better partner with departments and programs.

      For example, an institution may have an initiative to increase academic program returns by expanding a current program.  Having core KPIs, such as administrative costs per student or net tuition revenue per student, helps create direction on how to set up a new initiative for financial success.  For such efforts, focused communication and collaboration are essential.

      And with CPM, discussions between Finance and stakeholders can be better focused on specific items. Here are a few examples:

      In other words, the different departments and programs can maintain their independence and innovative thinking while working in unison with Finance to achieve strategic priorities with financial sustainability. 

      Increased Agility

      CPM tools also enable Finance teams to leverage real-time data and scenario modeling capabilities to support agile decision-making.  By having one source of truth for financial and operational data, institutions can see the current state of the business and model alternative futures based on different assumptions (e.g., enrollment shifts, interest rate changes, government funding modifications, etc.). 

      Figure 2: OneStream Higher Ed Analytics Dashboard

      These capabilities allow stakeholders to understand the potential impact of different scenarios and more quickly respond to changes in the budget, forecast or strategic plan (see Figure 2).  In turn, the university or college can take advantage of new opportunities and/or minimize risk.  And in the current volatile times, the resulting increased agility offers a true competitive advantage.

      Confident Decision-Making

      Overall, incorporating CPM in your institution will bring more confidence in the financial success of your college or university.  Why?  Because CPM supports long-term sustainability in the following ways:

      Conclusion

      In sum, CPM helps Finance overcome the diverse set of pressures and challenges in the current higher educational landscape.  How?  By enabling more trust in numbers, better collaboration, increased agility and more confident decision-making.  Through those benefits, CPM facilitates actionable insights that will empower and improve strategic decision-making and long-term financial sustainability.

      Learn More

      Want to learn more about how OneStream can empower your higher education Finance team?  Download our Higher Education solution brief, or contact us for a demonstration.

      Download the Solution Brief

      Modern organisations can no longer ignore the buzz around ESG.  Short for Environmental, Social and Governance, ESG is a reaction to Milton Friedman’s 1970s credo that the social responsibility of business is to increase profits.  But far too many examples today show how this narrow definition of social responsibility has negatively impacted employees, local communities and/or the environment – all of which are stakeholders. 

      Failing to consider these stakeholders threatens sustainable business models.  Combatting that threat, ESG aims to consider all stakeholders in the company.  And OneStream’s capabilities for ESG reporting & planning ensure that trusted information can be effectively available as and when required.  But before we dive into all of that, let’s first review the benefits of ESG and the bidirectional relationship between organisation and climate.

      The Benefits of ESG

      Research shows that ESG pays off.  How?  It makes companies more resilient in times of change.  The interrupted supply chains during the pandemic offer the perfect example.  Companies that invested in trusted relations with suppliers and employees got production back on track faster and grew faster than companies without those relations. 

      Not convinced?  Well, then consider the following.

      Growing demand for sustainable investments, a market estimated to reach $34 trillion in 2026, runs rampant today.  Within that environment, fund managers must consider demands like zero emissions/zero pollution, no child labour, equal opportunities and much more throughout the entire value chain of portfolio assets.

      These considerations require data, typically non-financial data, and the quality of that data is questionable at best.  Using that data leaves asset managers facing the risk that their green funds or equality portfolios contain some rotten eggs.  And just around the corner lies greenwashing and other types of reputational damage.

      At the same time, governments across the globe want to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. The EU Green Deal, the US Inflation Reduction Act and similar transition programs in other parts of the world all aim to support private investments in green technology – with massive amounts of public money.  Yet these governments face a big challenge:  How can governments ensure they’re supporting truly green technology and not just some repackaged old tech?

      So again, data of questionable quality is an issue.  How, then, can anyone trust the data quality?  Governments have an advantage here:  they have regulatory bodies.  What do they do for ESG?  They regulate it.  The US-SEC has issued drafts that are expected to become law as of FY 2024.  In November 2022, the EU parliament voted for the CSRD, which will also become mandatory starting in FY 2024 for the first cohort of companies.  Other jurisdictions (e.g., UK, ANZ, Singapore, SA) have passed or will soon pass similar legislation.

      Using quantitative and qualitative data to report on environmental and social topics, combined with governance, will ensure policies are in place and anchored throughout the company, all the way up to the executive level. This process is a huge undertaking for companies.   It’s a journey.  Some companies have been on this journey for 15-20 years.  Others are just getting started.

      This topic is expansive, but a blog post is not an essay.  To stay mindful of your time, let’s just zoom in on energy transition and the resulting focus on climate change as part of the larger environmental topic.

      The Bidirectional Interaction Between Organisation and Climate

      Through their activities, organisations impact the environments in which they operate, and organisations’ emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) potentially impact climate change.  Organisations can make choices to reduce that impact, however.  So when organisations claim a desire to become NetZero by 2035, they need to make choices that achieve that goal. 

      The consequences of not taking action on emissions can negatively impact the business model of a organisation.  When making decisions for the future, organisations should therefore consider the related risks and opportunities of climate change.

      See the similarities with Finance?  With setting financial targets and reporting on progress.  With identifying opportunities and mitigating risks that impact the future capabilities to make a profit.  These steps are what financial outlooks are all about.  Similar to financial outlooks, financial markets discount the resilience to climate change and other ESG performance metrics in the stock price of a company.

      How can Organisations ensure they are prepared for this journey?

      Why OneStream for ESG Reporting & Planning

      For many organisations, the area of ESG is new.  And data quality is poor.  Organisations must account not only for their own operations but also for their entire value chains.  That combination creates a massive puzzle of data with which many organisations struggle.  Some say that the regulatory part is perhaps the ‘easy’ part.  How to get reliable data from all suppliers is a much bigger challenge.  And how to plan the roadmap towards a Net Zero commitment for 2035 is also a significant challenge.

      Data quality will thus undoubtedly be a main topic for years to come.  And the OneStream platform has proven to be of great value for managing data quality (see Figure 1) .  At OneStream, our data integration engine, our workflows, our consolidation and our task audit capabilities are exactly what organisations need to get on top of data quality.

      Figure 1:  OneStream Intelligent Platform

      But how can organisations report on ESG performance in a meaningful way?  By aligning it with financial performance.  The other part of our claim for ESG is therefore that companies must align ESG reporting & planning with their financial reporting and planning by…

      How does OneStream do all of that?  Those familiar with our platform know we’re recognised as the market leader when it comes to data quality, reporting, planning and more.  That means the platform, just as it is, can also handle the challenges in ESG reporting & planning (see Figure 2).  And we have customers who are already doing their ESG reporting on OneStream today.

      The OneStream ESG Blueprint

      How can the release of our ESG Blueprint solution (included in your OneStream license) help your organization?  In short, you can accelerate your ESG reporting in OneStream.  The blueprint adds auditable carbon calculations with pre-configured metadata, business rules and data tables to support your Scope 1 and 2 emissions.  Apply the emission factors of your choice, and let OneStream handle your contracts for renewable energy (RECs, PPAs) to calculate your location and market method.  Then, combine ESG and financial data into intensity metrics that show the development towards your emission goals.

      Figure 2:  OneStream ESG Reporting & Planning Solution

      In the ESG Blueprint, you can enter activity (e.g., fuel consumption, electricity usage) or distance (by vehicle type).  The blueprint then applies factors to convert this input into carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), the common denominator for global warming potential.  The solution also converts the common types of refrigerants into CO2e. 

      You can slice and dice your emissions data (See Figure 3) in the same way you do your financials (e.g., by region, product, business area, etc.).  Extensible Dimensionality provides your ESG data model with the structures you defined for your financial model.  From there, you can extend the ESG model with more granularity – for example, by location (factory, warehouse, mine, office) or asset class (e.g., vehicle type).  And you can do it all with single point of maintenance and full control.

      Figure 3 – ESG KPI Dashboard in OneStream

      Plus, the calculations in the ESG Blueprint are fully transparent and auditable.  The solution comes with a set of reports that check the consistency of the data model – ensuring your organisation can report and plan ESG with full confidence.

      Learn More

      To learn more, read our ESG Whitepaper or check out the blog posts in our ESG series.  And if your organisation is ready to align ESG reporting & planning with financial reporting and get ahead of the upcoming disclosure mandates, contact OneStream today to get started.

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