10 Questions CIOs Must Ask Before Approving a CPM Platform

Corporate performance management (CPM) decisions have long-tail consequences.

Choose well and you consolidate processes, tighten controls, and create a governed foundation for AI and decision-making.

Choose poorly and you inherit integration sprawl, manual reconciliations, and audit headaches. Those are exactly the risks that enterprise, mid-market, and regulated‑industry chief information officers (CIOs) are paid to avoid.

The 10 questions below will help you separate marketing claims from operating reality. For each question, you’ll find out the following:

1. Why it matters
2. What “good” looks like
3. Proof to request from vendors

Let’s get started.

Question 1: How Does Identity Flow Across Admins, End Users, and Service Accounts?

Why It Matters

Identity is your first control plane. In regulated environments, auditors will ask how entitlements are granted, adjusted, and revoked across application admins, finance users, and automation (e.g., ETL service principals). Gaps here manifest as segregation‑of‑duties violations, orphaned accounts, and untraceable batch changes.

What “Good” Looks Like

1. Enterprise SSO/MFA using your IdP (e.g., Entra ID/Okta) with role‑based access control (RBAC) mapped to finance duties (close, consolidation, planning, reporting).
2. Just‑in‑time provisioning and SCIM/graph sync for lifecycle changes.
3. Privileged access management (PAM) for admin tasks and break‑glass procedures with full auditing.

Proof to Request from Vendors

1. Identity architecture diagram showing SSO, SCIM, and service account flows.
2. Live demo of creating a finance role, assigning entitlements, and revoking a service account with audit evidence.
3. Documentation of RBAC model and SoD policy mappings.

Question 2: Can We Trace Back Any Reported Figure to the Originating Journal, with User, Time, Mapping, and Transformation Steps?

Why It Matters

Without lineage and drill‑back, finance cannot defend the number. Regulated industries must be able to explain how consolidated values formed — down to enterprise resource planning (ERP) journal lines and any human/system actions taken. This capability is essential to pass audits and satisfy model risk and reporting standards.

What “Good” Looks Like

1. Stage‑and‑map pipeline with visible transformation logic, validations, and sign‑offs.
2. Bidirectional drill, from board‑level key performance indicators (KPIs) to journals and back to source systems.
3. Workflow‑based certification and immutable audit trails (who/what/when/why).

Proof to Request from Vendors

1. Live “walk a number” demo: Pick a P&L figure and trace it to the originating journal, showing each mapping/transformation and user action.
2. Export of audit trail and lineage view for the same number.

Question 3: What Encryption Standards, Key Management, and Data Residency Options Are Available?

Why It Matters

Security architectures must satisfy sector and regional rules — from GDPR/NIS2 in the EU to FedRAMP‑aligned controls for the U.S. public sector. Encryption posture (in transit/at rest), KMS options, and residency/SaaS region choices determine whether the platform can clear the security council.

What “Good” Looks Like

• TLS 1.2+ in transit; AES‑256 (or equivalent) at rest; HSM‑backed KMS with key rotation.
• Customer‑controlled keys (where required) and documented data residency.
• Evidence of secure SDLC, vulnerability management, and incident response SLAs.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• Security whitepaper, pen test summaries, and key‑management documentation.
• Data residency map and contractual commitments on data location.
• Evidence of encryption configs in a live tenant.

Question 4: Which SOC/ISO Reports Are Current, and How Can We Access Them?

Why It Matters

Third‑party attestations are a baseline control for regulated buyers. SOC 1/2 and ISO 27001 help your auditors rely on the CPM provider’s controls rather than recreating them in your own program.

What “Good” Looks Like

• Current SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and control maps to GDPR/NIS2; for public sector, clear FedRAMP documentation and shared‑responsibility matrices.
• A customer portal to retrieve reports under NDA.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• The latest SOC and ISO reports (covering the hosting region you’ll use).
• Control mapping documents and bridge letters for any report gaps.

For information on OneStream’s security, visit https://trust.onestream.com/.

Question 5: How Do We Integrate Once and Reuse Everywhere — ERP/HCM/CRM, data lakes/warehouses, and BI?

Why It Matters

Your integration pattern determines whether CPM becomes a hub for governed finance data or just another silo that finance must work around. For CIOs, “integrate once, reuse everywhere” lowers support cost and reduces failure points.

What “Good” Looks Like

• Native connectors and open APIs to SAP/Oracle/Microsoft Dynamics and HCM/CRM systems, with drill‑back to transactions.
• Support for data lakes/warehouses (e.g., ADLS/Snowflake) and governed BI integration patterns (Power BI/Tableau) without duplicating models.
• Resilient batch + event/stream options, and schema‑evolution handling.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• Show end‑to‑end load from your ERP sandbox, including rejection handling and change‑data capture.
• Demonstrate drill‑back from a consolidated figure into ERP journal detail.
• Provide connector/API catalogs and rate/volume limits.

Question 6: How Does the Platform Scale Globally and Align with Our Cloud Strategy?

Why It Matters

Performance during close, elasticity for forecast bursts, and cloud alignment affect both user satisfaction and cost. For Azure‑aligned organizations, marketplace procurement and policy alignment (e.g., MACC eligibility, Azure policy controls) reduce friction.

What “Good” Looks Like

• Elastic scale for peak cycles, and predictable performance SLAs for multi‑entity, multi‑currency models.
• Azure‑native deployment options (where applicable), marketplace availability, and ability to align with your landing zone policies and monitoring.
• Strong ops tooling: logging, metrics, automated backups, and disaster recovery RPO/RTO.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• Performance benchmarks for your expected entity and data volumes.
• Documentation of regions/availability zones and DR testing cadence.
• Evidence showing how the tenant aligns to your policy guardrails and cost governance (if you’re an Azure shop).

Question 7: Where Does AI Run, and How Are Models/Data Governed and Explained?

Why It Matters

Artificial intelligence (AI) can accelerate forecasting and planning. However, that’s only true when models run on finance‑grade, governed data with explainability, lineage, and permissioning that satisfy risk and compliance teams. Shadow AI stacks increase risk and support burden.

What “Good” Looks Like

• Embedded AI that inherits platform security, lineage, and auditability; clear model governance (training data, drift monitoring, approvals).
• Human‑in‑the‑loop workflows and reason codes; ability to compare AI vs. human forecasts.
• Transparent documentation of where models run and how data is retained/purged.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• Live demo of an AI‑assisted forecast showing inputs, feature importance (where available), and override/approve workflow with audit evidence.
• Model governance artifacts (versioning, retraining schedule, monitoring) and data‑handling policies.

Case in point:

A major utility using OneStream reduced forecast cycle time by ~99.7% (two days → ~10 minutes) and improved precision from ~94% to ~98%. Those reductions occurred six months after implementing governed, embedded AI on top of a unified finance model, without spinning up a separate ML ops stack.

Question 8: What Is the Upgrade and Change‑Control Process (Environments, Testing, Rollback)?

Why It Matters

Regulated organizations must separate dev/test/prod, validate changes, and retain evidence. A fragile upgrade path traps you in legacy versions or inflates support costs.

What “Good” Looks Like

• Multi‑environment promotion with automated packaging, impact analysis, and rollback.
• Non‑disruptive upgrades with advance notice, sandboxes for testing, and backwards‑compatibility guidance.
• Clear ownership model between platform admin, finance super‑users, and the vendor.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• Demonstrated promotion of a model change, from test to prod with approvals and audit logs.
• An example upgrade runbook and release notes cadence.

Question 9: How Do We Extend Use Cases Without Adding Technical Debt?

Why It Matters

The quickest way to lose the win is to solve the first use case (e.g., consolidation) and then spawn new point solutions for reconciliations, planning, or narrative reporting. That’s how data logic fragments and support tickets climb.

What “Good” Looks Like

• A single extensible platform that addresses close, consolidation, planning, reconciliations, reporting, and scenario modeling with shared metadata and security.
• No‑/low‑code configurability for finance owners, under IT guardrails.
• Clear solution marketplace or accelerator catalog, governed through your SDLC.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• Ability to add a second use case (e.g., reconciliations or driver‑based planning) on the same model without duplicating integrations.
• TCO comparison of “one platform, many use cases” vs. stitching together many point solutions.

Question 10: What Outcomes Should We Expect at 6, 12, and 24 Months, Both Technically and Operationally?

Why It Matters

Milestones keep the program honest and align CIO/CFO expectations. For boards and regulators, measurable progress on cycle time, data quality, and control effectiveness matters as much as the return on investment (ROI).

What “Good” Looks Like

• 6 months: Stable close and consolidation on the new platform; identity/entitlement hygiene; first wave of process SLAs met.
• 12 months: Integrated planning/forecasting with governed self‑service; BI integration; initial AI assist in targeted domains.
• 24 months: Expanded scope (e.g., reconciliations, narrative reporting), automation of routine forecasts, and demonstrable audit efficiencies.

Proof to Request from Vendors

• A sample outcomes roadmap with KPI definitions (close duration, forecast cycle time, lineage coverage, audit exceptions, user adoption).
• References from similarly regulated peers with measurable results.

Putting the Business Case Together (TCO & Risk)

Platform consolidation can materially reduce run costs and remove hidden overhead (patching, reconciliation labor, brittle integrations). In an independent Forrester Total Economic Impact analysis, a composite organization realized ~172% ROI with a ~7‑month payback with OneStream. That growth was driven by reductions in data loading (~95%), monthly reporting effort (~75%), and controller workload (~25%). Forecasting automation delivered the largest value bucket, including savings in overtime and travel.

1. A Checklist for Your Next RFP Copy the 10 questions into your RFP, and mandate live demonstrations for the following:
   1. Identity lifecycle and SoD controls
   2. Drill‑back from KPI → journal
   3. ERP integration with reject handling
   4. AI governance and human‑in‑the‑loop overrides
   5. Change promotion from test → prod with rollback
2. Score vendors across five CIO priorities (weighted to your environment):
   • Governance & lineage
   • Integration fabric
   • Security & compliance
   • Scalability & cloud fit
   • TCO & technical debt
3. Tie outcomes to time‑boxed milestones (6/12/24 months) with executive‑visible KPIs.

Ready to dig deeper into architecture patterns, control design, and real‑world outcomes? Download the eBook The CIO’s Guide to Finance Transformation to access the full evaluation toolkit and case details.