For Business Process & Applications Professionals

TechRadar™ For BP&A Professionals: Financial Management Applications, Q2 2009

Essential Business Needs Drive High Levels Of Value And Adoption

by Paul D. Hamerman, June 30, 2009

Financial management applications range from essential and ubiquitous tools for accounting and financial reporting to specialized solutions for optimizing process efficiency and cash flow. Compliance is a major requirement underlying several of the solutions, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Financial Information Value Erodes Quickly

Optimizing Timely Information Can Enhance Business Performance

by Paul D. Hamerman, November 28, 2005

Whereas the value of money increases over time, the value of enterprise financial information does the opposite: It erodes fairly quickly and sometimes falls off a cliff. Financial information should be delivered in a pragmatic time frame for maximum . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Financial Planning And Budgeting Applications

Flexible Solutions Help Enterprises Look Ahead

by Paul D. Hamerman, January 11, 2005

Interest in applications to support financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting is currently high — a recent Forrester survey shows that 35% will invest in this software within the next 12 months. This is driven by two primary factors: 1) the need . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

After the Thaw: High-Tech Companies Adopt More Agile Financial Planning and Reporting Systems

by Paul D. Hamerman, October 3, 2003

In the fast-paced world of high tech, traditional financial planning and reporting systems are too cumbersome to be responsive to the needs of the business. As a result, some high tech companies have adopted more agile planning methods.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Spreadsheets and Enterprise Business Processes: A Mismatch

by Paul D. Hamerman, January 31, 2003

Many companies depend on homegrown, spreadsheet-based applications to support complex business processes such as financial planning, budgeting and reporting, despite the fact that they are largely unsuitable for such purposes.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Adaytum Acquisition Will Make Cognos a Key Player in Business Performance Applications

by Paul D. Hamerman, December 26, 2002

Cognos' acquisition of Adaytum is a good strategic move that will enhance the company's applications business. The combined product sets, when fully integrated, will let Cognos compete effectively in financial business performance management applications.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Budgeting, Financial Planning and Forecasting: Distinct Process Needs Impact Software Selection

December 20, 2002

Budgeting, financial planning and forecasting are distinct business processes that vary by characteristics such as user audience, frequency, collaboration and level of detail. These process requirements should be considered in evaluating software tools.

Comparing a Single Cube vs. Multi-Cube Data Modeling Approach to Financial Planning and Budgeting Applications

by Keith Gile, December 19, 2002

The data architecture of the planning and budgeting application under review needs to match the data architecture (either distributed or centralized).

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Update on ERP Financial Planning and Performance Management Applications

by Paul D. Hamerman, December 10, 2002

The financial performance management offerings of the large vendors have not yet reached a point where they are a clear first choice for customers using their transactional financial management systems, but they are progressing toward this goal.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Financial Planning and Budgeting Market Growing as Vendors Embrace Performance Concept

by Paul D. Hamerman, December 6, 2002

Financial planning and budgeting is an application category that is alive and well, and we find that this market segment is evolving into a broader context that includes financial performance management and other related applications.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

SRC Software: Budgeting Vendor Finds Niche in Upper End of Midmarket

by Paul D. Hamerman, May 6, 2002

SRC Software has quietly built a solid position in the budgeting application space, with a substantial customer base of medium and large companies. SRC should appeal to enterprises looking to improve the effectiveness of a traditional budgeting process.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

ERP Financial Planning and Budgeting Applications: Capabilities Are Improving

by Paul D. Hamerman, April 19, 2002

Customers should only consider the ERP budgeting and financial planning functionality if they are on a current release of the accounting applications from the same vendor.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Key Considerations for Choosing a Financial Planning and Budgeting Application

by Paul D. Hamerman, April 8, 2002

We recommend clients develop a Top 10 list of critical requirements based on their business processes and technical requirements in order to narrow down the potential planning and budgeting vendor choices.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Comparing High-End Budgeting and Planning Solutions: An Update

by Paul D. Hamerman, April 8, 2002

In choosing a software application for financial planning, budgeting and forecasting activities, trade-offs exist. No tool is optimally designed to handle all of these activities equally well. However, there are choices for medium and large companies.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Hyperion Planning Matures as a Top-Tier Budgeting and Financial Planning Application

by Paul D. Hamerman, December 17, 2001

Key strengths of the product include its collaborative Web capabilities for distributed input, process and version control and multi-dimensional data. Though a less robust financial modeling tool, it is good for frequently updated planning activities.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Enterprise Budgeting Software: Catalyst for Changing a Flawed Business Process

by Paul D. Hamerman, November 28, 2001

Companies should evaluate budgeting and planning software from the perspective of leveraging the technology to innovate business processes.

Annualized Loss Exposure Calculations are Inadequate for Disaster Recovery Planning

by Ken Vollmer, September 26, 2001

The ALE concept, a mathematical calculation based on projected cost of an event multiplied by probability, is basically flawed and should not be used as the controlling principle when preparing for the possibility of future events impacting the business.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Market Overview: Budgeting and Financial Planning Applications — Breaking Away From Traditional Paradigms

by Paul D. Hamerman, September 19, 2001

The budgeting and financial planning application market is led by a relatively small group of aggressive best-of-breed software vendors, including Hyperion, Adaytum and Comshare.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

PeopleSoft Fills a Gap With New Planning and Budgeting Solutions

by Paul D. Hamerman, September 10, 2001

The improved financial planning functionality offered by both PeopleSoft and SAP reflects the increased market awareness of the value of prospective financial information, as well as the shortcomings of spreadsheet-driven processes.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Cognos Finance: Substantial Functionality, but Proprietary Under the Hood

by Paul D. Hamerman, August 10, 2001

Cognos Finance carries a considerable amount of proprietary baggage from its conception more than a decade ago. Cognos has already begun development of a product that promises more flexibility and better compatibility with the company s flagship BI tools.

IT Spending Trends 2001: Consulting and Outsourcing

by Julie Giera, April 24, 2001

Companies have not abandoned IT spending plans; however, they are looking to outsourcing to both preserve capital and obtain access to intellectual capital. Executives now realize that IT is a key component in the overall business strategy.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Comparing High-End Financial Planning and Budgeting Solutions

by Paul D. Hamerman, April 23, 2001

In contrast to transactional applications, planning and budgeting applications emphasize flexible modeling and reporting tools more than out-of-the-box functionality.

For CIOs

IT Spending Downturn: The Vendor/Equity Perspective

by Jonathan Penn, April 16, 2001

The IT spending downturn may, in fact, be temporary, perhaps isolated to the first half of the year. Many organizations are simply deferring spending until the latter half of the year to get a better sense of the economic outlook.

Estimating Postproduction Support Costs

by Margo Visitacion, April 13, 2001

A number of factors should be considered when estimating postproduction support costs, such as application size, number of users, scalability, functionality, complexity and the vertical industry in which the implementation is being performed.