IBM Cognos 8 Planning

Features and Benefits

IBM Cognos 8 Planning enables Finance organizations with even the most complex business models to build enterprise-wide plans, budgets, and forecasts faster and more efficiently.

You can create, compare, and evaluate business scenarios, conditions, drivers, rates, and assumptions. Proceed from what-is to evaluate the what-if scenarios critical to forecasting future performance. The result is improved predictability and greater accountability across the enterprise.

Customize plans and models to fit your business needs.
Spend less time on process, more time on analysis.
Enable high participation across the enterprise.
Plan to extend ERP performance.
Streamline workflow management.

(top)

Customize plans and models to fit your business needs

See examples of IBM Cognos 8 Planning modeling

Sophisticated modeling capabilities let you create linked models that accurately reflect cross-functional interdependencies
Build models in days, not months. Import data definitions from sources such as applications from Oracle and SAP via certified integration to SAP NetWeaver applications.
Change underlying business logic and principles quickly and easily. Compare alternatives and assess the impact in real time.
Driver-based planning and flexible rolling forecasts provide greater visibility into likely operating performance.
Finance manages the solution without the need for arcane programming languages or scripting. No IT input is required.

(top)

Spend less time on process, more time on analysis

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image representing this feature within our product

The Excel interface offers power and precision for complex needs.

Drill-down and multidimensional slicing-and-dicing help users explore data, evaluate models, and test assumptions in minutes. Quickly compare current performance with historical actuals and external benchmarks.
"Break-back" automatically spreads high-level targets across any profile, such as previous-period actuals or projected seasonality, and across multiple dimensions such as products, customers, territories, or time periods.
Unified view of plan data connects with key metrics and information so you can make decisions instead of debating definitions and accuracy.
Eliminate unproductive activities such as tracking down numbers, fixing broken links, and debugging macros.

(top)

Enable high participation across the enterprise

Financial data from IBM Cognos 8 Planning populates dashboard in IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence for reliable decision support and consistent performance management.

User-friendly Web browser or familiar Microsoft Excel interface require minimal training and encourage participation, collaboration, and commitment.
Single sign-on provides immediate access to linked, role-specific planning templates while pre-defined rules ensure that individuals see only the templates they require.
Distributed architecture is optimized for end-user performance, even for thousands of concurrent users across divisions and geographies.
Complex calculations are performed at the client, giving users instantaneous response and sparing the server unnecessary traffic during periods of high use.
Users enter information in their own business language—not finance terms—and predefined formulas translate it into financial data such as gross revenue, net income, or earnings per share.
Work offline and plans and forecasts are automatically updated when you check back in.
Online administration makes it easy to change data structures, user rights, model parameters, and more—24x7—without taking the system offline.

(top)

Plan to extend ERP performance

Extend applications from Oracle and SAP via certified integration to SAP NetWeaver applications.
Cross-enterprise planning data stored in a single repository provides perpetually accurate information on demand.
Synchronized enterprise plans link operational and financial plans to show the impact of operational change on financial performance.
Dynamic linking of individual plan components in real time facilitates consistency and accuracy.
Planners can attach files to a cell, model, or submission of a forecast.
Quick commands allow users to modify plans and analyses, while an audit trail tracks all changes.
Powerful business intelligence and scorecarding tools offered in IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence produce detailed, multi-dimensional reports and analyses.

(top)

Streamlined workflow management

IBM Cognos 8 Planning supports real-time aggregation which consolidates plan and results, displays the impact of new forecasts and plan contributions in real time.

Collaborative features facilitate communication to shorten planning cycles and allow managers to e-mail groups based on hierarchy or workflow status.
Reviewers can quickly monitor workflow status—not started, in progress, or ready for review—with intuitive, color-coded icons.
Distributed administration shares role-based responsibility for planning across functions, geographies, and business units.
Corporate policies are enforced with validation rules that review data entry values prior to submission.
Continuous feedback loop minimizes the multiple iterations and negotiations that can slow down—or even shut down—the planning process.
Automatic aggregation displays the impact of new forecasts and plan contributions in real time to let you pinpoint gaps at a glance. No overnight batch processing.

(top)

Learn More:

Additional Resources:

IBM Cognos 8 Planning: Agility to Transform Your Business

Online Demo

Learn how to improve your performance through planning, budgeting, and forecasting with IBM Cognos 8 Planning.

Planning and Forecasting: Use Continuous Planning and Rolling Forecasts to Support Adaptive Management

White Paper

Learn how to use continuous planning and rolling forecasts to support adaptive management

David Axson: Building a more flexible Office of Finance

Podcast

Renowned author and Innovation Center advisor David Axson explains why traditional forecasting practices are obsolete, how to liberate analysts from their spreadsheets, and the value of benchmarking in performance management.

Selecting the Right Enterprise Planning Solution: Considerations for Software Evaluators

White Paper

This handbook provides a list of key factors that you should consider as you evaluate competing enterprise planning solutions.

Dynamic Planning for Today's Uncertain World

White Paper

This article discusses transforming the planning process to make it simple, flexible, short, and relevant to today’s dynamic business environment.

Spreadsheet-Based Planning: Rough Road Ahead

White Paper

Read how using spreadsheets for planning can cost you more than lost productivity, but can actually cast doubt on the integrity of plans.

IBM Cognos Management and Financial Reporting Performance Blueprint Application Brief

Application Brief

The Application Brief shows how IBM Cognos 8 Controller and IBM Cognos 8 BI work together to provide enterprise-level financial management and control capabilities including reporting, analysis, metrics, and event management.

Looking Ahead - Leveraging Financial Consolidation and Enterprise Planning

Web Seminar On-Demand

Managing the business looking forward - ensuring the right level of allocated resources and investment across the business - is paramount in today's fast moving, global and highly competitive environment. Whether you are planning for operational effectiveness or strictly for financial management, measuring cause and effect requires financial measures and metrics. Accurate and validated financial data in the financial consolidation system is an integral part of this conversation. In this session we will discuss the importance of planning in world class companies, and the intersection value of the close, consolidate, report and planning processes.

Forecast Acurracy and Investor Opinion

Podcast

Exclusive interview with Deloitte and Baxter.