Anyone can create their own version within the dataset they are allowed to access

Description

This capability allows stakeholders across departments and levels of the organization to develop their own forecasts, budgets, and plans based on a subset of the version they have access to, such as a specific department or product.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A manufacturing company is using CPM software for financial planning and budgeting. They have department owners who are looking to build what-if versions for their expenses. The system does not allow that, forcing them back into Excel to complete the task.

Solution: The finance team enables a feature that allows department users to create their own version with a simple click. This version only provides access to the user's specific department and allows them to change drivers to see the outcome and comparison for just their island of data.

Considerations

This limitation is one of the top reasons why your department heads are going to head back into Excel. They'll create a model of the model manually to compare outcomes, taking up a significant amount of their time and devaluing the CPM tool. Allowing them to create a simple what-if within their area of influence will save everyone time, and give the finance team a view into the various what-ifs, providing a more comprehensive view of what the budget or forecast could potentially look like.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Personal What-If: How does the CPM software manage user access and permissions for creation of individual datasets? In other words, how does the system know to only create a what-if for the data that the user has access to if it is partially derived from global assumptions that they lack access to?
• Version Limit: Does your system limit the amount of versions that a user can create?
• Visibility: Are we, at the admin level, able to view all of our user's what-ifs?