Dashboard can reflect multiple versions of the plan on one screen

Description

Multi-version dashboards in Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software refers to the capability to present different plan versions in a single view on the system dashboard. This feature allows decision-makers to efficiently compare and analyze discrepancies between projected and actual data, different forecasted scenarios, or versions of financial plans.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A software company uses CPM software to model various revenue plans. They've developed a strategic plan for the upcoming year and prepared three different operational plan scenarios - optimistic, realistic, negative - based on various market and economic projections.

Solution: The CPM dashboard is set up to display all three operational plan scenarios alongside the strategic plan. This setup allows decision-makers to juxtapose and scrutinize the different plans, assess potential impacts, and make proactive adjustments accordingly.

Considerations

We include this as a requirement due to the different ways various CPM vendors handle it. Some will show the version as a selection on the page, shifting the entire version when changed. This means that the dashboard is specific to one version, all the time. For businesses laser focused on tracking variances, or comparing scenarios visually, this approach will not work.

Some dashboards will allow to you to add scenarios to the individual charts along with other dimensions, making them much more useful. This allows you to track variances via a visualization, far superior to a numerical side-by-side for certain users.

This functionality, like many that make dashboards easier, will increase functionality of the dashboards and make them more than simply demo-ware.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Data Representation: How are different plan versions represented on the dashboard? What visual tools are available for comparison?
• User Control: How much user control is provided for selecting and adjusting displayed plan versions? Can we roll in more scenarios easily by dragging them onto a chart, or is it a big exercise?
• Performance Impact: Does displaying multiple plan versions on a single dashboard affect the system's performance in any way?