Forecasts and budgets can be compared to any version with minimal effort

Description

This functionality allows users to compare any budget or forecast with another version by simply dragging and dropping it on a report or sheet. This must be accomplished by a finance user with little to no training on the system.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A retail company is preparing for the upcoming fiscal year. They have generated several budget versions to consider different scenarios - from an optimistic budget assuming high sales growth to a conservative one with low growth expectations.

Solution: The company can use a CPM system with functionality to easily compare their working budget with several what-if scenarios. This enables them to view different potential outcomes on a sheet, dashboard, or report. They can now facilitate more informed and more rapid decisions with the executive team.

Considerations

This functionality is generally a core reason to purchase a CPM tool, as doing this in Excel is incredibly painful. The best tools allow you to drag versions next to each other, and insert a column that calculates the difference between the two prior columns (a basic A-B=C formula), and then might allow you to layer a chart over the top or on a separate page.

To make this work, the system must support enough live versions to accommodate your what-if planning. Meaning, if you plan to go beyond Best Case, Middle Case, Worst Case, you'll need more than 3.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Comparison Feature: How robust is your software's functionality to compare forecast and budget versions? Is it a drag and drop process, or do I need to learn how to code?
• Customizable Views: Does the system allow customization in viewing and comparing versions? Can users define the parameters or data fields for a comparison?