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Corporate planning

Corporate planning is one of the core tasks of management and controlling in a company. This term encompasses a large number of processes in which future structures or procedures are defined based on existing key figures. These defined measures should be implemented in realistic sub-periods in order to achieve the set goals. A software solution for corporate planning enables the implementation of all methods of planning internal and external influencing factors that affect a company.

4 Outline points of corporate planning

  1. Budget plan: summary of costs and revenues or profit or loss for the year.
  2. Balance sheet plan: summary of the build-up of liabilities and then the determination of the company capital
  3. Investment plan: summary of investments and deinvestments of fixed assets
  4. Financial plan: Summary of cash flows associated with these plans.

Before the introduction of CoPlanner, we worked with Excel. Here, multidimensionality was not available to the extent that it is currently possible. The different export markets, customers and the multitude of our products pushed the limits of Excel.

Mag. Wolfgang Spiller
Wolfgang Spiller
Chief Financial Officer, IT and Investments, Schlumberger Sektkellerei

Integrated corporate planning with CoPlanner

With CoPlanner business planning is no art:

  • more than 250 ready-made tables already in the standard solution
  • more than 500 integrated formulas and functions
  • more than 50 OLAP cubes
  • free hierarchical structure per dimension
  • move by drag & drop

CoPlanner - layout as you like it:

  • predefined standard masks for recording different planning activities
  • free mask design for different user groups (e.g. sales, cost center, investment planning) via the mask designer

Rolling, sub- or multi-year planning on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. CoPlanner knows no limits. Even daily data (e.g. from cash register systems in retail) can be displayed.

CoPlanner facilitates planning through simulations and different plan versions.

CoPlanner - the new controlling style:

  • Top down and bottom up planning
  • Quick planning from actual or forecast data
  • Wizard-driven distribution functions
  • Trend calculations and key figure control
  • Planning of individual elements
  • Planning on one or more aggregate levels

New dimensions in corporate planning: Based on OLAP cubes, all planning dimensions such as profit centers, cost centers, products, customers, regions, etc. can be freely defined. Mea-sures such as quantities, prices, absolute values, actual, plan and forecast data round off the planning information.

New design dimensions with CoPlanner: With table designer, formula designer, masks and dimension designer, standard defaults can be changed at any time, but also supplemented as desired.

Only defined authorized persons can access the data. Authorizations can be controlled via menu structures, dimensions, dimension elements and activity profiles (read/write).

Selection of an integrated Planning Software

If corporate planning is to be set up in the company or integrated planning is to be carried out, the question arises first: On which system will the planning be carried out, which software or IT tools will be used? According to the annual reports of the independent consultancy BARC, Excel is currently ranked number 1, but the professional planning tools, including CoPlanner, are becoming increasingly flexible and are relocating 100% of their software to the Web. With the use of professional software solutions for corporate planning, a much higher user satisfaction can be achieved in many areas than with Microsoft Excel.

 

STEP-Analysis

The internal and external influencing factors generally fall under the well-known STEP analysis, which deals with political, economic, social, legal and environmental factors. In business, it lists the factors of the individual categories, which can have an influence on the respective company. The use of this STEP analysis serves to closely examine a market and the associated market opportunities. Influencing factors that occur regularly are part of operational management. Meanwhile, those that affect events, opportunities, and challenges that are happening for the first time are now assigned to project management.

 

Corporate Planning is more than just ERP

Unlike enterprise resource planning (ERP), another framework is covered in corporate planning systems. Corporate planning systems address the resources that are barely available or unavailable to a business and the ability to create products or resources or provide services. It also takes account factors that positively or negatively impact the company's ability to perform these operations.

 

Industry Solutions for corporate Planning

CoPlanner is a specialist in the field of corporate planning and develops individual, innovative and sectoral solutions in partnership with its customers, supplemented by expert advice and training.

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