Role

PLANNING AND BUDGETING

Planning and Budgeting is the anchor of any good strategic vision. But what makes a plan good? Every good plan starts with collaboration. Individuals have a lot to contribute to a plan, and the more input you can get from those individuals that own the data, the more balanced and believable your plan will be. But it is not just input of data; it is sharing the data and having them understand how their piece fits into the whole plan.

Another aspect of a good plan is that it consolidates data quickly and is driver-based so that changes to drivers do not require everyone to re-enter data and have it consolidated again. This allows you to plan continuously and step away from the annual budgeting cycle into a rolling forecast cycle that is easier to manage and takes less time from those individuals who are involved in creating the plans.

The third main aspect of a good plan is that it is flexible. That means that it is designed to represent the business. Often, companies have several types of businesses they are engaged in, or they have different things they want measured (Sales, utilization, burden rates, profitability, cash flow, etc.). You should be able to model each of these things in a way that makes it easy to collect and summarize information.

This is where Kinetek comes in. Kinetek has extensive experience in creating custom planning and budgeting systems for companies in diverse industries. We work with the leader in planning and budgeting software – Cognos – to deliver web-based, highly collaborative, driver-based plans that consolidate easily and are designed to mirror your business. Our planning models are integrated with your accounting system to allow for comparison of plan to actual as well as to decrease the level of maintenance of the model.

Kinetek has been a platinum partner with Cognos, and our relationship with IBM - their successor - is impeccable.  Our planning BI consultants are certified by IBM, and our experience working with IBM Cognos Planning for over a decade means that we have a solid understanding of financial systems and best practices. We work with your management team to make certain that we understand your business and what needs to be measured. We work with your employees to build the planning models so they gain a solid level of expertise with the product. And, finally, we work with the end users to build consensus for the planning model and make it more user-friendly.

Whitepapers:
Next Generation Forecasting
Fuel todays Planning and Budgeting
Seven Symptom of Forecasting Illness
Three Capabilties to Fuel Today's Dynamic Planning and Forecasting

To find out more about the types of services we offer and how we can help your organization reach the next level, contact us today