For enterprises, planning, budgeting, and forecasting software brings all data relevant to planning into one software system. The manually generated spreadsheets that traditionally support planning are not sophisticated enough to support the large-scale data needs of enterprises. Software is the only way that complex, often global, companies, can determine departmental budgets, allocate costs, and create plans that work towards strategic goals. Planning, budgeting, and forecasting software integrates data sources from multiple departments and makes it available for planners. This way, departments can see how plans or outcomes from one department impact the plans and outcomes in another. For example, how the quarterly sales forecast will impact finance’s revenue forecast.
Modernized approaches to planning, budgeting, and forecasting software, like integrated business planning (IBP) and eXtended planning and analysis (xP&A) take traditional enterprise planning methods to the next level. In essence, they give planners from all domains, such as workforce, sales, supply chain, and marketing departments, access to traditional financial planning and analysis tools — like scenario planning, simulations, cost allocation, modelling, rolling forecasts, and predictive analytics.
