OutlookSoft CPM for Planning

OutlookSoft CPM for Planning offers a fairly conventional (if modern) planning solution for both financial and operational purposes. As one might expect there are also complementary (financial) functions available from OutlookSoft, such as consolidation and financial reporting. However, there are two additional points to be made: first, Planning does not exist in isolation (even leaving aside other financial functions) and OutlookSoft also provides predictive planning (OutlookSoft Insight) as a complementary facility to Planning itself. This is a reflection of the fact that chief financial officers do not simply want to report, they also want to be able to take action. For this reason, this report also considers Predictive Planning in some detail.

Secondly, OutlookSoft CPM for Planning and Predictive Planning forms a part of the company’s unified corporate performance management product, Outlook- Soft CPM. This is not a suite in the sense of a series of integrated applications but rather a unified approach to performance management utilising one product, one database and one user interface. This is of such significance, at least as far as OutlookSoft is concerned, that the company will strongly question an opportunity where companies are only interested in implementing a planning solution and have no current or future interest in performance management. For this reason there is little purpose served in discussing OutlookSoft Planning in isolation, as it can only be properly appreciated within the broader context of corporate performance management. Thus we will concentrate on the specifics of planning but always within its wider context.

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