Budgeting, Forecasting and Planning In Uncertain Times

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PLANNING TECHNOLOGIES

Technology has allowed organisations to plan at ever-increasing levels of detail, and the use of e-mail and network capabilities means that managers at all levels can be involved. However, with these capabilities come problems that can derail the very plans they were meant to enable.

SUPPORTING THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

Because of today’s complex and fast changing business environment, technology plays a key role in the development and tracking of plans. There is just too much data to consider and people involved to rely on intuition or gut feel. Imagine for a moment communicating with customers but without the use of email or a website. Other methods could be employed but the speed and cost efficiency of Internet based technologies create significant advantage for those companies that do use them over those that don’t.

Since the advent of the spread sheet, which is arguably the most important business tool created, planning models have become a way of life. In just a few minutes, any planner can quickly construct a simple model that shows the amount of resources expenses to be consumed and the revenues that can be expected by month. The results can be embellished with formulae to generate key performance indicators, perform currency conversions, and create consolidations of different departments. Reports can then be presented to management in the form of grids, tables, and charts.

The spread sheet has transformed planning, or rather, it has transformed ...