How to Implement a Planning Tool - and get it right first time


It is being increasingly recognised that a planning tool is required for a forecasting and planning process.  The stalwart Excel has now been extended beyond it intended boundaries with management accountants building monsters that are beyond any quality assurance programme, littered with logic errors hidden in the formula and designed with out the big picture view.  However, many planning applications have failed to deliver with seven figure sums being wasted as the forecasting model is redone sometimes within 18 months of the original.  This “planning tool implementation” carnage is well documented.  Whilst there was an excuse before, “it was new territory”, now this is not the case.  We must learn and apply the better practices that are becoming standards.If you want to migrate into the 21st century using a planning tool then this is the white paper for you!  This white paper will help you build a better annual planning tool, or if you are already down the path, a robust quarterly rolling forecasting tool.Case studies and reference sites are provided.  This white paper will also explain why quarterly rolling forecasting (QRF) is the most important management tool of this decade and how it can lead on to quarterly rolling planning.

What you will gain

  • Access to electronic versions of all templates
  • pre select the likely planning tools that are suitable for an organization of your size
  • apply the rules and lessons learnt
  • identify the building blocks to better practice planning tool implementation
  • explain to your management why your organisation should implement quarterly rolling forecasting

Content:

  • Pareto’s 80/20 rule when designing a forecasting/planning model
  • The 10 rules you need to apply
  • The 10 pitfalls to avoid at all costs
  • Mapping out the purpose of the model first
  • Case studies where it went horribly wrong

Table of Contents

  1. Why the need for a planning tool
  2. The foundation stones of a planning tool implementation process
  3. What is a quarterly rolling forecast process?
  4. The rules for implementing a planning tool
  5. Making the planning tool sale to the SMT
  6. Implementation steps in detail
  7. Some “planning tool” forecasting case studies
  8. The selection planning tool checklist
  9. The main planning application tools
  10. Forecasting reporting templates
  11. QRF immediate steps
  12. Presenter biography
  13. Appendix 1: How a QRF can be laid out in a planning tool
  14. Appendix 2: A suggested report format to the SMT
  15. Appendix 3: Interview checklist for prospective project team members
  16. Appendix 4: Implementing QRF checklist
  17. Appendix 5: Performing a quarterly rolling forecast - checklist
  18. Appendix 6: Budgeting, Forecasting and Planning Applications