IBM Analytics IBM Planning Analytics

Data Sheet

IBM Planning Analytics

Speed, agility and foresight — Powered by IBM TM1

Overview
Highlights Volatility, uncertainty and risk have been increasing for years — and
they’re not going away any time soon. But most Finance teams still
• Automates manual, spreadsheet-based
spend an inordinate amount of time in manual, spreadsheet-based
planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting
and analysis processes — collecting, consolidating and validating data. Because of
that, these teams are often unable to deliver needed plans, budgets,
• Links operational tactics to financial
forecasts, reports and value-added analysis in a timely fashion.
plans, synthesizes information, infers
trends and delivers insights through
compelling visualizations in a dynamic, In response, leading CFOs and finance organizations are seeking
self-service workspace faster, flexible solutions to help them deliver deeper insights and
• Uncovers predictive insights automatically stronger foresight to steer business performance more effectively.
– directly from internal or external data All too often, however, they believe they have to compromise between
the ease of use and fast deployment of a cloud solution and the
• Enables in-depth profitability and
what-if analysis powerful, flexible, analytic capabilities traditionally available only
in on-premises solutions. But now they don’t have to compromise.
• Retains the familiar Microsoft Now they can have it all with IBM® Planning Analytics.
Excel interface where needed to
accelerate adoption
Speed, agility and foresight — all in one
• Supports cloud, on-premises and
hybrid deployment options performance management solution
IBM Planning Analytics is a fast, easy, flexible and complete planning
and analytics solution that can be deployed in cloud, on-premises and
hybrid environments. It helps Finance organizations drive greater
process efficiency and deliver the foresight needed to steer business
performance. This solution not only automates manual tasks, but takes
you beyond automation to help you uncover new insights directly from
your data. IBM Planning Analytics helps bring the office of finance
into the cognitive era by allowing users to interact with data and analytics
the way the human mind works: to communicate with compelling
visualizations, make fast predictions based on evolving trends, perform
in-depth, what-if analysis to test alternative assumptions, and, finally,
to create timely, reliable plans that put insight into action. It speeds
decision making and improves decision quality.
IBM Analytics IBM Planning Analytics
Data Sheet

IBM Planning Analytics gives you: Interactive planning and analytics workspace
IBM Planning Analytics features a customizable workspace that
• Speed — Start quickly and grow your deployment can be deployed to cost center owners and business managers.
wherever needed, automating plans, analyses and reports It provides a single, consistent view of KPIs and enables users to
to drive efficiency. evaluate plans, identify performance gaps and diagnose the root
• Agility — Adapt plans, budgets and forecasts to changing causes of problems. Users can test business assumptions and
business conditions. Then align financial plans with scenarios, and immediately see the financial impact of alternative
corporate objectives, linked to operational tactics and courses of action.
market events.
• Foresight — Explore and visualize insight from internal Intelligent queries allow quick analysis and report creation
and external data, understand what is driving your based on common business terms. Powerful multidimensional
business, and then incorporate those insights into expression-based (MDX) queries allow data analysis for any
plans that anticipate the future with confidence. combination of hierarchies and dimensions. Power users can
quickly build sophisticated queries, such as those involving
With a dynamic planning and analytics workspace that lets asymmetrical nested reports. But users don’t need to be experts
you link financial plans to operational tactics, IBM Planning in order to deploy multidimensional analyses and reports to
Analytics helps you synthesize information and infer trends. whoever needs them, faster than ever before.
It facilitates best practices such as driver-based planning and
rolling forecasts, and allows individuals, groups and enterprise
leaders to break free of the constraints of previous generations
of planning tools.

Figure 1: IBM Planning Analytics provides an interactive, customizable workspace.

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IBM Analytics IBM Planning Analytics
Data Sheet

Multidimensional analysis rules and relationships change. Attributes of hierarchy

Built on the powerful IBM TM1 online analytical
®
members can easily be modeled, for detailed multi­
processing (OLAP) engine, IBM Planning Analytics enables dimensional analysis. Users can define operational drivers
multidimensional analysis of large, historical and future- and link them to financial outcomes throughout the planning
oriented data sets. It integrates multiple data sources and process. This improves visibility into leading performance
enables comparative analysis of information from all relevant indicators and shows the likely impact of different operational
systems. Users can perform complex dimensional calculations drivers on plans and forecasts, thus increasing the lead time
and analysis of, for example, product and customer profitability, available to assess alternatives.
sales mix, and price/volume variance. Complex hierarchies
and dimensions can be handled easily to gain new insights IBM Planning Analytics also helps shorten planning cycles
into business performance. and reduce the errors common to manual, spreadsheet-based
processes. The result is that analysts can spend more time on
IBM Planning Analytics simplifies the maintenance and value-added analysis, and less time maintaining spreadsheets.
administration of planning models and scenario-based
hierarchies. This functionality enables you to model attributes Data discovery and the predictive power of
and drill on those attributes as if they were a dimension, but IBM Watson Analytics
without having to create a new dimension or add elements Leveraging the ground-breaking technology of IBM Watson
(members) to the hierarchy. The result is a more efficient Analytics, IBM Planning Analytics helps you discover new
database that allows more detailed analysis — a particularly insights automatically, directly from your data.
useful capability for retailers, for example.
Guided data exploration and natural language queries based
Its distributed administration enables all geographies and on common business terms enable you to work with your
departments to participate in a well-managed, collaborative data easily and perform fast, thorough analysis. Automated
process. The result is a more reliable, forward-looking view visualizations with clear and compelling graphics then help
of business structures such as product families and sales you share results with decision makers. The statistical analysis
territories. It also helps define targets for use in planning and predictive capabilities of Watson Analytics help you see
and forecasting as well as in profit and growth initiatives. what’s likely to happen next and understand what you can do
about it.
Advanced self-service modeling
Advanced modeling capabilities in IBM Planning Analytics
enable everyday financial and business analysts to create
and maintain sophisticated plans and forecasts with little
to no IT support. Owned by Finance and built on mature,
multidimensional technology, IBM Planning Analytics
enables dimensional analysis and calculations for even
the most demanding profitability and scenario models.

Analysts can build models that integrate virtually any

business driver into plans, budgets and forecasts. The
models can reflect company structures, business rules
and relationships, and then be revised as those structures,

Figure 2: Guided data exploration, predictive analytics and automated

visualizations help you formulate and evaluate plans.

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IBM Analytics IBM Planning Analytics
Data Sheet

Scorecards and dashboards Scorecards and dashboards help business users measure and
IBM Planning Analytics supports a full range of reporting monitor performance in the context of their specific roles and
capabilities including scorecarding and dashboarding. You can functions, which in turn helps drive strategy management and
develop role-based dashboards and scorecards linked to plans execution by helping align initiatives, resources and actions with
and budgets and then share them across the enterprise. corporate objectives.

Figure 3: Scorecards and dashboards offer fast, intuitive insight into the organization’s progress toward its objectives.

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IBM Analytics IBM Planning Analytics
Data Sheet

Access to familiar Microsoft Excel interface IBM Planning Analytics retains full Excel functionality and
Spreadsheets are among the most popular software tools formatting, including Excel capabilities such as graphing and
ever invented, in spite of their limitations. That’s why IBM built-in functions. Finance professionals can work in the
Planning Analytics enables users to continue working in the Excel interface while enjoying all the capabilities of a modern
Microsoft Excel interface where needed, rather than replace planning and analytics solution. Users can explore and analyze
their spreadsheets. data sourced from multidimensional planning and analytics
models within the familiar spreadsheet format, while the
organization can extend analysis capabilities to more users
to support faster, better informed decisions.

Figure 4: IBM Planning Analytics allows users to retain the familiar Excel interface.

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IBM Analytics IBM Planning Analytics
Data Sheet

Business accelerators—IBM Quick Start Templates These planning templates are pre-configured data, process
IBM Planning Analytics enables organizations to accelerate and policy models that encapsulate the collective best-practice
their implementations and drive faster return on investment knowledge of IBM experts and leading IBM customers.
(ROI) by leveraging our catalog of IBM Quick Start Templates. Planning models address a number of essential functional
areas as well as the unique planning and performance
management needs of specific industries. The templates
help organizations jump-start their implementations and
streamline project schedules.

Figure 5: Pre-configured Quick Start Templates accelerate time to results by encapsulating best-practices for a variety of functional and
industry-specific processes.

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IBM Analytics IBM Planning Analytics
Data Sheet

Conclusion
IBM Planning Analytics benefits In an economic environment of heightened volatility,
uncertainty and risk, IBM Planning Analytics provides the
• Provides customizable planning and analytics workspace
speed, agility and foresight your organization needs to compete
with full Microsoft Excel functionality
• Aligns financial plans with corporate objectives linked to
successfully. Starting from a dynamic planning and analytics
operational tactics and market events workspace, this solution enables Finance and non-Finance
• Enables finance and business users to create timely, users alike to synthesize information, infer trends and deliver
reliable plans, budgets and forecasts needed insights. It offers visibility into plans, budgets and
• Allows all geographies and departments to participate forecasts, with rapid what-if scenario modeling and profitability
in a collaborative planning process owned by Finance analysis. It supports essential performance management
• Facilitates best practices such as driver-based planning processes, but goes beyond basic automation to drive
and rolling forecasts collaboration and improve decision making throughout the
• Performs complex cost allocations and profitability enterprise. IBM Planning Analytics takes you further — to
analysis, and lets users drill down for a granular view help your organization become more agile and prepared for
of product profitability.
whatever the future brings.
• Discovers insights automatically, directly from the data,
and drives fast, forward-looking decision-making with
the predictive capabilities of IBM Watson Analytics About IBM Analytics
• Creates compelling visualizations automatically IBM Analytics software delivers data-driven insights that
• Incorporates scorecards and dashboards to monitor help organizations work smarter and outperform their peers.
key performance indicators (KPIs) and communicate This comprehensive portfolio includes solutions for business
business results intelligence, predictive analytics and decision management,
• Offers guided modeling, data/metadata management performance management, and risk management.
and application design and deployment
• Engages on-the-go users with mobile capabilities, IBM Analytics solutions enable companies to identify and
including a mobile client for the Apple iPad. visualize trends and patterns in areas, such as customer
• Supports natural language searching and multi­
analytics, that can have a profound effect on business
dimensional expressions-based (MDX) queries for fast,
performance. They can compare scenarios, anticipate
powerful analysis.
potential threats and opportunities, better plan, budget
• Provides role-based security to support multiple users
and user types and ensure that users see only what they and forecast resources, balance risks against expected returns
need to. and work to meet regulatory requirements. By making
• Enables rapid ROI with solution accelerators in the form analytics widely available, organizations can align tactical
of pre-configured IBM planning templates and strategic decision-making to achieve business goals.
• Facilitates cloud, on-premises and hybrid deployment. For further information please visit ibm.com/analytics

Request a call
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ibm.com/analytics/contactus. An IBM representative
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Produced in the United States of America

October 2016

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