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Proven Strategies for Demonstrating the Value of your SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation InvestmentGreg StimpsonMethod360

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In This Session …

• We’ll explore target value metrics we used to pique Executive interest in replacing existing planning systems prior to a successful SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation implementation

• Dive into user experience deltas between common platforms, including exciting new integration with other applications in the SAP BusinessObjects suite of tools

• Key terms and concepts to avoid during an application deployment validation exercise

• Develop framework for Value Proposition presentation to decision makers

• Quick review of “Executive Interview Template” take away

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What We’ll Cover …

• Pending SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Project — Setting the Stage

• Value Metrics: Executive Interviews• Metrics Life Cycle — Overview• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS

and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User

Experience Demo• Wrap-up

Problem Statement

• Identify the problem• Common problems:

• Budgets and forecasts are always delivered late

• I can’t close my books fast enough• I can’t tie my numbers out

• Understand the problem• Common reasons for problems:

• Offline spreadsheets being manually consolidated• Source data from multiple disparate systems• Too many human and system resource dependencies in

the process• Document the problem

• This is a key step PRIOR to meeting with executives. You have to believe in your case to sell it through the organization. 3

Illustrating the Importance of Forecasting

4Make sure your execs are on board with the importance of forecasting before further engagement

“The only function of forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” ~ JK Galbraith

“The trouble with … forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore, and wrong too often to rely upon it.” ~ Patrick Young

“Forecasting: To observe what has happened, and guess it will happen again.” ~ JK Galbraith

“If indecision is the parent of failure, goal driven operations is the favored son of success.” ~ Anonymous executive sentiment

“Correcting trends through predictive forecasting is key to keeping doors open in the new economy.” ~ Anonymous executive sentiment

“Planning applications are a growing and key investment for executives to trim waist and make corrective business decisions.” ~ Anonymous executive sentiment

Despite the importance of accurate forecasting, the field is beleaguered with stigma

Straightening the Story

• A well-constructed value proposal will tell one story which will stand up to scrutiny and the test of time

• We had to straighten our story and substantiate our claim Even respectable news groups were susceptible to self-

contradiction – We made the conscious decision to avoid falling into this common trap!

• December, 2003. Saddam Hussein captured. Bloomberg News headline:

Bond prices then fell. Bloomberg News headline then read:

• Per Bloomberg, the capture of Saddam caused bond prices to both rise and fall? 5

“U.S. TREASURIES RISE; HUSSEIN CAPTURE MAY NOT CURB TERRORISM.”

“U.S. TREASURIES FALL; HUSSEIN CAPTURE BOOSTS ALLURE OF RISKY ASSETS.”

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What We’ll Cover …

• Pending SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Project — Setting the Stage

• Value Metrics: Executive Interviews• Metrics Life Cycle — Overview• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS

and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User

Experience Demo• Wrap-up

Executive Interviews

• Obtain full executive sponsorship by completing and documenting Executive Interviews in your Value Proposition

• Executives are not interested in pursuing projects without established value proposition

• Funneling out wasteful spending and promoting value is a key driver of successful IT operations.

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Tactical Result

Value Proposition

Business Drivers

Business Value

Executive InterviewsThe Metrics Life Cycle (Take Home) serves as a guide to help ask the right questions of your executives and capture the results.Using the Metrics Life Cycle will help retain focus on business value and strategic vision while keeping the tactical deployment framework in mind.1. Problem statement with a business perspective2. Why the statement is important3. Identify specific measures

Executive Interviews (cont.)

• Top seven value metrics to draw attention from Execs1. Application Integration % of overall IT costs2. Percent of Financial Administration of total revenue3. Forecast accuracy4. Budget accuracy5. Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly close cycle time6. Corporate Ave. Financial Data

Efficiency (CAFDE)7. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

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• There is a growing concern in the market toward the term “Proof of ROI.” ROI is intangible and oversold.

• Trending alternative terms: Value Proposition Value Driven Investment

• Identify the anticipated result from the investment of funds (Cause and Effect)

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Executive Interviews (cont.)

“The ball rolled!”

“The bear chased the man!”

“It cost us lots of money!”

“The boy kicked the ball…”

“The man poked the sleeping bear…”

“The application was implemented……”

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What We’ll Cover …

• Pending SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Project — Setting the Stage

• Value Metrics: Executive Interviews• Metrics Life Cycle — Overview• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS

and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User

Experience Demo• Wrap-up

Take Home Overview

• The Metrics Life Cycle take home will help you:1. Identify business need Key points Single source of data Ease of use Ease of integration Speed to close cycle times

2. Line up key executive interviews Business stakeholders: Business Drivers Business and IT stakeholders: Business Value

3. Build and document business case

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Do my tactical deployments drive demand for my enterprise?

Interviewee Name Interviewee Title

Interviewer Name Interviewer Title

Notes:

Value Perspective Value Family KPI

Finance Compliance & Regulatory

Customer Competitive Sustainance

Operations Usability

Growth New Market Expansion

Generate Business Value

Adaptibility

Integration Goods on hand

Stephen Vai VP - Marketing

Greg Stimpson Project Manager

Stephen and I reviewed the list of applicable KPI's, and aligned corporate directive with a Customer Integration KPI: - Currently unable to meet swings in demand for goods due to lack of customer visibility to predicted sales - BPC's integration with xCelcius dashboard for goods demand predictibility will be securely web-delivered to applicable vendors.

Business Driver Interview Template• The Business Driver template

Focuses topics and provides a list of common KPIs in the category Captures notes to be used on the final business case delivery to executive management

• Which metrics address the corporate business objectives? • Which metrics drive demand to my enterprise?

Business Driver Winner

• Based on product sales forecasting: Goods on hand Is a PRIMARY Value Metric for Business Driver

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Vs.

Do my tactical deployments improve the value of my enterprise

Interviewee Name Interviewee Title

Interviewer Name Interviewer Title

Notes:

Value Perspective Value Family KPI

Finance Productivity

Customer Quality

Operations Profitability

Growth Timeliness

Process Efficiency Quarter Close Cycle Time

Cycle Time

Joseph Satriani

Joseph and I reviewed the list of applicable KPI's, and aligned corporate directive with a process efficiency KPI: - Quarter Close Cycle Time is currently 4 business days. Target Cycle Time for this metric is 2 business days. - This will be accomplished by eliminating the use of offline spreadsheets and manually distributing and compiling results

CIO

Greg Stimpson Project Manager

Business Value Interview Template

• Similar to the Business Driver template, but with a different target audience and strategy

• Which metrics address the corporate business objectives? • Which metrics improve operations and process?

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Business Value Winner

• Based on the virtually identical functionality offerings andusability:• Application Integration as a % of Overall IT Costs

Is a PRIMARY Value Metric for Business Value

Vs.

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Determining Value with Identified KPIs

• Careful initial cost estimation and consideration of key business drivers and benefits will yield empowering information for project approval

Presenting Your Business Case

• Introduction Strong hook Main point(s) Outline

• Identify – Analyze – Recommend Identify the key issue Perform your analysis Make your recommendations

Main recommendation and one alternative (sell your recommendation) Implementation plan

• Conclude Reference findings Suggest next steps

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What We’ll Cover …

• Pending SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Project — Setting the Stage

• Value Metrics: Executive Interviews• Metrics Life Cycle — Overview• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS

and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User

Experience Demo• Wrap-up

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• The following slides illustrate the similarities between the Web

and Excel interfaces available when deploying the three market-leading planning and forecasting applications:

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SAP/BPC Oracle/Hyperion IBM/Cognos

Functionality and usability

ORACLE IBM

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SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party (cont.)• Functional differences between financial planning applications on

the market is MINIMAL

Function SAP BPC Hyperion CognosTop Down/Bottom UpRolling forecastWhat-if scenario planningDistributionCommentsReportingExcel and WebCentralizedLimited IT involvementDashboarding

Cognos Web Dashboard

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Selection box, plan data integration, multiple panes

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Hyperion Web Dashboard

Multiple panes with frames. Various content displayed.

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Web Dashboard

Plan data interface to Web dashboard

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Cognos Excel Planning

Multiple panes with frames. Various content displayed.

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Hyperion Excel Planning

Multiple panes displayed – no frames. Formatting fully customizable.

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SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Excel Planning

One or multiple input panes available. Custom format easily customizable.

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What We’ll Cover …

• Pending SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Project — Setting the Stage

• Value Metrics: Executive Interviews• Metrics Life Cycle — Overview• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS

and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User

Experience Demo• Wrap-up

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS and SAP NetWeaver® BI Integrated Planning• The following slides illustrate the three key differences between legacy SAP

planning solutions and SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation:

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SEM BPS BI Integrated Planning

SAP BusinessObjects

Planning and Consolidation

User Control

Single database for actuals/plan dataAnalysis Integration

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SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning (cont.)

Key differences between legacy andSAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

Function SEM BPS BI IP SAP BPCGUI Based Config

Web Based Config

Prebuilt templates

Custom templates

Variable Integration

Separate Variables

OLAP functions in templates

Analysis integration

Business Driven environment

MS Office Integration

High Volume operational data

Individual cell locking

Planning & Consolidation

User driven scenario modeling

BI IP = SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning; SAP BPC = SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

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SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning (cont.)

BPS Excel Interface

Web Designer

Separate Analysis

16 functions

Planning Folders

BPS Security

BPS Variables

BPS0 Configuration

BEx Interface

Web App Designer

BEx Analysis

13 functions

BEx Workbooks

BEx Security

BEx Variables

RSPLAN Web Config

MS Office Interface

Integrated Designer

Integrated Analysis

Multiple functions

User build folders

Integrated Security

Integrated Variables

Integrated Config

BPS BI IP BPC

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SEM BPS Web Template

SAP’s early legacy Web models were indeed a thin client Web-based delivery, but cumbersome and slow, in retrospect.

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SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning Web Template

With the introduction of IP, the Web interface improved, and integrated with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer for graphic display.

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Web Dashboard

Plan data interface to Web dashboard. Full Xcelsius®

integration – now a highly refined Web based interface.

SEM BPS Excel Planning

Early SEM BPS Excel models. Real estate largely absorbed by variables with poor runtimes and slow to render screens.

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SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning Excel Planning

Far more advanced with SAP BEx integration. Much smoother delivery of content to user.

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SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Excel Planning

Simple or advanced, user controlled Excel interface.

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What We’ll Cover …

• Pending SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Project — Setting the Stage

• Value Metrics: Executive Interviews• Metrics Life Cycle — Overview• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS

and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User

Experience Demo• Wrap-up

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation — User Experience Demo• Take a look at: The SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation user

interface Integration with Xcelsius® dashboards Integration with mobile device

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BPC DEMO

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What We’ll Cover …

• Pending SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Project — Setting the Stage

• Value Metrics: Executive Interviews• Metrics Life Cycle — Overview• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. Third Party• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation vs. SEM BPS

and SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User

Experience Demo• Wrap-up

Resources

• Richard Karlgaard, “Predicting the Future: How the right belief system will help predict the future,” Forbes Magazine (Feb 2006 Issue) “The only function of forecasting is to make astrology look

respectable” – John Kenneth Galbraith “Forecasting: to observe what has happened, and guess it will

happen again” – J.K. Galbraith• “The trouble with … forecasting is that its right too often for us to

ignore, and wrong too often for us to rely on it” – Patrick Young• Bloomberg Headlines: Nassim Taleb in “The Black Swan Theory” Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “The Black Swan: The Impact of the

Highly Improbable,” Random House; 1 edition (April 17, 2007)

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7 Key Points to Take Home

• Value metrics can be used to define SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation implementations

• Executive interviews and onboarding is an essential component to obtaining project approval

• Revisiting established metrics throughout the project life cycle will keep executives and stakeholders on early watch of project success/risk

• Ease of integration as a value proposition should not be undersold

• Functionality and usability differences between the three industry leaders in the planning/forecasting space is negligible

• Tools and templates make project approvals as well as implementations easier!

• Application investments are a big budget item. Proper effort should be expended to ensure they are made wisely!

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Your Turn!

How to contact me:Greg Stimpson

gstimpson@method360.com

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