The GesFinTM Planning Suite is a powerful Performance Management application for budgeting, planning, forecasting, consolidation, monitoring, and reporting. It provides a web-based, multi-language, multi-currency solution that enables business users to measure, analyze, and simulate the financial impacts of business and market changes, while better managing the entire financial planning lifecycle.
Budgeting, Planning, & Forecasting
GesFin
TM is designed for finance users and is built upon a financial-modeling engine that automates the budgeting, planning, and forecasting process. This includes integrated profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow forecasting capabilities. The complete budget creation and approval process is orchestrated by a workflow engine that enables users to define and control the flow of budgets, plans and forecasts for review and approval, including a full audit trail of changes and task completion status. GesFin
TM supports complex financial models using actual data, forecast data, and rolling forecast scenarios. This allows GesFin
TM to account for internal and external factors in a multi-year plan with multiple functional groups participating.
Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting Benefits:
| Workflow Management |
Orchestrates budgeting process workflow management through the identification and tracking of tasks and through an audit history of user changes and task completion details. Data capture is regulated by business rules that ensure accuracy and feasibility of the information being gathered. Business rules govern deadlines and alerts for activities in the budgeting process. |
| Secure Environment |
Data capture occurs in a secure environment where access to data is limited by administrative preferences. This eliminates accuracy issues prevalent in spreadsheets today. In GesFinTM, complex formulas and calculations are easily developed and centrally managed. |
| Top-Down Bottoms-Up |
The GesFinTM solution is able to facilitate both methods either separately or in combination. Using a top-down approach, targets can be set at a corporate level and pushed down or allocated to departments, cost centers, products or regions. Using a bottom-up approach, more detailed data can be sought from lower in the organization and aggregated to form a budget, forecast or plan. GesFinTM supports other planning models including attribute-based, activity-based, zero-based, prior run-rate based and custom. |
| Model Flexibility |
GesFinTM allows for unconstrained flexibility in structuring the budgeting or forecasting hierarchy. For example, budgets can be created using a more “zero-based” method or can be created for a matrixed organization. Multiple levels of a geographical territory or region, product, sub-company or currencies can easily be managed concurrently. Flexible planning periods can be configured such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, 13 period quarters, or in any other derivation. |
| Flexible Interface |
GesFinTM offers data input through forms available through either a 100% web-based interface (on-line and real-time) or through a Microsoft Excel interface (off-line). Web-based forms are Excel-like, providing a familiar look and feel to the user. |
| Simplicity |
GesFinTM makes data-entry easy and seamless as copy/paste capability is available through both the web interface and off-line MS-Excel spreadsheets. Users of GesFinTM enjoy the efficiency of wizards to manage data more broadly. For example, data can be input based on a percentage change from prior year actuals, or in monthly increments over the year. Historical or prior plan data is easily accessible in data entry forms allowing the user to assess baseline information in determining data for the plan. |
| Formula Management |
Analytical users of GesFinTM are able to drill-down not only on figures, but also on the formulas that compose them. Users are able to see, on one screen, every component of a formula or value. This feature resolves the tedious spreadsheet issue of having to access multiple cells across worksheets and workbooks to determine the makeup of a formula. |
| Broad Scope |
GesFinTM is a comprehensive, unified solution. It does not require the use of specialized systems or modules for personnel or capital expenditure planning. With GesFinTM, detailed headcount and capital expenditure plans can be created, with drill down capability, and easily assessed for impact on profit or cash flow. |
| Centralized Database |
The GesFinTM database contains historical, budget, planning and scenario data, all housed in a single, unified location to enhance decision making. |
| Modeling |
GesFinTM allows flexibility in modeling drivers and reports unique to any industry or business. All figures are updated, synchronized and consolidated automatically, for each scenario and version, enabling efficient comparisons to assumption changes. Sensitivities are easily calculated, enabling quick decision making to cover a plan shortfall or an investment opportunity. Everything in GesFinTM is centered on “the planning model(s)” and their hierarchy, with related items such as drivers, attributes, formulas, rules, forms, and reports providing various views and manipulation of the model at any level with real-time calculations. |
| Technology |
GesFinTM is an independent financial management platform, which works with your ERP, GL System, or Data Warehouse. It is a Microsoft based solution which is the most cost effective platform for hardware, software, and related implementation costs. |
| Multiple Versions |
GesFinTM was designed based on the daily needs of financial managers and analysts. GesFinTM allows the creation of multiple and limitless versions or scenarios of your plan. |
Profitability and Financial Modeling
GesFin
TM delivers a flexible profitability modeling capability. Profitability can be planned and reported in multiple cuts, often in matrixed form. Examples of modeling used by our clients include geography (territories, regions, sub-regions), product (including product groups), and customers. The user defines the models and levels of profitability, but fully-allocated profitability is easily modeled as allocations can be efficiently set-up in the application. With GesFin
TM, all profitability outcomes are synchronized and consolidated automatically, in every scenario, with every cut at profitability. Reports and dashboards reflect the various cuts at profitability, allowing easy diagnosis of deviations to a plan or budget.
Optimization
Our solution provides a planning model administration module to support rapid modification to the model, planning dimensions, formulas, notifications, and planning periods. Changes can be immediately propagated out to the forms. GesFin
TM allows you to create and alter complex models without involving IT or writing custom code/script.
What if scenarios
GesFin
TM provides a sophisticated scenario simulation wizard and engine. What-if scenarios can be performed with immediate feedback, saved, used in reports, and used as comparisons against other scenarios. Our solution provides multiple methods to perform and conduct what-if scenarios including a Scenario planner, Graphical What-If scenario wizards, and on-line real-time forms. Results are displayed in real time within the application and within on-line scenario comparison reports.
Financial Consolidations
GesFin
TM enables consolidation of any business-specific variables including business unit, entity, division, geographical region, function, and product line. Financial data is aggregated across different general ledger accounting systems and ERP systems with multiple accounting standards, currencies and business requirements. GesFin’s secure environment and powerful audit trail allows for stronger controls and improved confidence in the accuracy of financial statements and reporting.
Consolidation Benefits:
| Multiple Data Sources |
Multiple data source support and centralized planning database. |
| Data Loading |
Data loading is automated based on a user-defined schedule. |
| Multi-Currency |
Multi-currency and multi-language support. Allows the consolidation of amounts entered in any currency type and reporting views in the currency of your choice. |
| Intercompany Eliminations |
Performs eliminations between entities for effective consolidations. |
| Agility |
Consolidates the company’s results in real-time. |
Management and Statutory Reporting
GesFin’s reporting capability allows for both structured external reporting requirements and management reporting. Standard reports conforming to U.S. GAAP or IFRS presentation standards are automated including the calculation involved in generating Cash Flow Statements. Management reporting goes beyond budget variance analysis as management “packs” with commentary can be created and automated. Reports are not limited to purely financial information as there is tight integration with the Managerial Cockpit and scorecards. The result is a comprehensive, automated “pack” that allows for efficient decision making. All reports may be exported to several formats, such as MS-Excel®, HTML, XBRL and Adobe PDF®.
Dashboards & Scorecards
GesFin
TM tracks and generates key performance indicators and drivers which are easily analyzed and compared. These metrics are visualized in a Managerial Cockpit, a group of aesthetic dashboards, with views adapted to the interest of each executive or analyst. Scorecards go a step further to help decision makers analyze dependencies between different responsibilities by connecting related key performance indicators (KPIs) and measuring the impact of a company’s business activity on operational results and strategic business objectives. These scorecards and KPIs can be customized by the finance or functional user without the need of technology experts. GesFin
TM offers a series of pre-built templates which can be easily adapted. The result is an efficient, visual gauge of actual results against goals and targets that allows for identification of issues and opportunities. As a result, better business decisions are made more easily and quickly.
