Express Planning

Streamline the planning process

Express Planning is a composite self service providing guidance in planning process by clearly structuring different planning and planning related tasks. Those tasks normally result from various transactions and may be located in different systems and based on different technologies (e.g. BW-BPS, ECC based cost center planning in CO-OM-CCA, BW reports). All are brought together in an easy to use zero training effort application. This is supposed to help avoiding ‘Spreadsheet hell’ [IDC] and e-mail flood.

Express Planning supports the following aspects of plan data gathering processes:

• Easy creation of planning rounds and invitation of planners based on cost center assignment.

• Guidance for involved planners by bundling of required planning services, reports, documents etc in a single point of entry application and providing a roadmap as well as explanation texts to guide the planner through the planning steps.

• Management and monitoring of the planning processes by offering status monitors and collaboration functionality.

• Support for iterative approval processes.

The standard end users for Express Planning are occasional users, for example, line managers. Express Planning is not a new planning technology but a new ‘composite application’ framework. As a ‘composite application’ Express Planning combines various services (such as planning and reporting services, master data maintenance services, and internal service requests) into a single application framework. As a ‘self-service application’ Express Planning guides users through a series of business process steps to allow them to accomplish tasks related to planning without additional training.