[David Den Boer]

We see this all the time Deb…and of course this is true. I think we see customers on a consolidated financial reporting model selecting a very high level of detail to report from…which saves energy for translation…only to find there is virtually no analytic value. An alternative is to associate multiple, purpose built models to capture the granular details, and generate the summary records on the fly. This would meet both purposes…and save energy as it doesn’t require multiple points of entry!

I also use an analogy about looking where this is light. Here’s a blog I wrote about this effect some time ago. https://www.column5.com/en-us/blog/bid/186271/EPM-Value-Is-Exclusively-The-Client-s-Definition (speaking to the looking where the light is!)

[David Den Boer]

This is excellent insight, Deb. I also have seen this phenomenon at multiple customers over the years. My theory is that these systems are frequently designed to be very complex, and are viewed as a “black box” by all but the original developer. No one dares rock the boat lest they disturb some complex code in the bowels of the system. Perhaps a change was made long ago, resulting in a painful outage for weeks! (we mustn’t do that again!).

This is no way to live, obviously. We need to work to make the system more and more transparent so the software is as powerful as needed to perform the required business functions, but also the design and code is as simple as possible (the word i like is “elegant”) to make performance stable and consistent…oh and it can be easily supported.

If you’re afraid of your EPM solution…there’s a good chance you could be doing much better!

[David Den Boer]

I hope so! If you’re looking for both fellow customer & consultant perspectives, this is a great place. And I wouldn’t worry about it being a case of your knowledge, the Summit network can learn from repeated questions and put up an explainer video or release some training content to address areas of confusion! We thrive on this sort engagement, and it is vital to the success of the network. Put in as many questions as you’d like…we’re here for you!

[David Den Boer]

We believe xP&A will be the most influential shift in both EPM and analytics markets in the last decade. Let’s get going!

[David Den Boer]

I have always said Drill Through was an underutilized feature. There is a constant struggle for customers who have a desire to report at a lower level of detail for actuals than they input their plan data. The temptation is to design their models that contain additional master data to support this lower level of detail. While this does work, there can be tradeoffs in the performance and usability of that kind of ragged hierarchy. Employing drill through to detail is a valid way to circumvent the pitfalls of this situation. This is a big decision that requires careful consideration, but if you need more information, message me!