Transitioning From Financial Planning & Analysis to xP&A

In the realm of enterprise planning, many roadblocks can arise, especially when relying on cumbersome Excel spreadsheets. The chaos multiplies in larger organizations, where different teams grapple with disparate data sets.

In today’s dynamic business landscape, basic financial planning and analysis tools may fall short of supporting an enterprise’s strategic goals that rely on collaboration and integrated processes. These firms are instead turning to extended planning and analysis (xP&A) for comprehensive planning, budgeting, and forecasting that can embrace modern business systems and organizational structures.

The Shift from Standard Financial Planning and Analysis to xP&A

Gartner has predicted that by 2024, 70% of new financial planning and analysis projects can really be defined as xP&A because their scope now extends beyond the finance domain into other areas of the enterprise.

xP&A integrates financial planning tools and data across various departments that are essential for managing sales, inventory, the workforce, and more. The xP&A perspective allows the benefits of financial planning and analysis to reach all the operation departments of your company.

The core pillar of xP&A is to provide a single source of truth for analysts and decision makers. For Microsoft customers, Power BI is the logical choice for creating a destination for consuming dashboards and reports that use xP&A technology. In this article we will explore the steps Microsoft customers are taking to embrace xP&A to transform their planning and ...