Is this a JD of a Business Planning Manager or a Business Planning Software?

I recently came across this JD on LinkedIn for a Manager-Business Planning* at a Unicorn:

#1 Preparation of MIS Reports and Dashboards

#2 Comparing historical results against budgets and forecasts and performing variance analysis

#3 Work on corporate projects and initiatives that impact the entire organization

#4 Create presentations that provide insightful analysis, identify required action items, and effectively frame decisions to be made

#5 Identify and research variances to forecast, budget, and prior year expenses, proactively identifying opportunities for improvement

#6 Develop and maintain effective relationships with business partners and cross functional teams at all levels of the organization

#7 Identify and understand business challenges; propose and create solutions

#8 Partner with business teams to collaborate on MIS, key metrics, goals, and business reviews

And this got me thinking – which of these job requirements can be enabled /executed by a planning tool automatically. And what percentage of the individual's role can the software own.

#1 Preparation of MIS Reports and Dashboards >> 100% can be done by a planning software. While most softwares claim to have a reporting capability, only a few offer top-of-the-line self-service reporting environment, including ad-hoc analysis.

#2 Comparing historical results against budgets and forecasts and performing variance analysis >> again 100% can be done by the planning software as pre-built or ready-to-use Dashboards. No repetitive effort required every month.

#3 Work on corporate projects and initiatives that impact the entire organization >> NA ??

#4 Create presentations that provide insightful analysis, identify required action items, and effectively frame decisions to be made >> There are 4 parts to this function of which 50% can be taken care by of the software i.e. provide user-friendly capability to do ad-hoc analysis and embed the analysis into a presentation. Considerable repetitive efforts are wasted every month to prepare the monthly MIS packs with a very incremental value add. Leading planning software can automate this process on a routine basis and deliver professional packs and reports with a few clicks.

#5 Identify and research variances to forecast, budget, and prior year expenses, proactively identifying opportunities for improvement >> This is similar to no. 1 and no. 2 where the planning software can assist in completing 50-60% of the task through ad-hoc analysis and dashboards.

#6 Develop and maintain effective relationships with business partners and cross functional teams at all levels of the organization >> I was about to say NA again but realized that a planning software also ensures that all key stake holders have visibility to the business plan status on an instantaneous basis, including P&L, balance sheet, and the cash flow at the granular level. So cross functional team can collaborate better. E.g. supply planning - here the sales, demand planning and supply planning teams need to have complete visibility of the rolling plan in order to deliver to customer timelines. So while this is certainly a person skill, the very fact of having a planning software can be a strong enabler. So 50%.

#7 Identify and understand business challenges; propose and create solutions >> Again on the face of it may seem like a capability where a software may not have direct bearing. But think again – business planning software are fundamentally modelling tools which have “what-if” scenario modelling capabilities – optimistic vs pessimistic vs realistic. 50%+

#8 Partner with business teams to collaborate on MIS, key metrics, goals, and business reviews >> The business planning software can be an enabler here too whereby sales teams may be providing the forecasts which is the basis for the demand planning team to create a rolling plan for the supply teams, all the while with an eye on the KPI of forecast accuracy, deliver-to-promise, and inventory levels. Again 50%. Planning softwares also enable you to define planning process workflows and tasks for different team members across the organization.

It's evident that the planning software can add tremendous value to the planning team in - automating routine tasks, enabling analysis and decision making, building predictive scenarios, and helping them develop interventions to align execution to the plan. Definitely more than 50%!

*while the JD was for Financial Planning I have generalized it to be applicable for any planning function viz. demand planning, supply planning, sales planning or HR planning.?

For those interested in applying, link to the job in comment-1.

For those interested in knowing how business planning tools can impact their business, ping us.

#businessplan #AOP #LRP #rollingforecast #PPC #FPA #workforceplanning #budgetingandplanning #forecasting #variances #whatif #scenarioplanning