Posts Tagged ‘Forecasting’

TREND #3: DE-MYSTIFYING THE BUDGET PROCESS: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT LEADS TO PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT Budgets have traditionally been an aggregation of numbers molded into a financial statement to measure margins and then asking business leaders to explain actual-to-budget variances. Healthcare leaders are now building strategies to mature this process into a compilation of metrics that are representative […]

TREND #2: BUDGETS: DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, ANNUALLY OR CONTINUALLY? Historically, budgets were compiled once per year (if that often) and variance analysis was a monthly activity. Hospitals started looking at multi-year, year-over-year analysis first, then eventually actual-to-budget, reinforcing the variance analysis process once data became more transparent. This led to “re-forecasting” the budget into a […]

It is no secret that the healthcare industry is in a state of transformation and for good reason. In a recent international study that compared 11 nations on healthcare quality, access, efficiency, and equity, the United States was ranked last among wealthy countries. In other words, in the United States healthcare outcomes do not align […]

Oracle Hyperion can help centralize financial data to help businesses see the big picture quickly. We recently worked with an energy company that was making critical business decisions using data from a myriad of disparate spreadsheets and databases. This was frustrating because it didn’t allow for a central, single version of the truth. After Perficient implemented […]

That image makes budgeting even seem fun, right? I can think of myself perched up on a thick fluffy cloud crunching numbers. Well honestly … I’m not sure that budgeting is ever fun but we now have the combination of the industry leading budgeting solution, Oracle Hyperion Planning, available in the cloud. As I mentioned […]

The assumption that rolling forecasts improve accuracy really tests the validity of our data in healthcare. Do we know enough about the metrics that are driving a useful driver-based forecast? The rolling forecast is usually a quarterly budget with a two to three year horizon that keeps a close eye on the organization’s trajectory. Typically […]

In a blog post earlier this year, I discussed the precipitous drop in energy prices.  From roughly mid 2014 through early 2015, the price of crude oil was cut in half, and the related dominoes started to fall.  Companies were affected directly or indirectly by the new price level of oil.  Public and private entities […]

The recent departure of Walgreen’s CFO due to a large forecasting variance error, is a drastic reminder to all of us who have dedicated their careers to financial transformation, of the intense criticality of mastering the entire cycle of planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting. 15 years ago when I started consulting with finance and accounting […]

Salesforce is rolling out many new features for Collaborative Forecasts in Winter ’14, removing most of the reasons to look at the more established Customizable Forecasts. With all these changes, is Collaborative Forecasts always the right option? Ask yourself these five questions to determine which kind of Salesforce forecasting is right for you. Do you […]

Terie McClintock, Director of Oracle Core at Perficient, recently wrote a blog on financial forecasting models for healthcare reform: Financial forecasting captures relevant operational, statistical and financial data in one place to enable sound planning and decision making. In addition, forecasting fosters a common understanding of business drivers and their effect on operations and financial […]

Financial forecasting captures relevant operational, statistical and financial data in one place to enable sound planning and decision making.  In addition, forecasting fosters a common understanding of business drivers and their effect on operations and financial performance. Effective Financial Forecasting and Enterprise Performance Management require these capabilities: –      Capabilities for Budgeting and Flexible Variance Analysis […]

If you walk into a Chief Financial Officer’s office in the US and ask if they use “Hyperion”, the answer is likely to be “yes”. Why is this?  This solution has innovated to the level of changing the margin trajectory for ~6,000 customers across many industries by automating and innovating capacity planning and financial performance […]