Ask an FEI researcher about... Business Performance Intelligence Software. (Resources).

The article on Business Performance Intelligence (BPI), Leveraging BPI Applications to Drive Value, in this issue describes BPI applications, how they can create value and how they contribute to the financial executive's evolving role as a business partner.

The FEI Research Foundation has recently published an Executive Report on BPI software titled Business Performance Intelligence Software: Understanding What It Does and the Value It Creates. This report provides an overview of the BPI software market. The authors are Dean Sorensen and Ken Peckham of Bywater Consulting, the authors of this month's magazine article. Order the report from the FEI Research Foundation Web site: www.fei.org/rfrookstore/default.cfm.

Once you have an overview of the BPI market, you will want to understand the potential value of BPI applications for your organization. However, you will first need to define your objectives by defining the problems you are trying to solve. A white paper titled Creating Superior Value by Making Strategies Work: The Case for a Business Owner Mentality is available at no charge on the Bywater Web site: www.bywater-consulting.com.

Exhibit 1 of this month's magazine article, titled "Business Performance Intelligence Application Categories," illustrates the intersection of three types of BPI software:

* Strategy Development/Execution & Performance Management

* Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

* Strategic Analysis & Profitability Management

A number of vendors offer one or more categories of BPI software. Here are just a few of them, listed by category. (Note: These vendors and their Web sites are provided only as examples of the different categories of BPI software.)

1. Strategy Development/Execution

In Phase

2. Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

PerformancePlus is a leading enterprise performance management and balanced scorecard application. It provides interactive mapping of company strategy, visualization of the cause-and-effect chain and corporate, team and personal scorecards. (www.inphase.com)

Microsoft Great Plains

Enterprise Reporting is a budgeting, forecasting and reporting solution for mid-sized and large corporations and organizations. It is based on Microsoft platforms and integrates with Microsoft productivity applications, such as Excel and Analysis Services (online analytical processing or OLAP). (www.solomon.com)

3. Business Analytics & Profitability Management

Acorn Systems Inc.

Acorn enables customers to measure, optimize and predict net operating profits -- not just gross profits -- at different levels, such as by order, by customer or by product. With the Enterprise Profit System (EPS) engine:

* Profit Analyzer measures profitability at different levels.

* Profit Optimizer measures order and contract profitability in real time.

* Profit Impact predicts and maximizes future profitability by modeling resources, costs and capacity. (www.acornsys.com)

A.) Strategy Development/Execution AND Planning, Budgeting

Cog nos Inc.

Cognos Finance is an enterprise-wide financial application that provides a framework for financial executives to understand and monitor the financial performance of their organizations. It is a single environment for completing financial processes in a timely manner, including monthly and quarterly closes and the budget process. (www.cognos.com)

B.) Strategy Development/Execution AND Business Analytics

ABC Technologies

Active Enterprise Management (AEM) facilitates optimal management of activities, resources and processes by transforming activity-based data into meaningful, strategic, operational and tactical information, and delivering it to decision-makers in a secure and timely manner.

AEM includes dynamic multidimensional activity-based analysis and predefined reports developed for key functional areas, delivered over the Internet.

(www. bettermanagement.com/solutions)

C.) Planning, Budgeting AND Business Analytics

Armstrong Laing

Predictive Planning allows managers to collaborate over the Web to assess future demands so that resources are aligned, capacity is optimized and corporate goals are met. (www.armstronglaing.com)

D.) All Three Categories

Hyperion Solutions Inc.

Hyperion's software covers all three categories of BPI software, so Hyperion would be found in the very center of the diagram, at the intersection of all three circles. Hyperion's financial and business performance management solutions help companies focus resources, improve operational efficiency, manage for profitable results and leverage opportunities for growth. More than 6,000 companies around the world use Hyperion Essbase, its flagship product, and its other products. (www.hyperion.com)