Getting a single version of the facts. (Forecasting).

Effectively managing a company's business performance hinges on getting the straight and accurate story behind the numbers that represent past results, current plans and future forecasts.

Easier said than done. For such forecasting, historically, corporations have relied primarily on data in Microsoft[R] Excel spreadsheets or in a similar database-driven structured format. Yet, recent analyst reports have shed new light on the importance of unstructured data -- originating externally or from employee desktops -- claiming that an astounding 85 percent of corporate knowledge is buried in unstructured documents. This revelation unveils a critical element to gaining a complete understanding of organizational performance.

For most organizations, unstructured operational data is scattered across multiple technology systems or trapped on desktops in PowerPoint[R] or Microsoft[R] Word documents, email attachments or even Web site links. Without strategic, real-time access to a unified, single version of the facts, gaining a true picture of an organization's health and overall performance can prove disturbingly elusive, if not impossible.

Imperative of Change

Today's corporate decision-makers are feeling tremendous pressure to move swiftly in a fast-changing market while maintaining high standards of accuracy, transparency and accountability to their employees, stakeholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The recent rash of accounting and corporate scandals, coupled with the dot-com collapse, has created growing skepticism about corporate performance reports, and a demand for the story behind the summary-level numbers. The advent of stricter rules, making corporate decision-makers personally accountable for the legitimacy of their performance results, has public companies braced for even greater federal regulators' scrutiny.

Simultaneously, as companies expand operations through acquisitions and mul-tinational initiatives, the ability to communicate swiftly and globally has become an increasingly significant competitive ad-vantage. Managers in different parts of the world must be able to base decisions upon a single, real-time set of corporate performance indicators.

For instance, SPL WorldGroup, a provider of customer management solutions, faced the challenge of compiling and disseminating financial information across 175 budget units transacting in seven different currencies and 14 worldwide offices. While transactional business intelligence (BI) software, like customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are beneficial for capturing and assessing a broad array of corporate intelligence, they could not give SPL a unified solution to link structured data with unstructured intelligence.

Today's leaders are often forced to choose between acting on outdated or incomplete data and delaying crucial decisions until managers can locate unstructured information tucked away in obscure corners of the enterprise. Both paths are fraught with risks.

Next Generation BPM Solution

A new breed of Business Performance Management (BPM) software is the key to marrying structured and unstructured business information throughout the entire organization into a single, unified version of the facts. This software allows companies to drive more meaningful plans, better understand and manage corporate performance and, most importantly, achieve desired results quickly and more effectively -- with information made available to every internal decision-maker and external stakeholder accountable for any portion of the overall corporate plan. Today's BPM solutions can help companies gain a comprehensive, real-time snapshot of their current performance in order to accurately forecast the future and determine the optimal actions required to achieve their objectives.

Through the implementation of a BPM solution, SPL WorldGroup achieved a holistic outlook of its enterprise from functional, geographic and business unit views. Enterprise-wide consolidation, budgeting, analysis, planning, forecasting, reporting and process management led to an increase in the accuracy, timing and quality of forecasts at SPL. Report preparation has dropped from weeks to hours, generating more than 1000 reports per month, and enabling indepth analysis where none previously existed. Elimination of manual processes around HR headcount reporting has saved SPL 520 man-hours per year.

Evaluating and Selecting a RPM Solution

There are several choices for companies evaluating and selecting a BPM solution to meet their requirements:

* Single Back-End-Application. A single, unified application that handles the full range of BPM processes will be easier to implement, manage and use than one built on multiple applications. But look beyond the user interface: several BPM solutions claim to be a single solution but are really multiple BPM processes patched together.

* Web-Based Front End. Because company-wide access to real-time business performance-related information is a primary objective for implementing a BPM solution, a Web-based system is a logical one. At U.S. Sugar, one of the nation's largest agribusinesses, everyone from farm managers and factory supervisors to clerical staffers have been given real-time Web browser access to the information they need, empowering employees and giving the company unprecedented insights into the organization.

* Consistent Administration Tools. Users should be able to easily extract, manipulate and present data from various systems -- structured or unstructured -- using familiar, nonproprietary tools such as Excel and a Web browser. The most effective BPM system will simplify the process of linking structured and unstructured information for enterprise-wide access and use.

* Single Database. A BPM system that establishes a single repository for storing, modifying and publishing all performance-related reports ensures greater accuracy and consistency. Instead of emailing hard copies of reports, authors can update data and have the system automatically cross-populate alterations across the entire organization via the Web. Since all viewing the information can see who made changes, there is heightened accountability and increased situational awareness. At Calence, a California-based networking company, moving from manual to automatic data consolidation saved an estimated $12,000 annually per business analyst. Improvements in the comprehensiveness and consistency of data allowed managers to focus on analysis instead of administration, which has led to smarter decision-making.

* Access to Supporting Information. Tremendous value can be gained from a BPM system that allows the user to dynamically link summary-level information (budgets, P&L statements, sales projections) to supporting layers of detail and explanation. In this way, structured and unstructured information can be presented in almost limitless combinations to give decision-makers a more seamless, logical, and in-depth view of the entire business. For example, U.S. Sugar is using a framework that leverages its BPM solution's ability to relate financial analyses to labor hours, headcount, raw materials usage and equipment efficiencies. It has been able to seamlessly integrate its existing GL, HR payroll system, equipment maintenance and parts inventory system and production databases to its BPM solution for more timely budgeting and accurate projection cycles.

* Security. Distributing sensitive corporate information over the Web may seem a daunting prospect for many businesses. Yet, nothing could be further from reality. An effective BPM solution will employ a level of security (128-bit encryption) unequaled in any other form of internal (or external) corporate communications. Compared to the lack of security found in email and printed communications, an effective BPM solution will effectively safeguard a company against unintentional confidentiality breaches.

In today's global, Internet-driven environment, success rests on how quickly and shrewdly an organization can adapt to, or act in anticipation of, change. Smart companies wanting to keep closer tabs on the pulse of their business and make more intelligent decisions based on a comprehensive picture of the facts will consider adopting a unified, Web-based Business Performance Management solution.

Tom Cowan, chairman of OutlookSoft Corp. ([e-mail]), has more than 25 years of business experience, including 20 years at IBM Corp. where he occupied a variety of financial and general management positions.