Software tools and method for business planning
First Claim
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1. A method of selecting goals for a target company comprising the steps of:
- querying a computer database of historical financial data for a plurality of comparison companies to compare metrics of said companies and thereby evaluate a set of potential goals;
using a pricing model, determine anticipated effects on stock price for said target company;
using a cash flow model, determining an impact on future cash flows of specific operating strategies; and
selecting goals from said set of potential goals for said company in accordance with said outputs from said models.
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Abstract
Goals within an organization are selected by querying a computer database containing a plurality of metrics of various companies in order to visual compare metrics for the different companies and thereby select a set of potential goals for further evaluation, determining anticipated effects on the stock price of a company using a pricing model, determining an impact on future case flows of specific operating strategies by using a cash flow model, and selecting goals from the set of potential goals in accordance with the outputs of the cash flow model.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of selecting goals for a target company comprising the steps of:
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querying a computer database of historical financial data for a plurality of comparison companies to compare metrics of said companies and thereby evaluate a set of potential goals;
using a pricing model, determine anticipated effects on stock price for said target company;
using a cash flow model, determining an impact on future cash flows of specific operating strategies; and
selecting goals from said set of potential goals for said company in accordance with said outputs from said models. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of evaluating a plurality of objectives comprising the steps of:
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providing a computer database containing financial performance and operating data for each of a plurality of businesses;
presenting a set of options to a user, said options including at least an option to select companies according to market groupings;
presenting to said user an option for selecting at least first and second companies under evaluation from among said companies for evaluation; and
presenting to said user options for selecting at least a first metric for each of said first and second companies by which to compare said first and second companies under evaluation, said comparison being shown on a computer screen such that said metrics of said first and second companies are displayed simultaneously and in visual association with one another. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of obtaining increased value from the planning process within a business organization comprising the steps of:
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prompting a user to input business data relating to the business organization into a computer;
presenting a list of possible business strategies to a user, and prompting the user to choose a selected strategy from among said possible business strategies;
based upon said business data received from said user and further based upon said selected business strategy, prompting said user to input additional data specific to said chosen strategy and to said business organization; and
presenting cash flow model output results to said user;
such that a user is guided through a series of questions specific to said chosen business strategy to assist the user in identifying key assumptions in evaluating said chosen business strategy and presenting said user with an expected resulting cash flow. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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Specification