Enterprise planning

• US 20070055604A1
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cognos Corporation (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Their, Adam, Pearson, Duncan, Sandles, Jon
• Granted Patent: US 7,693,737 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/36.R
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

The invention is directed to a budget planning system that improves the accuracy and predictability of budget planning within large organizations by enabling organizations to reconcile corporate financial models and organizational targets with detailed spending forecasts. The budgeting system includes a database that is configured to store data defining a budgeting model for the organization. The model has a plurality of hierarchically arranged nodes, each node corresponding to a “contributor” that either provides forecast data or review data provided by contributors associated with lower level nodes. The system is configured to capture target data from a set of financial analysts, capture forecast data from the contributors and reconcile the target data and the forecast data according to the model.

Claims

1. A computer-based method comprising:

capturing with a server forecast data from a set of contributors according to a multi-level organizational model;

capturing with the server target data from a set of analysts;

executing software on the server to perform a reconciliation process to reconcile the target data and the forecast data in accordance with the organizational model by;

selecting one or more of the contributors associated with a current level of the organizational model,

presenting the target data and the forecast data to the selected contributors,

receiving with the server review information from the selected contributors, wherein the review information indicates whether the selected contributors accept or reject the forecast data in view of the captured target data,

automatically updating the current level with the server based upon the review information,

receiving with the server updated forecast data based on the updated current level when at least one of the selected contributors rejects the forecast data, and

repeating the reconciliation process with the server until the current level reaches a pre-defined level of the model and the review information indicates that the selected contributors associated with that pre-defined level accept the forecast data; and

generating a report based on the forecast data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing forecast data comprises receiving the forecast data from a remote computing device over a packet-based network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein capturing the forecast data comprises communicating a template and a calculation engine to the remote computing device, wherein the template includes a data cube for storing the target data and the forecast data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the template and the calculation engine are Active X components capable of receiving data and locally processing data on the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the model includes a plurality of hierarchically arranged nodes, and each node corresponds to one or more of the contributors.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a report comprises generating a report based on the forecast data when the current level reaches a highest level of the model.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the current level comprises:

incrementing the current level when all of the selected contributors accept the forecast data; and

decrementing the current level when at least one of the selected contributors rejects the forecast data.

8. An enterprise planning system comprising:

a database configured to store data defining a set of contributors, a set of analysts, and a multi-level model of an organization, wherein the model has a plurality of hierarchically arranged nodes, each node corresponding to at least one of the contributors; and

a server coupled to the database,

wherein the server accesses the data within the database, and is configured to capture forecast data from the contributors and target data from the analysts,

wherein the server selectively presents the forecast data and the target data to a subset of the contributors associated with a current level of the model, and increments the current level when all of the contributors associated with nodes of the current level accept the forecast data and decrements the current level when at least one of the contributors associated with the nodes of the current level rejects the forecast data, and

wherein the server generates a report based on the forecast data when the current level reaches pre-defined level within the model.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising:

a computing device communicatively coupled to the server via a packet-based network; and

a calculation engine executing in an operating environment provided by the computing device, wherein the calculation engine manipulates a data cube in response to the target data and the forecast data.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the template and the calculation engine are Active X components capable of receiving data and locally processing data on the computing device.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the server:

receives review information from the selected contributors for the current level, wherein the review information indicates whether the selected contributors accept or reject the forecast data in view of the target data;

automatically selectively increments or decrements the current level of the organizational hierarchy based upon the review information; and

upon decrementing the current level to a lower level, presents an interface to receive revised forecast data from at least one contributor associated with the lower level.

12. A computer-based method for conducting an enterprise planning process by executing software on a networked computer system, the method comprising:

storing a model of an organization, wherein the model has a plurality of nodes hierarchically arranged into a number of levels;

associating a contributor with each node of the model;

capturing, with the computer system, forecast data from a contributor associated with a node within a lower level of the model;

capturing, with the computer system, target data from a set of analysts;

selectively presenting with the computer the forecast data and the target data to a subset of the contributors for reconciliation based on a current level of the model;

receiving, with the computer system, review information from the subset of the contributors selected based on the current level;

updating the current level with the computers according to review information; and

generating, with the computer system, an enterprise planning for the organization based on the forecast data when the forecast data is approved by a contributor associated with a root node within a highest level of the model.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein capturing forecast data comprises receiving the forecast data from a remote computing device over a packet-based network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein capturing the forecast data comprises communicating a template and a calculation engine to the computing device, wherein the template includes a data cube for storing the target data and the forecast data.

13. The method of claim 21, wherein updating the current level includes incrementing the current level when the review information indicates an acceptance of the forecast data and decrementing the current level when the review information indicates a rejection of the forecast data.

16. A system comprising:

means for storing a definition of a hierarchical model of an organization;

means for receiving organizational target data and forecast data according to the model, wherein the receiving means includes means for capturing the forecast data from a set of contributors and the organizational target data from a set of analysts;

means for reconciling the organization target data and forecast data according to the model, wherein the reconciling means selectively presents the forecast data and the target data to a subset of the contributors associated with a current level of the model, and increments the current level when all of the contributors associated with the current level accept the forecast data and decrements the current level when at least one of the contributors associated with the current level rejects the forecast data; and

means for generating an electronic enterprise planning report based on the reconciled target data and forecast data.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the reconciling means includes:

means for receiving review input that indicates whether the contributors associated with the current level reject or accept the forecast data; and

means for propagating the forecast data up and down the organization in accordance with the hierarchical model based on the review input.