A roadmap for Integrated Planning

Clients frequently ask me how to plan their journey of Integrated Planning or "Connected Planning" in Anaplan speak. They want to know how other companies are approaching the issue, what is the best practice. The answer no one wants to hear is - it depends. But that is the truth. Anyone trying to suggest a ready made formula is smoke and mirrors. While there is no best practice roadmap to prescribe, it is possible to devise an optimal roadmap for an enterprise based on industry and other considerations.

The common way of thinking about it is:

1) Top down - start with Corporate FP&A

2) Follow the flow - start with Demand Planning and work towards Corporate FP&A

3) Mitigate pain - start with planning processes that are broken.

All of the above are valid ways to approach the issue but in the end simplistic. An optimal roadmap must answer several questions and also take other practical considerations into account.

1) What is the cost/benefit of including each planning process in the transformation?

2) What is the risk of not doing/improving a process?

3) What is the annual budget available for planning solution implementation?

4) What is the pain with the current processes? Errors, manual work?

5) Is the organization owning the process ready for change?

6) Is there a plan to support maintenance and enhancements?

Above are just a few examples of considerations. A roadmap development exercise must take these and many other considerations into account. Furthermore, the roadmap cannot be cast in stone. As conditions change it must be reevaluated and updated continually, at least once a year.

How are you approaching your Integrated/Connected Planning journey? Let's get connected, start a conversation.

‍