18 bpm software buyer s guide 2011 Capabilities Functionality Comprehensive Vendors arcplan Private arcplan, a BI vendor based in Germany, provides business intelligence products that allow companies to connect directly to, and integrate data from, numerous relational and multidimensional data sources like SAP BW, SAP R/3, Oracle, Oracle (Hyperion) Essbase, Oracle (Hyperion) Enterprise, IBM DB2, IBM Applix, Microsoft SQL Server and other prominent databases. arcplan Enterprise is often used in executive information systems, management cockpits, sales information systems, and analytical applications used in creating operational performance management applications. The arcplan platform builds upon a serviceoriented architecture (SOA) approach, and further supplements analysis capabilities with arcplan Analytic Services. arcplan has been particularly successful as an analytic supplement to Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft implementations. www.arcplan.com Cogniti Private Launched in 2010, Cogniti helps organizations achieve the BPM Holy Grail aligning strategic, operational, and financial plans that can be built quickly. The system provides workflow to help companies create a more predictable planning process; enables a closed-loop plan of execution, including continuous measurement and immediate alerts for any deviations; and helps identify performance-critical business processes that support top-priority operational activities. Users can build scenario-based business models, then create plans that support the models. Cogniti works in conjunction with other performance management solutions and can extend the value of your existing ERP and BI tools. www.cogniti.com Cognos, an IBM company IBM IBM Cognos solutions help link financial and operational initiatives to a company s overall strategic plan, including financial planning, budgeting, scorecarding, and consolidation along with reporting and analysis functions that layer on top of a variety of transactional systems. IBM made three significant moves in 2010. 1. IBM Cognos 10: User interface improvement; also extends traditional BI with planning, scenario modeling and predictive analytics. 2. Acquired Clarity Systems for Financial Statement Reporting: Supports multi-user collaboration and automates internal management and external regulatory reporting, including advanced XBRL. 3. Acquired OpenPages: Adds governance, compliance, and integrated risk management. The company supports mid-market enterprises with IBM Cognos Express, an integrated reporting, analysis, and planning solution implemented through IBM s General Business Channel. www-01.ibm.com/software/data/cognos Corporate Renaissance Group Private This Microsoft Partner provides a wide range of add-on applications, primarily focused on Microsoft Dynamics implementations. Recent developments include the release of Cost Allocator, with enhancements in ease of use and flexibility to help financial controllers understand full costs across accounts, departments, or an entire organization. The products are built to work with or enhance Microsoft Dynamics, SAP Business One and QuickBooks. CRG offers a suite of solutions to help companies leverage their ERP investment, business data, and resources using a collection of data automation, financial planning and analysis, and employee performance management tools. www.crgroup.com Corvu (Rocket ) Public This Australia-based vendor, purchased by U.S.-based Rocket in 2007, offers one of the most comprehensive BPM solutions in the market, including components such as strategy execution, risk management, human resource planning, and project portfolio planning. The application is completely integrated, making it a complete closed-loop BPM solution delivered via the Web. www.corvu.com Infor Private Infor provides performance management, business intelligence, ERP, and accounting solutions with versions designed to support both global enterprises and small to midsize businesses (SMBs). The Infor Performance solution provides strategic management; planning and budgeting; forecasting; financial consolidation; and reporting and analysis capabilities. It also provides purpose-built analytic applications for specific industries and business functions. Infor s PM solution makes extensive use of the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform specifically, Microsoft SQL Server, Analysis Services, and Excel. www.infor.com Microsoft MSFT Microsoft continues to position itself among the leaders in the market for business intelligence tools for performance management with its SQL Server (Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services) and SharePoint Server products. The company is no longer actively marketing PerformancePoint Server, which enabled the development of comprehensive planning, budgeting, consolidation, analytic reporting, and scorecard/dashboard monitoring applications. Microsoft instead leverages its extensive network of value-added software resellers and implementation service providers to develop and deliver a variety of industry-specific performance management and business intelligence solutions. www.microsoft.com Oracle ORCL Oracle s EPM solution includes performance management applications for strategic management and planning; budgeting/forecasting; (new) financial close and reporting; and profitability management, as well as pre-built business intelligence applications (e.g. sales, marketing, HR, financial and supply chain analytics) along with a BI foundation. The company continues its integration of the Hyperion EPM and BI solutions with the Oracle E-Business Suite and PeopleSoft applications while continuing to offer solutions that can support and be integrated with a variety of other non-oracle information sources and systems. The Oracle on Demand service allows customers to use Oracle s EPM and BI solutions via Oracle s data center or third-party application hosting services. www.oracle.com SPRING I 2011 I www.businessfinancemag.com
bpm software buyer s guide 2011 19 Capabilities Functionality Comprehensive Vendors SAP AG SAP This vendor offers a broad portfolio of enterprise performance management solutions under its SAP BusinessObjects portfolio of solutions, including strategy management; planning, budgeting, and forecasting; financial consolidation and reporting; and profitability and cost management, along with comprehensive business intelligence; governance, risk and compliance (GRC); enterprise resource planning; and data warehouse solutions. SAP s BPC solution can be deployed on the SAP NetWeaver platform or the Microsoft platform. For the mid-market, SAP BusinessObjects offers performance management solutions through SAP BusinessObjects Edge solutions and its Crystal Reports and Xcelsius data visualization software. SAP offers extensive vertical and line-of-business solutions including Planning for Banks, Planning for Healthcare, Planning for Public Sector, Capital Expenditure Planning, and Liquidity Planning. BI solutions are also available on demand through the Business Intelligence OnDemand service. www.sap.com/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/index.epx SAS Institute Private SAS for Financial offers comprehensive BPM and BI solutions that allow companies to formulate, communicate, measure, and monitor strategies and plans with integrated planning, budgeting, financial consolidation, and reporting. The SAS for Strategy and Human Capital solutions include robust scorecard and dashboard reporting solutions that leverage predictive modeling and analytic capabilities. SAS also offers profitability management and activity-based management solutions along with purpose-built vertical industry-specific (financial services, retail, communications, government, manufacturing, life sciences, healthcare, energy) and business-function-specific solutions for performance and operational analytic applications in IT, sales, marketing, HR, and other departments. SAS Sustainability ties together many technologies to manage environmental, social and economic risks. The company s performance management offerings are all built on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform, which provides data integration, storage, and business intelligence reporting, as well as analysis and data visualization capabilities. SAS offers several BI solutions as a hosted service as part of its continually expanding SAS Solutions OnDemand portfolio. www.sas.com Unit 4 Private This Europe-based global ERP vendor, rebranded from Agresso and Coda to Unit 4, continues to report strong growth in the competitive mid-market. The company provides a fully integrated suite across many business processes including financial management, HR, procurement, process automation and reporting. This integration allows for easy data transfer across business processes, and promotes post-implementation agility as its primary benefit for organizations operating in a dynamic environment. www.unit4.com Financial Vendors A3 Solutions Private A3 Modeling automates budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and analysis. A3 uses its spreadsheet automation server technology and popular OLAP databases to develop budgeting, consolidation, reporting, and dashboard applications. This architecture allows companies to leverage existing spreadsheet models to exploit Excel expertise within the organization. www.a3solutions.com Acteon Technologies Private Acteon BudgetGuide is designed to streamline the budgeting and forecasting process while improving the accuracy and timeliness of critical financial information. The BudgetGuide family of products is designed as a simple, cost-effective solution to build, maintain, and analyze budgets and forecasts for small and midmarket companies. Deployments can be enterprisewide, desktop or SaaS. Vertical solutions are developed for the contract furniture, food and beverage, and healthcare industries. www.acteontechnologies.com Adaptive Planning Private Adaptive Planning provides easy-to-use budgeting, forecasting, and reporting solutions designed for organizations ranging from small and midsize companies to enterprise-class corporations. This solution is a strong alternative to spreadsheet-based planning and reporting processes. Adaptive Planning 7.0, the most recent product release, delivers new features for reporting, application management, and data integration. Available both on-demand (hosted by Adaptive Planning) and on-premise in a company s data center. Pricing starts as low as $600 per user per year. And, without need for hardware or IT support, it s a solution with a low total cost of ownership. www.adaptiveplanning.com ADERANT Private ADERANT focuses on providing business and financial management solutions designed for law firms and other services organizations. ADERANT recently announced enhancements to its Expert Analytics Foundation, a business intelligence solution that includes a pre-configured data warehouse, OLAP cube, and data visualization capabilities delivered on Microsoft s SharePoint platform. In addition, ADERANT Expert s latest release includes new e-billing capabilities, a Microsoft Vista-inspired user interface, expanded global financial and statutory reporting, and credit notes functionality. www.aderant.com Alight Planning Private Alight Planning is a budgeting, forecasting, and reporting solution designed for small to midsize businesses requiring multi-user collaborative development and analysis of financial plans and operating www.businessfinancemag.com I SPRING I 2011
bpm software buyer s guide 2011 21 Capabilities Functionality financial Vendors Alight Planning (cont.) results. Alight Planning s driver-based financial planning and analysis solution leverages a units-rates-andamounts architecture, automated sensitivity analysis, multiple scenario modeling, goal-seek operations, and intuitive modeling with object-based linking. In addition to multi-user security and file management, the Alight Planning feature set includes integrated financial reporting, object-based modeling, multidimensional reporting and analysis, and integration of actual results with variance analysis. The company offers a single user desktop version of Alight Planning and an enterprise version with role-based user security and a file server architecture for larger organizations. www.alightplanning.com Anaplan Private Founded in 2008, Anaplan provides an on-demand SaaS planning and analysis platform that can be used to deliver cross-functional plug and play applications for analytics, planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting for small, midmarket, and enterprise-class businesses. Anaplan is developing a cloud-based suite of interconnected applications designed to enhance collaborative planning and analysis across multiple functional business areas. www.anaplan.com Avartis Private Avartis Planning provides affordable BPM solutions with a focus on budgeting, planning, consolidation and reporting processes all within one centralized system, integrating either Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle 10/11g as the data repository. Available both as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and on-premise software license application, Avartis Planning allows clients to choose the deployment method that best suits their timing, budgets and support requirements. Avartis is currently focusing on the Asian market based out of Singapore. www.avartisplanning.com Bitam Private Bitam is a provider of performance management solutions that include business intelligence (such as KPI dashboards), financial planning, and strategic planning. These solutions enable performance reporting, governance, and accountability to help businesses analyze, plan, and manage their operations, as well as an alert-and-notification engine to support automated communication when a certain threshold is met on a specific key performance indicator. The Bitam suite of solutions is targeted at the midmarket and offers rapid deployment and relatively low total cost of ownership. The solutions are database-independent. In 2009, Bitam acquired and integrated the KPI Online offering and expanded its partnership network. The KPI Online service provides organizations with pre-built dashboards and analytical tools, such as forecasting and trending, offered on a SaaS platform. www.bitam.com BizNet Private BizNet builds pre-integrated Excel-based financial reporting products for the mid-market. Its flagship product, BizInsight, creates a direct link from the General Ledger database to Excel, removing the need for a data warehouse and providing accountants with the assurance that data in Excel always ties to the G/L. BizBroadcast takes collected data and broadcasts it to a variety of end-user analysis points, including Web browsers, e-mail and mobile devices. Value points include: leveraging existing technology investments, streamlining financial reporting, and eliminating having to export data from your G/L to Excel. www.biznetsoftware.com BOARD International Private BOARD International recently announced release 7.2 of its all-in-one integrated performance management and business intelligence platform. This release focused on usability for the end user and effectiveness in development of analytical models and CPM applications. Blob cubes make it possible to associate files to data in a multidimensional perspective, dramatically increasing BOARD s effectiveness in supporting complex budgeting, planning and consolidation processes. The company is positioned to provide cost effective custom BPM solutions with less demanding IT support. www.board.com Business Matters Private Cashe is suitable for start-ups and small businesses as a modeling product to help business users understand and quickly analyze a wide range of common business issues, such as preparing a strategic business plan or evaluating a merger/acquisition. Cashe provides basic budgeting and forecasting functionality and requires minimal customization. www.bmatters.com Calumo Private This Australia-based company, established in 1996, offers a unified BPM application built on a Microsoft SQL Server platform that leverages Excel and the Web. Due to local successes, Calumo has recently expanded to the USA (via resellers) and has opened an office in London. A unique standout feature is the Excel in-cell charting capability, which provides superior Excel-based charting. www.calumo.com Centage Private Centage focuses on providing integrated budgeting, forecasting, financial consolidation, and performance reporting solutions designed to meet the needs of small to midsize businesses or divisions within larger organizations. Centage Budget Maestro is designed to meet the needs of small to midsize organizations seeking to automate the budgeting, forecasting, consolidation and reporting processes. The Centage Planning Maestro solution includes advanced driver-based planning, modeling, dynamic reforecasting, and reporting capabilities designed to support the needs of larger user groups within midmarket (less than $500 million in annual revenue) companies. Centage s performance management solutions can be deployed as a clientserver, Web-based (via Citrix), or SaaS-based solution. www.centage.com www.businessfinancemag.com I SPRING I 2011
22 bpm software buyer s guide 2011 Capabilities Functionality financial Vendors Chameleon Technology Private This Australia-based company, incorporated in 2001, develops and supports a budget management, enquiry, business analysis, and reporting application software package called Powerbudget. Privately owned, Chameleon supports over 150 sites across Australia in industry sectors such as local government, health, education, and commercial. www.chamtech.com.au Clear- Momentum Private This vendor offers a SaaS solution for budgeting, forecasting, modeling, and reporting. It also sells a capital management edition designed for private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund managers for analysis of their portfolio companies. www.clearmomentum.com Diva Private Diva is a Japanese company that focuses more or less exclusively on the Japanese market. The core focus is financial consolidation. The DivaSystem provides comprehensive consolidation management features for statutory, quarterly, monthly and budgetary reporting, as well as forecasting. It provides flexible acquisition of accounting data from group companies and the sharing of consolidated data with other entities within a corporate group, providing company management with a powerful tool to manage group companies. www.diva.co.jp EcoSys Private EcoSys offers a unique solution that provides budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation within a project management framework designed to manage the entire financial cycle: long range planning, fiscal period budgeting and forecasting, spending requests, allocations, project cost management, performance measurement, controls, closeouts, and adjustments. This is done by aligning spending with strategic priorities. Costs can be tracked and allocated by program, project, and phase. The product offers integration with Primavera s Portfolio Project solution. www.ecosysmgmt.com Emagia Private This vendor s product set focuses on cash-flow management, with process automation for credit risk, receivables, and payables. Cash forecasting utilizes the simulation and analytics capabilities of the product. Information is presented on a cash-flow performance dashboard. www.emagia.com Fiserv (formerly IPS- Sendero) FISV IPS-Sendero, which had operated as an independent subsidiary of Fiserv Inc. since it was acquired in 1996, changed its name to Fiserv in 2009. Fiserv is focused exclusively on providing technology solutions and services related to risk management, budgeting and planning, profitability measurement and financial accounting operations in financial institutions. These are delivered via an integrated suite of applications and reporting tools supported by the Microsoft.net platform. www.ips-sendero.com Global Private This vendor s performance management focus is on spreadsheet automation for Microsoft Excel. Working in a familiar spreadsheet environment, users can create budgets and dashboards that can easily access ERP data from multiple platforms. www.glbsoft.com Host Analytics Private Host Analytics Corporate Performance Suite includes modular yet integrated budgeting, consolidation, scorecard, and dashboard reporting solutions built on the Microsoft platform. The recently introduced Executive Report Manager solution provides finance executives with automated reporting to drive more effective corporate decision-making. New Decision Hub is a resource center for finance and operations leaders to integrate and automate critical external data and applications for improved business analysis. Solutions are designed to meet the needs and user requirements for small, midsize, and large enterprises through a subscription-based on-demand solution. www.hostanalytics.com Info- Manager Private This vendor provides analysis and reporting through its own OLAP server designed for non-technical end users. The Adviser offering assists in end-user analysis, Messenger helps with reporting, and Echo assists in the budget process. The product also offers threshold-based alerts. www.infomanagerinc.com KCI Computing Private KCI Computing provides CONTROL, an integrated performance management solution that combines all financial management functions, processes, and data within a single, unified performance management application. This all-in-one solution includes end-user customizable capabilities for strategic planning, budgeting, modeling, forecasting, consolidations, analysis, reporting, and dashboards; a range of time-series predictive methods; and on-the-fly connectivity to disparate financial and nonfinancial data sources. The familiar Microsoft Excel interface, comprehensive array of functionality, dynamic computations and consolidations, single point administration and scalable relational technology (Oracle/MS SQL Server/DB2) enables KCI to compete with the leaders in the BPM market. While the KCI CONTROL solution does not provide a built-in Web interface, the solution is accessible by remote users through Citrix. www.kcicorp.com Lawson LWSN Lawson offers business intelligence and performance management solutions to augment its transactional systems focused primarily within the services, health care, manufacturing and distribution sectors. Rolebased dashboards and drill-around capabilities are two key elements of this solution. Opportunity Analyzer has been added to help senior managers to identify, in advance, quantified financial and nonfinancial gains before committing capital expenditure to new business process improvement projects. www.lawson.com SPRING I 2011 I www.businessfinancemag.com
bpm software buyer s guide 2011 23 Capabilities Functionality financial Vendors Longview Solutions, an Exact Company EXACT (Amsterdam Exchange) Longview, a stand-alone division of Exact, provides a unified, allin-one solution for strategic planning, budgeting/forecasting, reporting, complex modeling, and IFRS-ready financial consolidation. The company also has a comprehensive tax provisioning, planning, and reporting application that is fully integrated with the BPM solution but can also be purchased stand-alone. Longview competes with larger vendors and receives high ratings for customer service. The latest version, 7.0.2, includes an enhanced user interface and expanded dimensional scalability to support larger applications as well as enhancements in XBRL reporting, disclosure management, and financial close. The company partners with MicroStrategy to offer integrated BI and advanced reporting capabilities, and with Acorn Systems to provide advanced profitability analytics. New Longview FXR provides an integrated solution to improve operational efficiencies in the collaborative production of regulatory filing documents. www.longview.com Mondelio Private This Australia-based company, established in 1982, provides a full suite of BPM capabilities in the v6.0 version of its offering, delivered on the Microsoft Platform. While the product suite can be delivered across a broad range of industries, Mondelio has had particular success in the health, utilities, and financial services industries. www.mondelio.com NetSuite Private This hosted-solution provider aims at small to midsize businesses with ERP, CRM, and ecommerce. SuiteAnalytics is a BI package that integrates pre-built dashboards and pre-configured key performance indicators. Key functionality includes the ability to embed Excel-like formulas in any NetSuite Performance Scorecard or saved-search report. SuiteAnalytics integrates with business intelligence solution tools, including Business Objects, Cognos, Crystal, FRx, or any software that supports ODBC. www.netsuite.com Paris Technologies Private The PowerAnalytics performance management application is built upon its own PowerOLAP engine. Users can utilize Excel, Google, Xcelsius, or just a Web browser as their front-end. This product delivers Microsoft Analysis Services data directly and dynamically into Excel. The Excel spreadsheet can read, write, chart and slice data kept in MS Analysis Services and other Industry-standard OLAP cubes while retaining Excel functionality. www.paristech.com PowerPlan Private PowerPlan is a fully integrated business performance management solution and reporting solution designed to meet the planning needs of smaller companies and governmental entities. PowerPlan has also developed modules for payroll, CIP, and capital expenditure budgeting. PowerPlan is designed for simplicity of system configuration, maintenance, and usage, which enhances its ability to be deployed within a short implementation timeframe. www.powerplancorp.com Profitbase Private Profitbase is a rapidly configured data warehouse and OLAP Cube deployment accelerator for Microsoft SQL Server. Another part of the firm s offering, SIM, is a financial simulation engine for advanced financial planning and forecasting. This Norwegian BPM provider offers data warehouse technology that includes ready-to-use OLAP cubes for finance and sales. Profitbase has connectors for MS Great Plains, Oracle Financials, and others. The firm offers a special version for Retail. www.profitbase.net ProfitStars, a Jack Henry Co. JKHY ProfitStars provides specialized performance management and business intelligence products and services for financial institutions to increase revenue and growth, mitigate and control risk, and control operating costs. The PROFITstar Budget and PROFITstar ALM solutions provide comprehensive budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, and asset/liability management capabilities that integrate with any core financial institution operating system. ProfitStars also provides organizational and product profitability solutions using the PROFITability system. www.profitstars.com PROPHIX Private PROPHIX provides a cost-effective integrated suite of applications including budgeting, forecasting, financial consolidation, reporting, scorecards/dashboards, and personnel planning. PROPHIX 10 includes functionality updates as well as PROPHIX G/L Reporter and PROPHIX Express to help smaller organizations automate budgeting and reporting, with the option to expand to a full corporate performance management solution as needs grow. PROPHIX performance management solutions include prebuilt data integration tools to support integration of data from common general ledger systems and support drill-through to transactional detail using SQL queries to either a PROPHIX staging database, a data warehouse, or directly to source data systems. The system can often be implemented in a matter of weeks, driving a rapid return on investment and lower total cost of ownership. www.prophix.com pvelocity Private pvelocity s profitability and cost-simulation software provides intelligence about products, customers, and processes to enable better business decisions that improve profit. It gathers information from production and financial systems to provide profit visibility across the enterprise, including sales and marketing, customers, products, and manufacturing. pvelocity s multiple modules provide analysis via dashboards, what-if scenarios, and quote profitability, as well as other and reporting and analysis tools. www.pvelocity.com www.businessfinancemag.com I SPRING I 2011
24 bpm software buyer s guide 2011 Capabilities Functionality financial Vendors Satori Group Private Satori offers performance management and business intelligence solutions designed to allow midmarket companies and divisions of large enterprises to significantly streamline the budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting processes to produce more accurate, timely information. Satori Planning is a business performance management solution that leverages the Satori procube in-memory OLAP business intelligence platform that extends native Excel to provide multi-user, real-time access to enterprise multidimensional data stored in a centralized secure database. The Satori Planning solution is deployed using an optimized virtual appliance model and can be hosted at Satori s data center via an on-demand model or deployed as an on-site enterprise application. Satori Group provides performance management software and services for the professional services industry through an exclusive relationship with Redwood Business Intelligence Products and Professional Services from LexisNexis. www.satorigroupinc.com SunGard AvantGard Private SunGard AvantGard provides a liquidity management solution with real-time visibility into cash flow and increased operational controls in treasury, receivables, and payment management. The receivables solution provides credit and collections software that drives automation, workflow, and collaboration across the order-to-cash cycle, helping organizations improve liquidity management. Solutions include managing strategic and major accounts as well as the order life-cycle, credit risk, collections, dispute resolution, cash application, dashboards, and reporting for all accounts. This vendor also offers specific solutions for insurance companies. http://www.sungard.com/avantgard/ Tagetik Private Tagetik is a global provider of performance management and financial governance solutions specifically built around the operation of the finance function. The Tagetik 3.0 solution unifies multiple performance management applications including planning, budgeting and forecasting; profitability modeling and optimization; financial consolidation; and statutory and management reporting (including dashboards and scorecards) within a single Web-based application. Includes extended BPM process support for credit analysis; IT performance management; and governance, risk, and compliance. Integrates with the Microsoft SharePoint portal to enhance collaborative performance planning, analysis, and statutory reporting preparation using Tagetik and MS SharePoint solutions. The Tagetik solution can be deployed either as a traditional on-premise enterprise license or as a hosted application through selected partners. www.tagetik.com Thinking Networks Private Thinking Networks is a Germany-based company providing full-function planning, reporting, and workflow control. The core product is TN Planning, which is designed as a multidimensional business information suite and based on a proprietary OLAP engine. The suite is designed for optimizing corporate planning and control tasks that process large quantities of data (in the terabyte range). TN Planning also works with SAP BusinessObjects and MicroStrategy business intelligence platforms. www.thinking-networks.com XLerant Private XLerant uses a plain English, wizard-like front end to assist line managers with creating their revenue and expense budgets. The Xlerant BudgetPak solution replaces formulas and commands with user-friendly prompts and selections that speak the user s language. The tool works with most major enterprise performance management software, including Microsoft Excel. Includes automated workforce planning, approval workflow, and line item comments. www.xlerant.com operational vendors Acorn Systems Private Acorn provides profit-improvement and cost-management solutions focused on product/customer profitability, cost-to-serve analysis, and activity-based cost management. Recently, Acorn stepped up its industry-specific solutions with focus on financial services, retail, manufacturing, consumer products, distribution, and logistics. Acorn has announced a strategic deal with Ernst & Young for the delivery of management consultancy services on the Acorn platform. The firm continues to partner with several leading BPM vendors including SAP, IBM/Cognos, and Longview to integrate Acorn s ABC and profitability analytics capabilities. Several global partnership announcements have helped Acorn extend its reach. www.acornsys.com Advanced Visual Systems Private The OpenViz product provides powerful data visualization tools to executives and analysts. The highly interactive graphics allow users to leverage existing investments in analytics applications and portals. AVS also offers solutions that developers can embed in their own applications. www.avs.com AFS Technologies Private IRM Corporation, recently acquired by AFS Technologies, provides performance management solutions specifically for the food and beverage industry. The company s suite of SaaS solutions includes profit optimization tools. In addition, AFS provides a network for food brokers and manufacturers to share information and collaborate. www.irmcorporation.com SPRING I 2011 I www.businessfinancemag.com
bpm software buyer s guide 2011 25 Capabilities Functionality operational Vendors Callidus CALD Callidus provides enterprise sales performance management solutions delivered either as on-premise software or as an on-demand application. These products allow organizations to develop and manage incentive compensation linked to the achievement of strategic business objectives. Callidus enhanced analytics capability assists users with dashboard development, visualization capabilities, statistical analysis, and selfservice management reporting. Strategic software and system integration partnerships promote integration of the Callidus SPM solution with SAP, Oracle, and salesforce.com applications. www.callidussoftware.com CDC CHINA This multinational roll-up of numerous software firms offers a comprehensive suite of enterprise solutions with powerful modeling built atop Microsoft Analysis Services and the Microsoft.net platform. The firm also offers ERP, SCM, and HRM capabilities in related applications. Recent announcements include the addition of Microsoft BI functionality in the CDC Respond application to assist in measuring and managing customer satisfaction. CDC offers analytics solutions designed for specific departments, including sales, manufacturing, supply chain, and finance. www.cdcsoftware.com Corda Technologies Private Corda provides interactive, real-time data visualization and performance management dashboard solutions. They re available direct from Corda or through a network of OEM distributors. The recently released CenterView helps enhance the solutions ease of use and performance, and also updates the technology platform with additional international deployment capabilities. www.corda.com Cornus Private The Guide+ product is really a portal development tool with a range of data visualization capabilities; it pulls together data from multiple sources, including the Internet. It s designed for end users and does not require programming skills. Guide+ InSight adds a basic budgeting capability to the mix. www.cornus.com Exie Private This Norwegian company promotes people-driven performance management to support existing business intelligence and financial performance activities. An end-user-focused interface sits on top of other transactional and BI systems to help unify a company s focus on strategic objectives. A recently announced relationship with mobile technology provider mbricks allows users to take their Exie experience with them on their mobile devices. www.exie.com Fractal Edge Private This patented data-visualization tool, based on fractals, makes it easier to spot key trends, patterns, and anomalies in large volumes of data. The product has been part of solutions for capital markets; governance, risk, and compliance; and general performance analysis. It is packaged as an Excel add-in, a standalone desktop or Web solution, or as a developers kit to embed in other applications. www.fractaledge.com i Private This patented Flash-based dashboard is platform independent (runs on Windows, Unix, or Linux). Data can be retrieved directly from relational databases and spreadsheets as well as legacy systems. The realtime alerts feature sends an e-mail when a KPI falls out of its target range. www.idashboards.com Informatica INFA This leader in data integration provides a platform that has become the industry standard. While Informatica doesn t provide any specific performance management solutions itself, its capabilities are critical to in-house developers or software vendors building their own. The recent addition of a SaaS offering should make this platform more readily available to a wider range of companies. www.informatica.com InforSense Private The InforSense platform is designed to provide embedded intelligence, data mining analysis, and predictive capabilities throughout the enterprise, utilizing a unique SOA. Part of the InforSense platform, VisualSense 5.0, enables the creation of analytic data mash-ups combining predictive, statistical, and clinical data sources. The solution is utilized primarily by pharmaceutical and biotech organizations; research institutes; and financial services and consumer goods firms. Vertical solutions are available for life sciences. www.inforsense.com ISIS Solutions Private ISIS stands out as a pure-play predictive analytics vendor that adds powerful, user-friendly analytics capabilities to traditional reporting. Common language queries can be configured within the application to empower users to leverage the 12 essential analytics for improving performance. The application can be used to support the budget development process with an accelerated deployment framework. www.isis-solution.com Knowledge Relay Private This vendor s Information Visualizer allows business users to analyze data using standard pie, bar, and line graphs, as well as Gantt and PERT charts. The performance focus is on operational analysis and efficiency. The company offers out-of-the-box connectivity with more than 250 enterprise applications. Knowledge Relay is a subsidiary of Cheyenne Mountain. www.knowledgerelay.com ment & Executive Manage- Private This Australia-based company has a suite of three products (Business Intelligence Solution, Business Planner, and Performance Manager) that provide budgeting, planning and reporting capabilities in an integrated package. It is available as a proprietary client server and as a Web-based application. Vertical specialization includes the government, health, and education sectors. www.mesware.com www.businessfinancemag.com I SPRING I 2011
26 bpm software buyer s guide 2011 Capabilities Functionality operational Vendors Micro- Strategy MSTR MicroStrategy, a leading independent business intelligence vendor, focuses on analytical performance management and reporting. The firm s dashboards support numerous methodologies, including the Balanced Scorecard, Six Sigma, and activity-based costing. For other performance management capabilities, such as budgeting and consolidation, MicroStrategy partners with firms such as Carpio and Longview. www.microstrategy.com Oco Private Oco provides on-demand business intelligence solutions for advanced performance dashboard and analytic reporting. Oco is focused primarily on small to medium-sized businesses within the retail, CPG, and manufacturing industries and provides supply chain, customer and sales channel, and retail and manufacturing operation analytic reporting. Oco promotes its fixed-cost, fixed-time, rapid application development and implementation capabilities, which often produce BI reporting applications in just weeks, and which can reduce the costs and risks inherent in traditional business intelligence implementations. www.oco-inc.com PivotLink Private This vendor offers a SaaS solution that provides Web-based analytics, drillable reports, and dashboards targeted at business users. The solution is focused on specific departments within the enterprise as well as the retail, healthcare and consumer goods industries. PivotLink BI has been certified for use in conjunction with salesforce.com deployments. www.pivotlink.com PureShare Private The Web-based ActiveMetrics solution provides dashboards and alerts focused on operational metrics. The interface also allows for data entry and annotation. PureShare offers specific solutions for IT service management and insurance claims management. www.pureshare.com QlikTech Private QlikView is a business intelligence offering with sophisticated in-memory analysis and reporting solutions for enterprise and individual customers. QlikTech supports an open information architecture business information is broadly and quickly made available to business users who need it. Major features include: set analysis to compare associated data sets with any other data set (in the same view and on the fly); enterprise integration with open APIs for resource utilization and mass client deployment using AJAX and Java; user features such as embedding QlikView directly in everyday business; and simplified licensing. QlikTech s service-oriented architecture (SOA) can be a powerful data visualization platform to develop analytic applications. www.qliktech.com QPR NM-list (Helsinki) QPR provides solutions for risk management and compliance, business process management, and corporate performance management that help organizations manage transitions caused by strategic or regulatory demands. QPR is a Finnish company that leverages the Balanced Scorecard methodology with a specialized emphasis on government. QPR offers an end-to-end performance management solution that spans planning, communication, measuring and consolidation, operational analytics, business intelligence, reporting, alerting, initiatives management, and data integration. www.qpr.com River Logic Private Enterprise Optimizer allows a client to quickly view the companywide financial impact (profit, cash flow, NPV, EVA) of related business decisions. Three key features are: detailed unit cost capability, sequencing, and pooling. Enterprise Optimizer furthers this integration by allowing end users to exchange data and interoperate between the solution and MS-Office applications. www.riverlogic.com Salient Corp. Private Offers a suite of performance modules for retail, CPG, public sector, education, and healthcare organizations. Salient provides visualization, root cause analysis, continuous auditing, performance monitoring, and forensic applications. Salient incorporates situational intelligence and addresses areas such as sales performance and capital performance. www.salient.com Strategix Performance Private This vendor provides sales performance management capabilities tied to incentive/compensation management. The product provides analysis of metrics, objectives, goals, and quotas from the enterprise level down to the individual employee. It can be deployed either on-premise, as software-as-a-service, or as a full-service outsourced solution. www.strategixperformance.com Symphony Metreo Private Symphony s enterprise pricing, operations management, and performance management solutions are sold both directly and through OEM agreements with software companies and system integrators that develop performance management and business analytic applications. Functionality includes advanced reporting, dashboards, and the ability to manage business rules in complex pricing models. Symphony Metreo is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Symphony Technology Group. www.symphony-metreo.com Tableau Private Tableau provides exceptional data-visualization capabilities that integrate with a variety of data sources. This solution is targeted at the operational analytics area of BPM, with access to both multidimensional and relational data sources including Microsoft SQL Analysis Services, Oracle Essbase, MySQL, DB2, Netezza, and Firebird as well as Excel and Access-based data sources. Offering drag and drop simplicity, it s designed for a broad range of users. www.tableausoftware.com SPRING I 2011 I www.businessfinancemag.com
bpm software buyer s guide 2011 27 Capabilities Functionality operational Vendors Teradata TDC This global data warehousing leader offers the Teradata Finance and Performance solutions portfolio with reporting and analytic flexibility that complements ERP systems and speeds financial reporting and analytics. Teradata offers strong ETL capabilities with a large variety of source systems and specialized tools for detailed analytics, and highlight benefits for enhanced analytics. www.teradata.com Varicent Private Varicent specializes in providing sales performance management solutions for large enterprises and midsize organizations to support companywide incentive compensation modeling and management; sales territory and quota management; and compensation plan and sales performance reporting and analytics. Varicent has developed vertical, market-specific applications targeting the financial services, high tech, and services industries (among others) and leverages an open application architecture that can be deployed with a variety of ERP, CRM, payroll, and order-entry systems. The Varicent SPM solution is available in an on-demand, hosted version, or on the traditional enterprise license basis as an on-site resource. www.varicent.com Ventyx Private Designed specifically for the energy and utility industry, this vendor s offerings enable companies to forecast and model prices, plan, value assets, and manage risk. The firm also provides comprehensive energy data to help drive models, as well as an operations dashboard and business intelligence capabilities. www.ventyx.com Xactly Private Xactly offers a full suite of on-demand sales compensation solutions designed to improve companies performance by providing greater visibility and the ability to rapidly model and modify sales plans. Compensation plans and payments are fully auditable to meet Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. Xactly provides data connectors to Oracle CRM On Demand, salesforce.com, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, and other systems. www.xactlycorp.com strategic Vendors Abrige Private Abrige provides employee performance management tracking with a combination of advisory services and a scorecard technology platform. C-Secure is a subsidiary of Abrige that provides remote management and analysis of machines and mobile assets to optimize business performance. www.abridge.com Active- Strategy Private ActiveStrategy specializes in providing software solutions and management consulting services focused on strategy development; strategic goal and objective maps; and performance execution measurement, reporting, and analysis. The solution includes pre-built capabilities to support a variety of strategic management frameworks, including the Balanced Scorecard, Six Sigma, the Malcolm Baldrige criteria, and customized strategic planning and quality management frameworks. Its strategic-execution dashboard and scorecard solutions can be deployed under a Web-based hosted model or an enterprise license model. ActiveStrategy has established a Healthcare Practice Group, which focuses on providing strategic performance reporting and management consulting services to hospitals and healthcare provider networks. www.activestrategy.com Actuate ACTU Actuate Corp. focuses on increasing the richness, interactivity, and effectiveness of enterprise data for everyone. Actuate s enterprise reporting and performance management solutions facilitate the production, distribution, and management of executive scorecards and dashboards, standardized financial and operational reports, ad hoc reporting and analyses, metrics management, activity management, and on-demand performance management. A variety of intuitive, personalized and easy-to-use formats present data integrated from all relevant sources. The firm s development platform is designed to support project needs from small to large companies. www.acuate.com Corporater Private This Norway-based certified Balanced Scorecard solution provider recently announced an on-demand version of its Express offering to assist organizations looking for an information platform to host important scorecard/operational data. This new offering provides an end-user oriented, low-cost entry point for companies looking for a full range of management initiative tracking and reporting capabilities. www.corporater.com FinanceSeer Private FinanceSeer has a direct focus on long-range strategic planning. The platform is offered as a subscription-based service. It s ideally targeted for midmarket companies trying to break away from challenging spreadsheet planning models. www.financeseer.com Information Builders Private Designed for end users, with minimal IT involvement, the WebFOCUS Performance Metrics Manager and Performance Framework solutions enable the creation of personalized end user dashboards with significant out-of-the-box functionality. This vendor s dashboard solutions are Balanced Scorecard certified. Information Builders also offers mobile reporting solutions. www.informationbuilders.com www.businessfinancemag.com I SPRING I 2011
28 bpm software buyer s guide 2011 Capabilities Functionality strategic Vendors Inphase Private Inphase is based in the U.K. and offers performance management functionality utilizing Microsoft technology Web-based applications for all elements of BPM. Its software contains best-practice methodologies such as Balanced Scorecard and EVA analyses. The company specializes in vertical-market template solutions for public-sector entities such as local authorities, police, and healthcare and education organizations. www.inphase.com Insightformation Private The InsightVision Balanced Scorecard application enables companies to articulate, communicate, and drive business performance by translating strategy into specific and measurable prioritized objectives and initiatives. InsightVision is a Web-based, easy-to-use, and easy-to-implement Balanced Scorecard automation platform. www.insightformation.com mydials Private mydials provides interactive, Web-based dashboards that present financial and operational key performance indicators and key performance drivers to support measuring and monitoring of business performance. Performance improvement methodologies such as Lean Process, Six Sigma, and Theory of Constraints can be supported by mydials, leveraging existing systems and data. mydials also offers prebuilt industry modules for a number of process or supply-chain-driven industries. mydials integrates with the NetSuite cloud computing platform to provide SaaS-based business intelligence dashboards that enable operational users to consistently monitor, analyze and act on data from any operational or business data source. www.mydials.com Panorama Private NovaView offers enterprises a complete suite of analytics, reporting, dashboarding, scorecarding, advanced visualization, and modeling capabilities. It s available as an on-premise or SaaS implementation. NovaView SharedViews enables users to collaborate using data located both inside and outside the company firewall via Google Apps. NovaView Spotlight embeds key metrics and key performance indicators into Microsoft Outlook or Office task panes that act as a smart personal dashboard for end users. Panorama also provides support for Microsoft s PowerPivot. www.panoramasoftware.com Protia Private This solution takes performance management down to the employee level so that everyone is aligned with corporate goals and objectives. Essentially a corporate-wide set of personalized dashboards, Protia enables communication and collaboration around strategic goals and plans. www.protia-inc.com SeeMore- Data Private This Australia-based company is a BI-focused vendor. The application s features include advanced data mining capabilities, trending, and charting, and the product draws data from any number of data sources. It s offered on a subscription basis. The firm s BI Plus product is available in a Professional edition and a free Community edition. www.seemoredata.com Strategy Engine Private This product provides a collaborative environment that ties together knowledge and plans related to strategic marketing and product planning. It also provides scenario modeling and built-in expertise and guidance via eguides. www.strategyengine.com Visual Mining Private Visual Mining provides data visualization solutions to both end users and OEMs interested in embedding charts in their application or Web portal. The NetCharts product also integrates with salesforce.com implementations. The firm s performance dashboards can work directly with Excel and most major relational databases. www.visualmining.com Whitebirch Private Whitebirch focuses on forecasting and modeling, using an advanced modeling approach. The goal is to help companies create a working financial model of the business for use in scenario analysis, profitability planning, contingency planning, business valuations, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate development analysis. This multidimensional analytic solution can be delivered as a service over the Internet, or onpremise. www.whitebirchsoftware.com Zap Technology Private This Australia-based company is a Microsoft Gold Partner and has offices in Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Zap is a specialist Microsoft Dynamics Business Intelligence partner and offers out-of-the-box applications prebuilt for Microsoft s Dynamics NAV, CRM, and Great Plains applications. Zap offers overall performance management capabilities that strongly leverage Microsoft s platform. www.zaptechnology.com SPRING I 2011 I www.businessfinancemag.com