Applications for financial performance management, part of SAP solutions for enterprise performance management, provide comprehensive tools to streamline financial processes, enhance reporting accuracy, and support strategic decision-making. They integrate enterprise data to improve operational efficiency, ensure compliance, and enable better alignment between strategy and execution. By leveraging these applications, organizations can better manage costs and profitability, ultimately achieving greater agility and confidence in their financial management practices.

1. Applications for financial FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
performance management
help address changing cor-
MANAGEMENT
porate finance priorities. By OPTIMIZE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
integrating enterprise data FOR A COMPETITIVE EDGE
and processes, the applica-
tions streamline traditional
finance processes and deliv-
er strategic insight to better Corporate finance positions have never business challenges, such as improving
align business strategies to been more challenging. In addition to operational efficiency, ensuring regula-
traditional duties like financial planning, tory and statutory compliance, and ulti-
achieve financial excellence. reporting, and governance, CFOs and mately controlling performance for maxi-
financial managers are being tasked mized profitability. Applications for
with far more strategic responsibilities. financial performance management inte-
Historically, the office of the CFO has grate enterprise data and processes to
had to rely on a disparate set of tools deliver critical information that supports
from multiple vendors to begin to ad- decisions made by all key stakeholders.
dress these many challenges – which CFOs, finance departments, and busi-
include mitigating the risk of restate- ness managers are able to utilize appli-
ments, improving budget cycle times, cations that cover the following critical
aligning resources and execution with areas:
the strategic goals of the organization, • Strategic management of resources
and having a complete understanding of – Optimize efficiency by aligning en-
the drivers affecting cost and profitabili- terprise strategy with individual, func-
ty throughout the organization. tional, and divisional performance
measures and establish goals, initia-
SAP helps you to meet your obligations tives, and key performance indicators
today while laying the foundation for (KPIs) that are linked and truly reflect
greater agility in the future with applica- the desired strategic goals of your
tions for financial performance manage- organization
ment. Part of SAP® solutions for enter- • Planning, budgeting, and forecasting
prise performance management, – Efficiently manage and measure
applications for financial performance business plans and enable proactive,
management cover the full life cycle of rather than reactive, business tactics
financial management – and put you in • Consolidation and financial report-
control of performance. Comprising ing – Accelerate the financial close
best-of-breed functionality, the applica- process and have confidence in deliv-
tions integrate enterprise data and pro- ering the information your organiza-
cesses to streamline traditional finance tion and stakeholders require
processes. You can gain strategic in- • Financial governance and compli-
sight for calculated decision making and ance control – Ensure that financial
can confidently rely on your legal and business processes meet compliance
management reporting. You achieve a requirements worldwide to mitigate
thorough understanding of how value is risk
generated so you can align your busi- • Cost and profitability modeling –
ness processes more precisely with Maximize profitability through a real-
strategic goals. time understanding of cost (including
IT services costing), capacity, and rev-
Support Business Needs enue across many dimensions of the
business such as product, channel,
With the right data, performance man- and geography
agement applications, and resources,
finance managers can address many
SAP Solution Brief
SAP Solutions for Enterprise Performance Management

2. Improve Business Processes to Strategize and Prioritize financial and operational planning pro-
Achieve Ongoing Financial The SAP Strategy Management appli- cess with a single application. Familiar
Excellence cation helps both line managers and applications such as Microsoft Excel as
corporate executives develop and exe- well as intuitive, Web-enabled thin cli-
Performance management is not a one- cute strategic plans. By clearly linking ents serve as native interfaces to the
time event; rather, it is an iterative, on- strategic goals to initiatives, KPIs, and application, allowing you to minimize
going process that must be driven from people, you can set clear priorities with training, plan more efficiently, and im-
the top down. The goal is to improve accountability and risk awareness that prove budget cycle times.
the financial health of the organization all stakeholders understand and can act
on a continual basis. Applications for on with confidence. With innovative features such as busi-
financial performance management ness process flows, you can rest as-
support the performance life cycle by The software helps you transform writ- sured that processes such as annual
providing strong strategy management ten plans into living documents so that budgeting or closing the books are car-
technology that promotes consistency you can define, discuss, and update ried out according to corporate guide-
and advances alignment (see Figure). goals with employees. Documents can lines. In addition, you can enable more
Planning and consolidation software include rich contextual visualizations calculated decision making by incor-
streamlines planning and ensures a that drive greater adoption of key ob- porating predictive analysis and risk-
fast, confident close, and activity-based jectives across your organization. In adjusted planning.
costing software manages costs and addition, you can intelligently manage
helps maximize profitability. A new resources and exceptions to focus on Monitor and Analyze
breadth and confidence in corporate initiatives that will have the most Financial consolidation and legal and
data provides the foundation to opti- impact. management reporting processes form
mize enterprise performance and ad- a critical foundation of any organiza-
dress the complete spectrum of finan- Plan and Execute tion’s performance management activi-
cial performance management tasks With the SAP Business Planning and ties. SAP covers the full spectrum of
within the process life cycle, summa- Consolidation application, you can requirements for performing your finan-
rized in the figure below. streamline the bottom-up and top-down cial consolidation with our applications.
Your account team can advise you on
the best choice for your business.
Comprising best-of-breed
Strategize and functionality, applications for
Prioritize
financial performance manage-
ment integrate enterprise data
Model and Plan
Optimize and Execute
and processes to streamline
traditional finance processes.
Monitor and
Analyze
Figure: Performance Management Processes

3. Our applications support automated Reach Greater Potential Achieve operational and financial excel-
consolidation processes that meet all lence by identifying and eliminating the
legal and reporting requirements, in- Applications for financial performance sources of cost most crippling to your
cluding those for generally accepted management drive financial excellence. business and focusing on areas that
accounting principles and the interna- You can capitalize on the value of your maximize profitability.
tional financial reporting standards. The corporate data to mitigate the risk of
software also features support for mul- restatements, improve budget cycle SAP Solutions for Enterprise
tiple currencies, currency translation times, and align resources and execu- Performance Management
adjustments, minority interest and equi- tion with the strategic goals of the or-
ty calculations, and intercompany rec- ganization. In addition, you gain insight The applications for financial perfor-
onciliation, for example. Automating into the drivers affecting cost and prof- mance management are part of SAP
processes and improving compliance itability throughout the organization, solutions for enterprise performance
with regulatory and financial standards which creates competitive advantage. management – a comprehensive set of
– including a full audit trail – not only The applications deliver the following solutions that help your company capi-
help reduce external audit costs but business benefits: talize on the value of your existing data
also enable books to be closed faster, • Strategic alignment – Synchronize assets. With these solutions, your or-
generating financial reports that you goals with initiatives, priorities, re- ganization becomes more agile, gaining
have more confidence in. sources, budgets, reports, risk man- organizational alignment, visibility, and
agement, and analysis processes to greater confidence to give you optimal
Model and Optimize access the information you need to control and competitive advantage.
The BusinessObjects™ Profitability and improve performance and close the These solutions can work with SAP
Cost Management application delivers gap between strategy and execution Business Suite applications; SAP solu-
visibility into the true drivers impacting • Improved visibility – Ensure that all tions for governance, risk, and compli-
your bottom line. By linking operational stakeholders in your organization ance; and the business intelligence
activities and financial perspectives, own, maintain, and share information platform from SAP. As a result, you
you’re able to gain a deep understand- in context and in real time so they can maximize business profitability,
ing of the levers affecting organiza- can identify areas for improvement manage risk and compliance, and
tional costs and profitability of any and evaluate strategic scenarios for optimize corporate systems, people,
dimension of your business – your cus- maximum business impact and processes.
tomers, products, and channels – both • Increased agility – Improve business
current and future. You can identify the processes to speed performance Find Out More
causes of underperformance, test your management cycles; deliver trusted
assumptions, and take incisive action. data to accelerate every stakehold- To find out more about SAP solutions
You can also evaluate the cost of pro- er’s ability to communicate, collabo- for enterprise performance manage-
viding IT services to users within the rate, and execute on a commonly ment, visit www.sap.com/solutions
enterprise. Modeling is rapid and model understood and defined plan of /performancemanagement.
maintenance is minimal, giving a fast action, adjusting plans and execution
time to value and low total cost of as necessary
operation. • Greater confidence – Leverage a
foundation of consistent and trusted
enterprise performance management
data for incisive decision making and
for compliant regulatory, statutory,
and management reporting

4. QUICK FACTS www.sap.com /contactsap
Summary
Applications for financial performance management, part of SAP® solutions for enterprise
performance management, cover the full life cycle of financial management and put you in
control of performance. Comprised of best-of-breed functionality, the applications integrate
enterprise data and processes to streamline traditional finance processes. You can gain
strategic insight for calculated decision making and can confidently rely on your legal and
management reporting. You achieve a thorough understanding of how value is generated so
you can align your business processes more precisely with strategic goals.
Challenges
• Inconsistent or inaccurate data and reporting that could lead to the risk of restatements
• Lengthy financial management cycles
• Inability to predict future costs that impact growth
• Lack of alignment between enterprise strategy and day-to-day operations
Supported Business Processes and Software Functions
• Strategy management – Align strategy with execution to achieve operational excellence
• Planning – Streamline planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes to reduce perfor-
mance management cycle times
• Profitability and cost management – Fully understand what drives cost and profitability
across any dimension of your business
• Financial consolidation – Accelerate closing, manage reporting cycles, and comply with
regulations
Business Benefits
• Strategic alignment – Synchronize goals with initiatives, priorities, resources, budgets,
reports, risk management, and analysis processes to access the information you need to
improve performance and close the gap between strategy and execution
• Improved visibility – Ensure that all stakeholders in your organization own, maintain, and
share information in context and in real time so they can identify areas for improvement
and evaluate strategic scenarios for maximum business impact
• Increased agility – Improve business processes to speed performance management
cycles and deliver trusted data to accelerate every stakeholder’s ability to communicate,
collaborate, and execute on a commonly understood and defined plan of action, adjusting
plans and execution as necessary
• Greater confidence – Leverage a foundation of consistent and trusted enterprise perfor-
mance management data for incisive decision making and for compliant regulatory,
statutory, and management reporting 50 084 068 (08/04)
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