The world of financial planning and analysis has observed changes of such magnitude that they cannot be described by our traditional statistical and analytical models.

As an FP&A professional, you deal with data. Your data travels a long way from its source through applications to your reporting system.The data you deal with is the tip of the iceberg. The major part of data processing is the part that is hidden beneath the water. This article describes the four key actions that can help FP&A to become data-driven.

Nowadays, everyone is talking about being ‘data-driven’. What lies beneath this idea, is the wish to make the decision-making process easier and more effective. But in general, it means delivering the required data of acceptable quality to the relevant decision makers when and where they need it.

What are the FP&A concerns about being ‘data-driven’?

Driver-based planning (DBP) is an essential part of the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) armoury, enabling organisations – ranging from the smallest non-profit to a multinational – to become quicker, more dynamic and agile in their planning and in responding to internal and external changes in the business environment. 

We live in an unpredictable world where the future is uncertain. If it was then we would all make a fortune by making strategic ‘bets’ on certain outcomes. But the world is not like that.