In this series of blogs, we are looking at the changes that need to occur within an FP&A department in order to cope with the impact of today’s analytic technologies. This blog covers the role of the FP&A Architect.

The FP&A Architect is a relatively new role that is essential if FP&A departments are to take advantage of the latest analytic platforms. These platforms are becoming an essential tool in the analysis of data and in the building of driver-based planning models.  When used correctly, these technologies can give an organisation a competitive advantage by quickly identifying unexpected trends and then supporting the development of resource plans that provide the best outcomes. When ignored or used incorrectly, organisations can be easily misled into thinking that everything is on track and then when a change is noticed, it’s far too late to respond in an efficient and effective way.

A technology platform consists of a group of technologies that can be used to build applications to meet particular end-user requirements.  The platform consists of both hardware and software that comes as a complete, fully integrated, package.

For our purposes, an FP&A platform is tailored to the building of planning and analysis applications that typically has capabilities for identifying relationships within internal and external data; that can use that information to produce realistic forecasts and plans; that provides tailored reports, analyses and alerts to users where ever they are, and on any device; that can be integrated with the organisation’s existing transactional systems; and whose applications can quickly adapt to a fast-moving business environment.

Increasingly, these platforms are typically cloud-based and although are promoted as being ‘easy to use', they do require a fair amount of up-to-date application knowledge and some appreciation of the technologies underlying the platform. Also, because these platforms (in particular those that are cloud-based) are relatively new, they are continually being developed by vendors as they seek to differentiate themselves by taking advantage of what these technologies can do.

As a consequence, the person who develops models for end-users must be suitably experienced if they are to make the best use of a modern analytic platform. We call these people - FP&A Architects.

Qualifications of an FP&A Architect

The ideal candidate is unlikely to be an accountant as they will be someone with the following technical abilities:

• They will have used a modern analytic technology platform in a previous role
• They understand the latest technologies that underpin these platforms
• They have a good knowledge of the current analytic developments such as ‘Machine Learning’, ‘Artificial Intelligence', ‘Big Data’, Prescriptive and Predictive Analytics
• They will know what’s involved in developing driver-based models and linking them to both internal and external data sources

As well as these technical skills, the candidate must also have:

• A good understanding of the latest thinking in management techniques, e.g. Beyond Budgeting, Rolling Forecasts
• Good knowledge of the way the organisation works in terms of its business processes and management processes
• An inquisitive mind who can challenge outdated or inappropriate practices
• Good written and oral communication skills
• A methodical approach to documenting developed systems and in the training of end-users 

Of course, an appreciation of finance is useful but not essential. In fact, it is probably easier to train a suitable technical person in finance than it is to train a finance person in technical matters. However, some organisations may already have suitably experienced accountants if they are currently using these platforms.

Like most things, the ideal candidate is probably a rare beast, but they are worth searching out. Good candidates may be those that already work in a pre-sales capacity with a platform vendor as they typically require most of the skills mentioned. Be wary though as most technology vendors have a ‘no poaching’ clause in their contracts.

The demand for this role will only ever increase, and so it’s worth setting up a training program that can take existing staff and ‘up-skill’ them.  But to do this, you will need to have chosen a suitable technology vendor as some of the technical skills will only be relevant to that platform.

When interviewing people do check out what they really know.  If someone uses a technical ‘buzzword’, then get them to explain what it means in practical terms. Ideally set them a practical task that involves them setting up a plan to develop a model and then rolling it out to end users. Remember that you not only want someone with relevant technical abilities, but also one who can collect and assess requirements and, once the model is built, roll it out to end-users.

When you have found someone, hang onto them – they are valuable and will be sought after by other organisations. Just a final word – the ideal candidate is unlikely to have the skill set to perform detailed analyses of large volumes of data. This is reserved to another specialist role – that of the FP&A Analyst, which we will cover in the next blog.

The article was first published at Unit4Prevero.