The third meeting of the Singapore FP&A Board meeting took place on Thursday, 30th November 2017. The Board interactively discussed Why Driver-Based Planning Matters for Modern FP&A.

The Meeting Agenda

• Evolution of Driver-Based Planning.
• Driver-Based approach as a basis for predictive analytics.
• Driver-Based approach as a basis for effective Rolling Forecast and Scenario Planning.
• Mini-case study from the field: Bhavesh Shah, Sr Vice President Finance at Johnson & Johnson, will share his insight on Driver-Based Planning.
• Evolution of Driver-Based Planning. Group work.
• Conclusions and recommendations

25 senior finance practitioners were debating on how DBP can help to improve decision-making process, reduce planning and forecasting cycles and move business culture to the more analytical aspect. The board was also actively brainstorming on stages of DBP Maturity model.

The members represented local companies and large international organisations, such as:

• Citi,
• JP Morgan,
• Johnson & Johnson,
• Medtronic,
• Mondelez,
• Thomson Reuters,
• and many others.

The main conclusions from the discussion:

• Data quality is one of the biggest issues for the implementation of DBP.
• In order to succeed, one needs to find the 20% of drivers that can explain 80% of the results.
• Simplicity should not be underestimated. It is important.
• More people should be involved in contributing less data more frequently.
• Drivers should be used as the language of performance.
• For changes, one should get sponsorship from the top.
• It is important to invest in a flexible system.
• Implementation should be done in phases.  

The meeting was sponsored by Michael Page, one of the world's leading professional recruitment consultancies, and Unit4/Prevero, a leading Corporate Performance Management (CPM) provider.

To learn more about Driver-Based Planning, see related articles on the website.