Procession's Financial Forecasting Suite
enables accurate, real-time monitoring of sales performance
within an organisation whilst at the same time providing a simple,
easy-to-use tool for the sales force to record, update, monitor
and control their sales forecasts.
Procession's Financial Forecasting Suite
is a process-driven, web-enabled, single entry solution from
the generation of the sales lead through to the cash receipt,
via inter-linked modules. This enables increased sales force
effectiveness through automatic system responses to their requirements.
Real-time reports on their progress are available giving reliable
and as accurate forecasting.
KEY
FEATURES
Hierarchy - From the CEO and Board Members to
the individual, complete hierarchies can be implemented for
both sales and finance and administration to enable each management
level to view the system, as any level below would see it, thus
easing all management reviews and ensuring that the individual
only sees their data. This hierarchical view also applies to
all reports.
Multi-Currency
- Each new sales opportunity can be entered in any currency.
Each user has a default currency. In many reports, the user
is able to switch between viewing details in their default currency
or the currency of entry.
Management
Dashboard - Graphical viewing of key performance indicators
at the 'click' of the menu option.
Inter-Linked
Modules - There are four inter-linked modules - Opportunities,
Invoice, Cash and Revenue. Opportunities is the core of the
system. It can be installed on its own or with either or both
of the Invoice and Revenue modules. The Invoice module is a
prerequisite of the Cash module.
Real-time
Data entry and Close - Every aspect of the system is
real-time, and is automatically updated whenever any data is
entered or changed. The close of a period is instant and reports
automatically give management a real-time view of the numbers.
Minimal
Prescription - There is a complete interface that allows
office administrative staff to customise every aspect of the
system including the language and labels used. The organisation's
structure of people, regions and areas is instantly mapped by
simple web interfaces. The accounting policies and invoice/cash/revenue
spreading rules are easily entered, as are the optional sales
and revenue compliance control questions.
Inter-Connectivity
- An XML Gateway is provided as a standard within the
system. Using standard XML schemas, automatic verification,
transmission and retrieval of data is possible, enabling business-to
business Enterprise Application Integration of all or any of
the modules to CRM, General Ledger or MRP for example.
The Modules
The Opportunities
module provides complete control over the sales
forecasting process, as opportunities progress from initial
contact and interest through to being a completed order.
· The system only requests the information on each opportunity
that is absolutely necessary to
produce a forecast, ensuring that the sales force are
not overloaded by irrelevant data
requirements.
· Sales force members are provided with periodic automatic
reminders to update their forecasts
· Automatic reminders are also provided of next client
meeting dates etc.
· Each opportunity can be qualified by a probability
of 'getting the order'. Alternatively sales
force members can complete a list of sales compliance
questions and the system computes the
probability. Either way, management can then apply a
factor to the probability for forecasting
purposes.
· Management can set 'Notifications' which enable them
to focus on key aspects of individual
opportunities by receiving automatic updates when there
is movement in those opportunities.
This enables management by exception rather than constant
inspection.
· Each member of the sales force can be set periodic
targets
Once an Opportunity has reached a configurable
probability the system will automatically start forecasting
within one or all of the Finance modules installed. An option
is to require the sales force member to answer Finance compliance
questions thus enabling users to conform to both US Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and existing UK accounting
practices. These questions can relate to one or more of the
Finance modules.
The Opportunities module controls the
Invoice module. The sales force member can choose
from multiple spreading rules for Invoice issue dates when the
system automatically starts Invoice forecasting.
The Opportunities module controls the
Revenue module. The sales force member can choose
from multiple spreading rules for when Revenue can be recognised
in the corporate results when the system automatically starts
Revenue forecasting.
The Invoice module controls the
Cash module. When the system automatically starts to
forecast invoicing then the system will automatically forecast
when cash is to be received according to pre-defined spreading
rules.
Finance and Administration personnel
participate in all the modules by recording when:
· Orders are received and the resolution of any discrepancies.
· Invoices have been raised.
· Cash has been received.
· Revenue has been recognised.
The Reports
Every module has a complete suite of reports as standard.
These include
· A ClickThru® Stagger Chart
which shows the progression of forecasts over time, and each
monthly forecast is compared to target and actual. The
ClickThru® shows the individual
forecasts which make up each figure on the Stagger Chart.
· The Race2theFinish® report shows how close the
sales force is to meeting its targets and
suggests the most likely forecasts where action can be
taken to meet the targets.
· Monthly and Quarterly forecast reports.
· Historic Opportunities report shows the complete history
of what has happened to a
particular opportunity throughout all modules.
In addition the Opportunities module has the following report:
· Updated Opportunities report shows the movements
to all current opportunities for a given
period.
Whitepapers
Financial
Forecasting Suite
