5 min read

Leveraging a cloud-based Connected Planning platform as your project planner

托马斯·里克尔斯(Thomas Rickels)

托马斯·里克尔斯(Thomas Rickels)是Akili Inc的业务计划顾问,并于2018年6月加入我们的团队。在Akili之前,Thomas曾在Workiva担任客户成功经理,RSR Corporation担任R&D分析师。亚搏彩票手机版免费下载托马斯(Thomas)凭借其金融和商业服务职务的背景,在数据分析和流程改进方面获得了特定的技能,以及领导和参与团队,发展关系以及管理项目从受孕到执行的项目的经验。

Generally speaking, more information is always better than less when it comes to planning. When people know the reason things are happening, even if it’s bad news, they can adjust their expectations and react accordingly. Transparency provides visibility for short-term and long-term strategic decision making. In fact,a survey由人口普查范围内进行,发现大多数员工都希望更高的数据透明度,因为这将使他们能够更好地执行自己的工作。

这就是为什么许多公司现在远离using traditional, siloed business planning platforms where data is segregated toward new, cloud-based365亚博 可以将数据汇总到单个集线器的技术。融合了情报,一个连接的计划平台使团队能够开发更清晰的描述性亚博vip反水和预测性分析,使他们能够做出更好的业务决策。下面,我们将探讨使用电子表格和数据库进行项目计划的利弊亚博vip反水Anaplan

将电子表格用于项目计划的局限性

没有人以相同的方式管理其项目,这使某些人确定适应独特和经常转移要求的工具具有挑战性。由于复杂性,项目计划的典型进入建模工具仍然是传统的电子表格。在许多方面,这是其便利性和易用性的结果。

In a traditional spreadsheet, you can easily make a purchase order list, develop pivot tables to visualize the data, and create listings of what employee resources are on each project. For these basic tasks, a spreadsheet works great. Yet, when you start increasing the size of your project files, the limitations of a localized, isolated spreadsheet file begin to materialize. All of the sudden, your spreadsheet can’t handle the data volume you want it to crunch anymore. It begins to slow down, crash, and in some cases, can even become corrupted. The common solution here is break the data up into another spreadsheet. However, when each set of project data is kept in a separate file, it becomes difficult to make strategic connections between plans and understand the data from a global perspective, thereby reducing transparency and collaboration that would be beneficial for all stakeholders.

When spreadsheets aren’t enough: the pros and cons of databases

Alternatively, you could go the other direction and leverage a database to hold your data and use a business intelligence (BI) tool to visualize it. The pros of using a database over of a traditional spreadsheet for project planning are that data is stored in single, centralized location and, with a BI tool, you can create reports to illustrate the story data is telling.

While this is certainly a functional solution, the drawback is that you lose flexibility. Often, leveraging a database requires relying on IT to build reports within the BI tool and create the connections between the database and the BI tool. While you do gain data transparency with this solution, you forfeit the ability to truly own your plans. It should be noted BI tools by definition are data visualization tools they help report outputs of data but are not designed for calculating and forecasting.

If you choose to implement a database-oriented solution, you may still have to accept doing your forecasting in a traditional spreadsheet, loading the forecast data into a database, and then visualizing it with a BI tool. Overall, this is still a fragmented and cumbersome process that requires effective management of poorly connected tools and doesn’t provide the flexibility needed for project planning in today’s unpredictable business environment.

基于云的连接项目计划的力量

如今,项目计划的最佳解决方案是利用Anaplan(Anaplan)等基于云的连接计划平台在集中式枢纽中创建计划,从而使所有数据易于访问和可见。亚博vip反水作为一个高度可自定义的平台,Anaplan允许您对任何业务流程进行建模,并创建可以由最终用户对业务进行颗粒化的报告,而无需依赖它。

For instance, you can leverage a Connected Planning platform to create a report to compare, track, and forecast KPIs across multiple projects. The end-user can still pivot and visualize the data in much the same way as traditional spreadsheets, yet they have the power of HyperBlock technology at their disposal, which enables potentially massive sets of data to be calculated in real time. When combined, the added benefits of a cloud-based Connected Planning platform are tremendous. Everything can be managed and created by end users with no need for advanced coding skills IT support. Customizability and real-time insight capabilities provide the much-needed flexibility for project planning. And, because Anaplan can handle larger datasets and everyone is working on the same set of data, you can achieve greater transparency across the business to drive faster, better decision-making.

项目计划的未来已连接

To make the best decisions and maximize project planning efficiencies, today’s business leaders must be willing to evolve past outdated point solutions, databases, and spreadsheets of yesterday. They need to look forward and embrace the adoption of new cloud-based planning solutions that connect data, people, and plans across the enterprise. With greater visibility, collaboration, and real-time insights, you can better see how your decisions impact not only yourself, your team, and your function, but also the business as a whole. To make this a reality, the solution is a cloud-based platform like Anaplan that has the capacity, speed, flexibility, and scalability that enterprise businesses need to make the right decisions when it matters and ultimately, drive growth.

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