In the dynamic landscape of modern businesses, efficient planning and budgeting are indispensable pillars for sustainable growth and success. However, many organizations struggle to find the right tools and methods to achieve their strategic objectives and optimize their performance. Among the myriad of solutions available, NetSuite Planning and Budgeting software emerges as a comprehensive toolset tailored to meet the intricate needs of contemporary enterprises.
This article delves into the essence of NetSuite Planning and Budgeting software, exploring its functionalities, benefits, and integration capabilities. It also provides some practical examples and best practices on how to leverage this powerful solution to streamline your planning and budgeting processes, enhance your decision-making, and drive your business forward.
To boost business performance, a solid framework for managing strategy, planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting is crucial – known as enterprise performance management (EPM). Yet, EPM isn’t universal. Integration across business aspects is key. Here, we introduce the Connected EPM Framework, encompassing five vital components, each explained for significance and functionality. By the end, you’ll understand how to implement it effectively in your business.
Connected EPM Framework
Connected EPM Framework is a framework that enables enterprise performance management (EPM) by connecting different aspects of business strategy, planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting. EPM is a process that helps organizations align their goals, resources, and actions to achieve optimal performance and outcomes. Connected EPM Framework consists of five components:
1. Transaction Systems
These are the systems required to run day-to-day business operations, such as financials, human capital, sales, and others. They capture and store the data that reflects the current state and performance of the organization.
2. Information Process
This is the data processing for different functions to build the required data marts for finance, HR, revenue, procurement, and others. Data marts are subsets of data warehouses that are tailored to specific business needs and users. They enable faster and easier access to relevant and consistent data for analysis and reporting.
3. Performance Management
This includes all the required applications that help achieve management excellence by executing the management processes. These processes include strategic planning, operational planning, budgeting, forecasting, scenario modeling, consolidation, and closing. They help translate the organizational vision and strategy into actionable plans and targets, and monitor and measure the progress and performance against them.
4. Management Reporting
This includes the management reporting packages such as budget book, strategic plan, annual report, financial statements with notes, variance analysis, profitability analysis, and others. These reports provide insights and information to support decision making and communication at various levels of the organization. They help evaluate the performance, identify the gaps, and recommend the actions for improvement.
5. Integrated Analytics
This includes the integrated financial and operational data for actual and budget in a single data source that enables ad hoc analysis and predictive planning. This data source is also known as the “Single Version of Truth”, as it ensures that everyone in the organization is working with the same and accurate data. This enables more effective and efficient analysis, forecasting, and planning across different functions and scenarios.
The 3 main Tools of NetSuite Planning & Budgeting
1. Budgets in NetSuite
NetSuite allows you to create and manage budgets for financial planning purposes. Budgets provide information for reports, but they do not control actual income and expense. You can use budgets to estimate and compare your expected and actual results, and to perform variance analysis and profitability analysis. Some of the key benefits of using budgets in NetSuite are:
1. Budget Year and Periods: Amounts per Account
Each budget covers a year and permits the entry of an amount per account for each accounting period in the year. You can create budgets for income, expense, asset, liability, and equity accounts.
2. Budget Criteria: Performance by Level
You can create budgets for specific customers, projects, items, departments, classes, locations, or any combination of these criteria. This allows you to track and analyze your performance at different levels of detail and granularity.
3. Budget Import: Import from External Systems
You can use the CSV Import Assistant to import budgets from external systems, such as Excel or other ERP systems. This saves you time and effort from manually entering budget data in NetSuite.
4. Budget for Statistical Accounts: KPIs and Ratios
You can also enter budgets for statistical accounts, such as headcount, units sold, or hours worked. Statistical accounts are non-monetary accounts that measure quantities or ratios. You can use them to calculate key performance indicators (KPIs) and ratios, such as revenue per employee, gross margin per unit, or utilization rate.
5. Multiple Budgets: Scenarios and Comparisons
You can create multiple budgets for the same time period and combination of criteria, using the Multiple Budget feature. This enables you to model different scenarios and assumptions, and to compare them side by side.
6. Copy Budget: Save Time and Use History
You can copy budgets from previous budgets or financial results, using the Copy Budget feature. This helps you to save time and to base your budget on historical data or trends.
7. Budget in Multiple Currencies
You can set up budgets in different currencies, using the Multiple Currencies feature. This allows you to budget in your base currency or in the currency of your subsidiaries, customers, or vendors.
8. Budget Reports and Dashboards
You can generate various reports and dashboards to view and analyze your budget data, such as Budget vs. Actual, Budget Overview, Budget Performance, and Budget by Class. You can also customize these reports and dashboards to suit your specific needs and preferences.
2. SuiteApp: Expense Commitments Budget Validation
If you want to have more control and visibility over your expenses and budgets, you might want to check out the Expense Commitments and Budget Validation SuiteApp. This SuiteApp is a NetSuite add-on that enables you to create and manage budgets for specific account, segment, and period combinations, and to validate your expense transactions against those budgets for free. This way, you can avoid overspending and ensure that your expenses are aligned with your plans and goals. Some of the features and benefits of this SuiteApp are:
Budget Control Key Benefits
- Easily create budget entries for any account, segment, and period combination, using the Budget Entry page or the CSV Import Assistant.
- Get warnings when transactions exceed the budget or budget threshold for the account and segment combination, using the Budget Validation feature. You can also set up email notifications and approval workflows for budget exceptions.
- Enhanced reporting capabilities, using the Budget vs Actual Report and the Budget Overview Report. You can also customize these reports to suit your needs and preferences.
Budget Control Value Adds
- Budget entry, designate budgets for control or for reporting. You can create multiple versions of a budget for the same period, and specify which one is used for validation and which one is used for reporting.
- Purchase Orders, Purchase Requests (Employee Center) and Vendor Bills validation against Budgeted amounts. You can validate these transactions against the budget for the account and segment combination, and get warnings or errors if they exceed the budget or budget threshold.
- Budget vs actual reporting. You can compare your budgeted and actual amounts for any account, segment, and period combination, and analyze the variances and trends. You can also drill down to the transaction level for more details.
The Expense Commitments and Budget Validation SuiteApp is a managed SuiteApp and is automatically updated whenever enhancements or new features are added. To install this SuiteApp, you need to have access to the SuiteApp Marketplace in NetSuite, and enable some features and modules in your account. For more information, you can read the documentation or contact the support team.
3. Oracle NetSuite Planning and Budgeting Software
Oracle NetSuite Planning and Budgeting is a powerful tool that automates and streamlines planning and budgeting processes, enabling finance teams to produce budgets and forecasts efficiently. It supports a range of financial planning activities and offers numerous benefits:
- Budgeting and Forecasting: Simplify the creation of detailed budgets and forecasts, reducing cycle times and improving accuracy.
- Scenario Planning and Modeling: Utilize flexible what-if modeling capabilities to prepare for various business scenarios and outcomes.
- Revenue Planning: Develop comprehensive revenue plans that align with business strategies and market conditions.
- Operational Expense: Manage and control operational expenses effectively to maintain financial health.
- Workforce Planning: Align human resource planning with business needs to ensure strategic hiring and budget adherence.
- Trended Financial Statements: Analyze financial statements over time to identify trends and inform decision-making.
- Data Synchronization: Ensure data consistency with automated synchronization between NetSuite ERP and planning modules.
- Dashboards: Gain insights from intuitive dashboards that display key financial metrics and performance indicators.
- Microsoft Office Integration: Enhance productivity with seamless integration between NetSuite and Microsoft Office applications.
Oracle NSPB Smart View: Empowering Analysis
Oracle NetSuite Planning and Budgeting Smart View revolutionizes the way businesses analyze data by offering full ad hoc and free-form analysis capabilities. This powerful tool integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office, enhancing productivity and providing a flexible approach to financial analysis. Here’s what Smart View brings:
- Smart View Worksheets: Create custom data perspectives with Smart View Worksheets, allowing for tailored views and deeper insights into financial data.
- One-Click Data Refresh: Update NetSuite NSPB data across Office documents dynamically with just a single click, ensuring data accuracy and consistency.
- Selective Document Import: Import specific pages from NetSuite NSPB documents as needed, providing control over the data integration process.
- Excel and PowerPoint Integration: Directly link formatted grids and charts in Excel and PowerPoint to NetSuite NSPB, enabling dynamic data visualization.
- Office Report Creation: Generate comprehensive reports using NetSuite NSPB data in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, streamlining the reporting process.
- VBA Macros for Enhanced Reporting: Utilize VBA macros in Excel for greater reporting flexibility and automation, saving time and increasing efficiency.
What is the difference between NetSuite Planning and Budgeting and NetSuite Core?
