WHITE PApER

CASH FOREcASTING

Cash Forecasting
This white paper looks at the requirements for cash forecasting and how CorPeuM uniquely meets those needs.

1. Overview 2 1.1 The changing business environment 2 1.2 Cash: Where does it go? 3 2. Cash Forecast Models 4 2.1 Basic capabilities 4 2.2 Advanced content 4 2.3 Processes 5 3. The Role of Technology 6 3.1 Basic Capabilities 6 3.2 What makes CorPeuM different 6 - 9 4. The CorPeuM Solution for Cash Forecasting 10 4.1 Overview 10 4.2 Process: Initialise Cash Forecast 11 - 12 4.3 Process: Forecast Sales 13 - 14 4.4 Process: Adjust Forecast 15 4.5 Process: Generate Profit and Loss / Cash Forecast 16 4.6 Reports 17 - 20 4.7 Case Study Enhancements 20 5. Next Steps 21 6. CorPeuM Cash Forecasting video 21 7. About CorPeuM 21

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Overview Cash Forecasting

1. Overview
1.1 The changing business environment
For any business to survive and grow it must have: Clear understanding of the market in which it operates. e.g. the factors driving the market; the competitors involved; and the returns to be made from investments. An effective business model that determines how value is generated for customers and the resources required to sustain it. Adequate funding in the form of cash both now and into the future for the chosen business model within the perceived business environment. Typically much of the cash required by the business at its inception will come from investors or provided as loans, but as the business becomes established that cash will come from existing operations. As a result, the ability to accurately forecast cash and manage the way in which it is used is key for sustainability. However, forecasting with any degree of accuracy is becoming increasingly difficult in todays business environment compared with 10 or more years ago, for the following reasons:

Figure 1: Increasing complexity and speed of business Figure 1: Increasing complexity and speed of business The increasing speed of business and globalization. In the 1980s it was hard for organizations to enter a market, produce a new product, or make a major change to its business model within 1 or 2 years. Today with the advent of e-commerce, geographic boundaries are removed and allow both real and virtual companies to be established and effectively communicate to customers in a fraction of the time of previous ages. The increasing complexity of business. 20 years ago organizations were typically aligned with defined markets and mass-produced products/services. Today the Internet has made it possible for intermediaries to operate and tailor products for individual needs, while social networks influence choice based on a range of non-product factors such as social responsibility.

These factors have caused a rapid decrease in the planning horizon - the ability to predict into future time periods with any degree of accuracy. As a consequence the traditional planning timescales of annual budgets, quarterly forecasts and monthly reporting are inadequate for most organizations needs. Coupled with the above is a business environment where funding sources are becoming scare and more expensive. For these reasons its vital for organizations to place cash at the heart of its planning and forecasting processes. This requires planning systems that can cope with the complexity of modelling cash flows. A complexity that most CPM vendors find hard to support due to the constraints imposed by the architecture and capabilities of their products. This is not the case with CorPeuM a revolutionary new CPM application that was designed specifically for todays turbulent business environment, as will be outlined in this document.

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Overview Cash Forecasting

1.2 Cash: Where does it go?
Cash is the life-blood of an organization and cant be ignored. Like any other resource it needs to be carefully monitored and managed, as once spent, it cant be re-used. However, Profit & Loss reports with its focus on financial performance for a particular period, typically a month, is still the key management tool for making decisions. What is needed is some way to view budgets from a cash view that could ultimately lead to better timing of decisions. For example, knowing when cash is available means actions could be bought forward; if it is not going to be available as planned then decisions can be delayed so that unbudgeted finance costs are avoided. But accurate cash forecasting is difficult to do. Consider the following: Figure 2: Two very different views of business In each of the above scenarios, the traditional P&L view is the same, but the resulting cash forecast is very different. In Scenario 1 and 2 cash flows in and out at different rates during the period, causing a finance charge due to a bank overdraft, and yet the balance for the month is positive. The explanation is down to a number of factors, which includes: When customers pay for their orders. When suppliers are paid for their goods and services. When cash is paid to employees and other vendors to keep the business model operational. Other cash payments such as loan repayments and dividends. Finance charges due to non-budgeted cash deficits these directly affect the bottom line.

Figure 3: Scenario 2 in more detail shows cash going out in the form of payments before cash is recieved from sales, causing a bank overdraft and a subsequent finance charge.

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Cash Forecast Models

2.
2.1

Cash Forecast Models

Basic capabilities

A cash forecast model is a vital management tool for making business decisions. While its true that an ERP or similar system can hold data relating to cash, what they dont allow you to do easily is to play around with the data. For example, to see a revised cash forecast based on changes to supplier or customer payment profiles; or to consider what cash would be required if there was a need to increase production to meet a change in demand. Thats the purpose of a cash forecast model to let management gauge the impact of change but without having to commit to those changes within the supporting ERP system. To do this accurately, data has to be modelled at small time intervals, e.g. weekly or even daily, as well as take into account different suppliers credit terms and customer payment profiles. Sales revenue forecasts are also needed by customer and product or service, while direct costs should be tracked by supplier. The measures involved in a cash model include a combination of P&L, Balance Sheet and operational items such as: Cash balances Inventory levels Production schedules Debt servicing payments Exchange gain/loss Accruals for dividends Accruals for future investment Bank interest In holding this content, basic cash forecast models should then allow the following to be assessed: Changes to customer orders and payment terms Changes to specific supplier price and payments terms A mix of suppliers for the same bought-in materials/services The timing of when external resources are bought in The impact of change in financing arrangements

2.2 Advanced capabilities

Enhancements to the above model could include the ability to: Evaluate sales probabilities on individual forecasts. E.g. forecasts that are more than a few months out may not yet be fully agreed but have a probability of 80% of being closed by that time. These probabilities can then be used to generate a number of scenarios such as most likely, optimistic and pessimistic forecast. For a manufacturer, the model could hold production capability and associated manufacturing cost profiles based on volumes. These are then used to determine the maximum number of products that can be manufactured in any period, and provide information to optimise production costs. Model the production and supply of products to customers from different locations. This would factor in transportation charges according to the location of both the client and supplier. Evaluate risk. For example, the model can be used to assess the impact on cash if: An order is cancelled, production gets delayed, clients pay late.

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Cash Forecast Models

2.3 Processes
Cash forecasting for an organization involves many people that must supply data in a set order. The following example looks at what is involved for a manufacturer or service provider:

Figure 4: Processes involved in forecasting cash The process starts with the collection of sales forecasts by customer. This forecast is compared with current resources, and in the case of a manufacturer - the production schedule, with any under/over stock situations being noted. Next, those responsible for the supply of products/services review the manufacturing or resource schedule, to make sure there is adequate stock of raw materials. For service organizations those raw materials could be consultants or the availability of other services. Some dialogue may then be required between sales and those responsible for the delivery of goods/services, to optimise the organizations ability to serve customers. For example, by delaying the delivery of a product/service or increasing production to make more product available to meet demand. Once agreed, the cash inflow can be predicted by referencing individual customer payment terms. Where additional raw materials or external services are required, procurement will need to order from one or more suppliers. It may be more advantageous to order a mix from different suppliers depending on availability, price and payments terms. Once settled, referencing supplier payment terms will then produce a predicted cash outflow for external supplies. To this information other cash consumers will need to be added. This will include operational departments, financial obligations to investors and agreed interest/loan repayments to banks. From all the above a cash forecast can then be generated. Out of this, cash may be put aside for future investments and non-planned payments made to banks for shortfalls in cash during certain periods. These processes are not one-time events. They need to occur on a continuous basis triggered by events (e.g. a new sales forecast, or a supplier not delivering on time) as well as a date on the calendar (the weekly sales forecast); and actions between departments need to be carefully co-ordinated so that everything that makes up the forecast is done in the right order.

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The Role of Technology

3. The Role of Technology
3.1
As can be seen from the previous section, to create an accurate cash forecast requires a number of system capabilities that include: Holding data by date that can then be aggregated into a range of time periods (e.g. week, month, season, etc.). Holding customer payment terms and price. Holding supplier payment terms and price. Being able to mix a combination of P&L, Balance sheet and non-financial operational measures. Ability to load data from external systems (e.g. resource levels and production schedules). Rules that allow the time-shifting of data in order to calculate the cash impact of a sale/purchase in future periods. Ability to co-ordinate activities in the forecast process as to what and when users can enter or review results. Extensive reporting and analysis capabilities that report on both a P&L and Cash point of view.

Basic modelling capabilities

3.2

CorPeuM is a modern CPM application that has been specifically architected for todays complex, fast changing business environment. It possesses the attributes of a modern BI/CPM solution in that it is multidimensional in nature; is financially intelligent and can handle a mixture of financial and statistical measures; is multi-user where users are controlled in terms of their access and data manipulation capabilities; has named-based rules for generating analyses with integrity; and supports unlimited numbers of business dimensions, members and supporting structures.

What makes CorPeuM different?

Figure 5: CorPeuMs unqiue architecture designed for modelling cash But there the comparison ends. In the context of cash forecasting CorPeuMs architecture has some unique capabilities that make the development of cash forecasting applications relatively simple compared with traditional CPM solutions. These differences can be summarised as follows:

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The Role of Technology

Data Modelling
CorPeuM collects data in multiple formats with different levels of granularity and supporting information. For example when holding customer details, the data model may contain their name, the price they pay per product, their payment terms, and the sales contact. For sales forecasts the data model may consist of customer name, the products being ordered, expected delivery date and the probability of the contract being confirmed. Figure 6: CorPeuM is able to model different levels of detail and combine them into a single report. These models work from a central set of definitions but the dimensionality of each model and supporting information including text is appropriate to the data being collected. CorPeuM is then able to combine information from multiple data models to create Reporting Models from which reports are produced. This design is fundamentally different from most solutions that require the model to be determined by the way data is to be reported. They also typically require that all the different reporting needs are held in a common multi-dimensional model where dimensions not being used are hidden from users. This design is more complex to set up, difficult to maintain should new analyses be required, and greatly impacts reporting abilities.

Time/date intelligence

The time dimension within CorPeuM is a true calendar and not just a silo for containing data. It understands the normal spans of time such as days, weeks, months and quarters in each year, and can also be configured to understand weekends, holidays, seasons and any other kind of time grouping. To go with this calendar, all data is assigned a date (this is a true date and not just a storage cell) irrespective of the structures in which it is collected. So for example, sales forecasts can be entered on a weekly basis, with interest rates calculated daily.

Figure 7: CorPeuM has a true calendar for storing data and structures This ability to assign true dates has some powerful reporting and analytical capabilities when reporting cash. For example, CorPeuM can intelligently combine monthly, weekly and daily information and work out the implications of holidays, to produce a consistent, accurate forecast of cash in any time period (including those not yet defined).

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The Role of Technology

Member Attributes
Although dimension members such as customers and products are organized by hierarchy, each member can also be associated with one or more attributes. These attributes define the characteristics of a member, e.g. Customer Type or Product Price Category, which can then be grouped into specific types, such as Customers, Markets, Channels, and Products. These groupings can be used to analyse data irrespective of their hierarchical position, for example to show payment terms of all customers for Sales Representative J Smith ; to show cash consumed by materials used to produce Product A; and so on.

Workflow

CorPeuM has a sophisticated built-in process management capability for determining how data is collected, transformed, approved and turned into analyses and reports. It includes many predefined, intelligent tasks for jobs such as entering data onto a sheet, approving a submission, producing a report, copying or deleting data, and running multi-dimensional cost allocations.

Figure 8: All user interaction is controlled and monitored through CorPeuMs workflow capabilities. This makes the setting up of complex workflow, as required for cash forcasting, easy and where the order of tasks can be set and triggered according to dates and/or events. When the process is started, CorPeuM automatically distributes specific tasks to those involved, as and when they are required to respond. Notifications are sent if deadlines are violated and late tasks can be automatically escalated to those responsible for overseeing any action. To control the entire process, administrators are provided with an interactive time-line where they can look out for bottlenecks and reassign or re-start tasks as appropriate. This ensures an efficient and effective contiuous process an essential requirement for timely, accurate cash forecasting.

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The Role of Technology

User Passports
Everything a user can do in CorPeuM is defined in their own personal user passport. This is automatically picked up by CorPeuMs workflow and includes information on: Their role in a particular process The data they can view and/or modify The functionality they have access to e.g. building reports, creating processes General settings, such as their language, credentials and contact information Users can have multiple roles depending on the process and can have role hierarchies that are used for defining approval processes and escalation paths.

Audit trail by user and process

All data held by CorPeuM is tracked in terms of how it was entered and modified throughout the different processes. This information can be used when creating reports so that users can see the story behind each and every number.

Reporting capabilities

CorPeuM comes with its own reporting and analysis capabilities that include charts, grids, gauges, formal reports and books.

Figure 9: CorPeuM comes with its own reeporting and analysis capabilities

To simplify the setting up of reports, content is defined in blocks that consist of a specific set of measures and associated dimensions. The data for each block can come from multiple data/reporting models that can be made to act as though they were a single report. This enables, for example, placing cash forecast impact data alongside the corresponding P&L details for specific strategic initiatives. The above capabilities enable the building of systems that support complex performance management processes, but simply and in a single, maintainable solution. In the following pages we will take a look at how CorPeuM can be used to build a sophisticated cash forecasting application.

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Our Solution
4. The CorPeuM Solution for Cash Forecasting
4.1 Overview About the case study
The case study presented here provides organizations with a fast way to build a cash forecast model. It is based on a manufacturer; however the case study is easily modified to reflect any organization and their specific cash forecasting needs. The organization depicted sells a range of products (industrial pumps) to a range of customers that operate around the world. Each customer has their own price and payment terms. Finished products are constructed from bought in raw materials that are supplied by various suppliers. As with customers, each supplier has their own price and payment terms. In order to generate an accurate cash forecast, the process involves the loading of sales forecasts by customer and product, and the current levels of stock of both raw and finished goods, as well as any supplies that are due to be delivered. From this information, the system can report any out of stock situations. The model then allows production levels to be re-assessed and what additional raw materials will be required to fulfil future orders. This information is then combined with departmental expenses and other financial information (opening cash balance, finance charges), to produce a forecast P&L and a cash forecast based on supplier / customer payment terms. The results are contrasted with the original budget. As well as producing a cash forecast, the case study model can be used to show the impact of changing supplier/customer terms as well as changes in cost of raw materials. It can also be adapted to show actual results and be extended to provide a complete enterprise application that supports all aspects of performance management from strategic planning through to budgeting and management reporting.

Data Models

The case study consists of the following data models: Data Model Name Finance Details Operating Expenses Sales Forecast Product Stock details Supplier Forecast Material Stock Details Content Opening and closing bank balances, and interest rates. General expenses incurred by all departments. Sales forecast by customer and product for each sales region. Forecast of finished products held in stock to fulfil sales orders. Materials on order from which products are made. Forecast of raw materials held in stock to fullfill the production of products.

Product Material Detail The volume of materials required to build each product (Bill of materials). These models are multi-dimensional in nature and are designed to hold data as collected within a process. As a consequence they contain different dimension and member combinations, and different levels of granularity. For example sales data is collected by week while others such as departmental expenses could be collected by month or season. Data models also include calculations to manipulate and generate new analyses of the data, for example when cash is due from a customer or is to be paid to a supplier.

Reporting Models

Reporting models are used to combine different combinations of data models to produce reports and analyses. These can be displayed in the form of grids and charts and can include calculations to generate new data. Reports can also show data areas that come from multiple data/reporting models but which act as a single report. The reporting models created in the case study are: Reporting Model Name Profit and Loss Cash Forecast Content Full P&L by department and total company Cash Forecast for the total company

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Our Solution
Reports:
The following reports are provided in the case study: Data Model Name Profit and Loss Statement Cash Forecast Product Stock Forecast Material Stock Forecast Sales Impact on cash Material Cost Impact on cash Department Expenses Impact on cash Profit & Loss Cash Forecast Content Full P&L by department and total company Cash Forecast for the total company Product stock flow by week Raw material stock flow by week Weekly sales revenue and related costs by department Weekly supplier costs by material Weekly summary of expenses by department Full Profit and Loss Statement by week/department showing forecast variance from budget Cash forecast by week showing forecast variance from budget

Workflow

The population of data and reporting models, along with the generation of reports, are controlled by CorPeuMs built-in workflow capability. The case study has a number of pre-built processes to produce a cash forecast, which have been split into the following sets of activities: Initialise cash forecast. This sets customer, supplier payment profiles and the current status of material and product stock levels. Data is based on current estimates and production schedules. Forecast Sales. This collects sales forecasts and matches them with current stock/production levels. Departmental expenses are also collected Adjust Forecast. This allows management to make changes to production to meet any shortfall in product stock, which is then used to calculate any additonal raw materials required. Raw material stock levels are then shown against the revised forecast, allowing management to make adjustments to raw material purchases. Generate Profit & Loss / Cash Forecast. This generates two reporting models from the data supplied one with a complete P&L and the other a Cash Forecast. From these reports are run that show a complete Profit & Loss statement and Cash statement, along with stock levels of both raw materials and finished products. Reports also compare this to an original budget to show where variances have arisen due to changes in product mix and underlying costs. The defined processes are covered in more detail below.

4.2

This process initialises the CorPeuM model by deleting results from prior runs, loading current stock positions and production/material order profiles. It does this through the following activities:

Process: Initialise Cash Forecast

Figure 10: CorPeuM activities for initialising the forecast process.

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Our Solution
Some of these activities load data from a file, while others provide a data entry screen to capture the information. Where data is to be manually entered or reviewed, individual To do lists are automatically generated and sent to the users involved.

Figure 11: Interaction with CorPeuM is through innovative To do lists customised for each user

For example, the activity Set customer details allows price, delivery and payment terms to be entered/modified by product for each customer: Figure 12: CorPeuM data entry screen for setting customer price and payment terms In the data entry view on the left, the customers displayed are specific to the region entering the data. This is achieved by using CorPeuMs attribute capability that allows members of one dimension to be specifically associated with another. This data could also have been loaded directly from an existing customer payment system. Similarly, the Set Supplier Details activity allows price and payment terms to be entered/modified by material for each supplier. Data is manually entered and stored in the Supplier Forecast data model. As with Customer details, the data entry screen only displays materials that are supplied by the supplier that has been selected. Other activities in this process removes data from any prior runs and reloads the weekly levels of stock for each product and individual raw material; the mix of raw materials that go into each product; and the opening cash balance.

Figure 13: CorPeuM data entry screen for setting Supplier details

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Our Solution
4.3
Once the initialise process has completed, the system can be used to collect forecasts and compare this with production. This is controlled through the Forecast Sales process that has the following activities:

Process: Forecast Sales

Figure 14: CorPeuM activities for the forecast sales process The process starts with each sales division entering a weekly forecast of the units of each product to be sold by customer. This is stored in the Sales Forecast data model where the cash implications are then calculated based on the individual payment profiles.

Figure 15: CorPeuM data entry screen for collecting sales forecast by customer and product The case study organization structure has three sales divisions, so a data entry screen for each is produced. However, the customer dimension is filtered using an attribute so that only customers assigned to a specific region are shown in each screen.

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Our Solution
Once the sales forecast has been submitted, CorPeuM then works out if there is enough product stock given the current production schedule. This is shown as a Product Stock Forecast report where the stock in and out flows are shown by week and adjusted according to the entered sales forecast. Negative values indicate a shortfall in production to meet the forecast:

Figure 16: CorPeuM report showing where product stock falls short of the sales forecast The Adjust Forecast process that follows later will allow management to change the current production plan.

A forecast of departmental expenses is also collected by department and week: Figure 17: CorPeuM data entry screen for collecting departmental expenses

The final activity in this process collects other cash items and the prevailing interest rate that is used to calculate the finance charge on any overdraft cash balances: Figure 18: CorPeuM data entry screen for collecting data on financial charges

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Our Solution
4.4
This process consists of a series of activities to make adjustments to the current production plan to meet the sales forecast and to assess any additional raw materials that will be required.

Process: Adjust Forecast

Figure 19: CorPeuM activities for the adjust forecast process.

The first activity in the process shows the forecast shortfall in products, to which the user can adjust the product stock position they wish to hold in order to meet the sales forecast.

Figure 20: CorPeuM data entry screen for adjusting product stock levels to meet the sales forecast

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Our Solution
There now follows a series of activities that calculate the raw materials required to produce the adjusted product stock position. This is achieved by referencing the Product Material Detail model for each product that needs to be made. The revised total of raw materials required each week is now compared with the current levels of raw materials stock (plus any materials currently on order) to show any shortfalls, which can then be adjusted to meet demand.

Figure 21: CorPeuM data entry screen for adjusting raw material stock levels to meet production targets

4.5

This final process is split into two sets of system activities that relate to the creation of a Profit and Loss (PL) and a Cash Forecast (CF) reporting model. Profit and Loss Activities:

Process: Generate Profit and Loss / Cash Forecast

Figure 22: CorPeuM activities for the creation of the P&L Reporting Model

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Our Solution
For the Profit & Loss reporting model, sales forecast data along with the revised product stock and supplier forecast information is combined with the operating expenses model. The data stored here reflects a pure accounting view and not the cash view. Cash Forecast Activities::

Figure 23: CorPeuM activities for the creation of the Cash Reporting Model For the Cash Forecast reporting model, the cash forecast from the sales forecast data is combined with the revised supplier stock, operating expenses and Finance Details data model. Here any finance charges from overdrawn cash balances is calculated to give a complete cash view of the business.

4.6 Reports

A range of reports has been created within the case study that report from a P&L, Cash and stock view of the business. These are available as a book and include the following:

Profit and Loss Statement:

This report shows a standard P&L view of the forecast that can be viewed by department as well as at the total company level. Figure 24: P&L Forecast report by department

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Our Solution
Cash Forecast Statement:
This report shows the cash forecast for the total company and is derived from the above P&L.

Figure 25: Cash Forecast report highlighting where there are shortfalls in cash and the P&L impact through unplanned interest charges

Sales Impact on Cash:

This report shows the impact of sales on the cash forecast. The first section Sales Revenue - shows sales (from the entered sales forecast) and related costs from a Profit & Loss view, while the sections underneath show the in and outflow of cash based on that Profit & Loss view and the customer payment profile: Figure 26: Report combining both P&L and Cash views of the business A similar report also exists that shows the impact on cash as raw materials are ordered, based on individual supplier payment profiles, and the effect of departmental expenses.

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Our Solution
Sales Analysis
This report shows the sales forecast by region for specific weeks and a comparison with the sales budget target:

Figure 27: Report showing breakdown of sales by region and comparison with budget target.

P&L Forecast Vs Budget

In this report, the forecast P&L is contrasted with the budget to show where differences arise: Figure 28: Forecast / Budget comparison from a Profit & Loss point of view.

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Our Solution
Cash Forecast Vs Budget
This final report shows the cash forecast and the variance from budget. This may well trigger a re-think of day-to-day activities to ensure that cash is effectively used.

Figure 29: Forecast vs Budget view of cash forecast.

4.7

Case study enhancements

As mentioned earlier, the case study model provides a basic starter application. It is not intended to be a complete solution but to show the capabilities offered by CorPeuM and how they can be configured to meet specific requirements. It is likely that users would want to build some or all of the enhancements shown below to provide a more sophisticated planning application. Production capacity the model could store details on production capacity so that making adjustments to meets sales would not exceed certain levels. This is achieved by setting validation rules on model variables that represent those limits. Minimum stock levels the model could be set to ensure that minimum levels of specifc raw materials and finished goods are always held in stock for emergencies or as defect replacements. Ordering from more than one supplier. Certain raw materials could be sourced from one or more suppliers with different payment profiles. This would meet the need where one supplier could not deliver the full amount required. The model could allow users to select multiple suppliers and report on how each impact cash forecast. Entering data using different time intervals. The template is set up to accept weekly data, but there is no reason why some costs for example operating expenses - could be entered monthly and then letting CorPeuM work out how that affects cash forecast on a weekly basis. Summarising data into months and seasons. Although data has been entered weekly, that same data can be summarised into months, quarters and other time aggregations for external reporting requirements. Scenario analysis. The model could be set up to show multiple P&L and cash forecast views based on changes to supplier/customer profiles. This would allow a side-by-side comparison to be made on how unplanned detailed changes impact overall results.

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Next steps
5. Next Steps
Today, most organizations use spreadsheets or simplistic models to forecast cash, both of which cant cope with the complexity of real-life. In this brief document we have shown how CorPeuMs unique architecture enables the setting up of sophisticated, accurate cash forecast models. Models that are difficult or impossible to implement with other performance management systems, and yet are simple to achieve with CorPeuM. CorPeuM ensures accuracy by being able to model all parts of the business that relate to cash, and how that cash flows in and out on a daily basis. This involves collecting different levels of data and supporting information that is then used to drive the calculation of cash forecasts. To go with accuracy, CorPeuM ensures an efficient process by co-ordinating all the users involved in collecting and reviewing cash requirements, ensuring that they happen in the right order, and at the appropriate time. Typically menu systems where users decide on what options to select can be difficult to customize and navigate by individual users, which is why CorPeuM has a data/event driven workflow capability that directs users as to their specific activities and provides those overseeing the process with an interactive timeline of whats happening. Should your organization recognise a need for accurate cash forecasts then the following next steps are suggested. Gain Senior Management buy-in to do something To adopt a more accurate cash-centric view of performance requires buy-in of senior management and a realisation that something needs to be done. This can be achieved by looking at where cash is consumed in the organization today and considering the implications of not getting the forecast right. Identify and discuss with a business partner Once there is an agreement to do something, the next step is to choose a business partner who understands cash forecasting. The discussion with them will involve identifying how cash flows within the organizations business model and how those flows can be controlled. Evaluate suitable technology partners A suitable technology partner is one who has experience in setting up effective cash forecast models and whose chosen technology meets the requirements outlined in this paper. And as cash forecasting is part of a wider performance management initiative, ensure that the chosen solution can expand to provide a complete solution to managing performance. With CorPeuM and our partners, we believe we can be a trusted advisor to senior management to help organizations to make that transition so that cash becomes the focus in everything they do.

6. CorPeuM Cash Forecasting video

You can find the video password in the box below:

cash-forecasting-corpeum
To view the video, click on the video on your right or visit : http://www.corpeum.com/cash-forecasting.html and enter the password that you can find in the red box above.

7. About CorPeuM
CorPeuM is made up of an international team of acknowledged experts in the field of corporate performance management. Our experience in designing, using and implementing best practice systems for planning, budgeting, reporting and analysis in some of the worlds leading organisations, led us to design and build a new and better breed of application that is more able to cope with today's uncertain business environment. The result is the CorPeuM approach that allows organisations to focus on the execution of strategy by redefining the way they manage corporate performance.. The CorPeuM approach is more than just software in that it combines the latest thinking in management practices, such as those found in The Balanced Scorecard and Six Sigma methodologies, with the latest developments in technology. Our approach is easily adapted to an organisations adopted management methodology and includes 'Best Practice' business templates, management workshops, consultancy and our unique, ground-breaking software solution that re-writes the way performance management applications should be implemented. If you would like to know more about our approach to budgeting and corporate performance management, get in contact with us via our web site or by email to info@corpeum.com.
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