The Strategy Gap Leveraging Technology to

With shortened business cycles, increased competition, and rapidly changing technologies, companies need to be more nimble than ever. They must narrow the gap between strategy formulation and operation execution to guarantee success. The Strategy Gap will provide a framework that senior financial managers can use to ensure that their strategies are implemented successfully and that their corporations remain competitive. Filled with informative case studies and best practices for optimum financial processes, this valuable resource will help managers leverage information technology to successfully implement corporate strategies. This book also shows managers how to eliminate surprises in poorly managed or unforeseen activities, while applying new approaches to financial management for faster and more accurate business modeling. Expert advice from those who have used these strategies clearly explains how to integrate planning, budgeting, consolidation, and reporting into one cohesive management system.

MICHAEL COVENEY is Senior Director of Strategy Management for Comshare, Incorporated, a leading provider of software to help companies implement and execute strategy.

DENNIS GANSTER is Chairman, President, and CEO of Comshare.

BRIAN HARTLEN is Senior Vice President of Marketing for Comshare.

DAVE KING, PhD, is Senior Vice President of Product Development as well as Chief Technology Officer for Comshare.

Foreword xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Chapter 1 Strategy Gap 1

What Gap? 1

Failure of Strategic Plans 3

Management-Induced Gaps 5

Process-Induced Gaps 7

Technology System-Induced Gaps 13

Role of the Chief Financial Officer 19

Corporate Performance Management 20

Summary 23

Chapter 2 Strategy in the Next Economy 25

Strategy Challenge 25

Business as Unusual 26

Change and Uncertainty 27

Strategy Defined 30

Strategy Management 33

Integrating Top-down and Bottom-up Strategic Management 34

Discontinuities 37

Summary 40

Chapter 3 Corporate Performance Management Processes 43

Event-Driven Approach 43

Key CPM Processes 44

Summary 62

Chapter 4 Measurement and Methodologies 64

Does Measurement Make a Difference? 64

State of the Measurement Art 67

Effective Performance Measurement 71

Performance Measurement Methodologies 73

Summary 85

Chapter 5 Corporate Performance Management Systems 88

Impact of Technology on the Finance Function 88

Characteristics of CPM Systems 93

Architecture of a CPM System 96

CPM Data Tier 100

CPM Application Tier 111

CPM Client Tier 112

Summary 121

Chapter 6 Corporate Performance Management at Work 122

Early Adopter Approach 122

Summary 137

Chapter 7 Getting Started 139

One Piece at a Time 139

Choosing the Right Team 140

Building a CPM Road Map 142

Calculating Return on Investment 152

Summary 160

Chapter 8 Designing a Corporate Performance Management Solution 162

Design Framework 162

CPM Data Model 163

User Interface 168

Reports and Analyses 174

Summary 182

Chapter 9 Implementing a Corporate Performance Management Solution 184

Knowledge and Choices 184

Project Planning 185

Build or Buy? 188

Selecting a CPM Package 192

Controlling the Implementation 198

Summary 206

Chapter 10 What Lies Ahead 207

Communicating Value 207

Connected World 210

Closing the Gap between Finance and Information Technology 213

Summary 214

www.wiley.com/go/strategygap (password: Strategy)

Appendix A CPM Process Review Template

Appendix B Strategy into CPM Data Model Template

Appendix C CPM Project Scope Template

Appendix D Software Evaluation Checklist

Appendix E Sample Implementation Project Plan

Appendix F CPM Vendor Proposal Template

Appendix G Software Vendor Scorecard Template

Index 217

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The Strategy Gap Leveraging Technology to Execute Winning Strategies

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials