Best Practices & Tips Integrating Cognos Finance With Cognos Planning

Presenters Gary Quirke Sandy Midili

Agenda Quick overview of Cognos EP Why EP and CF Integration Challenges Integration Tips and Tricks Questions

Quick Overview of EP Enterprise Budgeting and Forecasting High Participation Web based planning Central database: Oracle/SQL Server “Owned” by Finance Library of Specialized Planning Functions Driver Based Planning Integrated with C8 BI and CF

Quick Overview of EP Excel-based reporting Limited Financial Consolidation Does not support multiple hierarchies Some Integration challenges with CF

Quick Demo EP

Why CF and EP? Scenario 1: Own CF want EP Scenario 2: Own EP want CF Scenario 3: Buy CF & EP together

Challenges Avoiding two maintenance processes Single Cube (CF) Vs Multi-Cube (EP) CF/EP Meta data differences Transferring data between CF/EP Picking the best of both worlds

Tips: Minimizing Maintenance One Source: D-List Update & Import from Ledger –Database (ERP, Data warehouse, etc) –Excel Single point Maintenance Process –For example Cognos Manager Use CF as Financial data Mart –Aggregation of Actual to Forecast level of detail –Storage of Planning Versions as submissions

Tips: Single Vs Multi Cube

Tips: CF/EP Meta data Best Case –Consistent IDs and Names in CF/EP –Combined ID + Name <= 50 Characters Next Best –Use only IDs in EP Integration Cube All Else Fails –Use Names –But ensure unique names in CF

Demo Tips & Tricks

Tips: Best of Both Worlds CF –Allocations (where possible) –Currency Translation (where possible) –Version Control –Financial Consolidation (always!) –Storage of Detailed Actuals EP –Financial Modeling & Forecasting –Headcount & Salary Planning –Capital Planning –Driver Based and Advanced Planning –Planning beyond Finance –High Participation Planning

Questions? Gary Quirke t: Sandy Midili t: