Budgeting Software

1
Budgeting Software

• NRA MIS Executive Study Group
• Fall 2003
• Lou Grande
• VP of Information Technology
• RARE Hospitality International, Inc.

2
Agenda

• RAREs Project Scope
• The RFI Process
• The Solution Providers We Assessed
• RAREs Requirements and Specifications
• Open Discussion

3
RAREs Project Scope

• Business Drivers
• Budgets and Forecasts managed with a complex set
  of Excel spreadsheets and workbooks
• Executive Scorecards and analytical reports
  satisfied via a complex set of relational
  databases
• Distributed via e-mail
• Key Considerations
• Budget and Forecast requirements are primary
• Marketing, Purchasing and Operations analysis
  requirements are secondary
• Must operate within current computing
  infrastructure standards
• Objectives
• Identify solution alternatives and select
  finalist
• Quantify economic impact for 2004 budget
  consideration

4
The RFI Process

• Hired a consultant (experience, focus)
• Interviewed Business Unit Leaders
• Defined Comprehensive Set of Requirements
• Developed RFI Document and Evaluation Process
• Identified Solution Providers (10)
• FRX Forecaster, Lawson, OutlookSoft, Business
  Objects, SAS, Longviews Khalix, Hyperion,
  Cognos, iTM1, ComShare
• Distributed RFI and Tabulated Responses
• Identified Short-List (31)
• Hyperion, Cognos, iTM1, ComShare
• Conducted Scripted Demos
• Selected Finalist and Documented the Business Case

5
The Solution Providers We Assessed
6
RAREs Requirements and Specifications

• General Requirements
• User definable calculated accounts
• Simple interface for non-technical user to define
  dimensions
• Statistical accounts
• The ability to house multiple categories of data
  
• ODBC support
• Multiple Roll-up Definitions
• Extract, Translate and Load features
• Pre-defined financial intelligence
• Ability to assign multiple attributes to a
  dimension element
• Ability to consolidate percentages and do
  weighted average rollups
• Ability to have sub-accounts
• Ability to house data both weekly and monthly
• Ability to lock Budget once finalized so can't be
  changed by users

7
RAREs Requirements and Specifications

• Business Strategy
• Long Range Planning
• Value Added Strategy Guidance
• Budgeting Alignment with Strategy
• Budgeting and Forecasting
• Re-dimensioning without loss of data
• Spreading
• Top-Down/Bottom-Up Reconciliation 
• Top-down Input 
• Strategic Goal Flagging
• Security
• Criteria based Allocations
• Date based input

8
RAREs Requirements and Specifications

• Budgeting and Forecasting (Continued)
• Long Range Planning
• Value Added Strategy Guidance
• Budgeting Alignment with Strategy
• Re-dimensioning without loss of data
• Spreading
• Top-Down/Bottom-Up Reconciliation 
• Top-down Input 
• Strategic Goal Flagging
• Security
• Criteria based Allocations
• Date based input

9
RAREs Requirements and Specifications

• Budgeting and Forecasting (Continued)
• Budgeted Salary and Headcount
• Budget Template Pre-Population
• Budget Status Screen
• Comments/notes capabilities
• Multiple versions capabilities
• Concurrent view of records by multiple users
• Simple Rule Based Values
• Look-up Based Values
• Global Assignments
• What-if capabilities

10
RAREs Requirements and Specifications

• OLAP Analysis
• The ability to seamlessly generate reports with
  multiple categories concurrently on the same
  report
• The ability to define custom Cubes
• Predictive Analysis
• Predictive Analysis Capabilities
• Reporting, Distribution and Score-Carding
• Ability to produce reports that can be easily and
  paperlessly distributed to a geographically
  dispersed set of customers
• Drill Down Capability (within OLAP Cube
• Drill-Down to transaction detail
• Ability to easily generate ad hoc analysis
  reports by non-technical personnel
• Score carding and alerts

11
Open Discussion