Budgeting Software Journal

Budgeting and Forecasting Software News And Reviews

Microsoft Announces General Availability Plans for Microsoft Forecaster 7.0

By Budgeting Software Journal

Microsoft ForecasterMicrosoft’s subsidiary FRx Software Corp. today announced that Microsoft® Forecaster 7.0, the latest release of the company’s budgeting and planning software, will be released to manufacturing on March 28, 2007. This latest version of Microsoft Forecaster focuses on enhanced usability, adaptability and visibility, giving organizations confidence that their budgets are realistic and accurate, and enabling them to monitor business conditions and respond to new business opportunities and challenges to improve overall performance.

“Our customers and partners have told us they want an affordable application that will make budgeting and forecasting less cumbersome, faster to implement and easier to use and that will offer greater adaptability to changing business conditions, all of which are addressed in Microsoft Forecaster 7.0,” said Andy Kamlet, director of marketing and sales of Denver, Colo.-based FRx Software. “We seem to have struck a chord with customers as they have reviewed this release, with survey results from our customer preview program showing that 95 percent of them are ‘satisfied’ to ‘very satisfied’ with what they’ve seen.” [Read more…]

City of Little Rock Completes Multi-Suite Lawson Software Implementation

By Budgeting Software Journal

Enterprise software applications from Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN) are now helping the city of Little Rock, Ark., speed data-sharing across departments, enhance reporting and consolidate key administrative information on a single database. The city completed implementation of the Lawson Enterprise Financial Management and Supply Chain Management application suites – and Lawson System Foundation 9.0, Lawson’s latest technology platform, in January 2007.

The city of Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas and the state’s largest city. Its 2,500 employees serve more than 183,000 citizens. Faced with disparate business systems that limited data access to a small group of employees, the city turned to Lawson to help it improve access to key financial and purchasing information and streamline business processes. [Read more…]

More Than 1,000 Customers Implement Hyperion Financial Management Solution

By Budgeting Software Journal

HyperionMore than 1,000 organizations have tightened their control over financial closing, reporting, and regulatory compliance processes with help from Hyperion Financial Management software, the acclaimed application from Hyperion (Nasdaq Global Select: HYSL), the global leader in Business Performance Management (BPM) software.

Hyperion announced today that it had surpassed 1,000 Hyperion Financial Management customers, a milestone that confirms Hyperion’s market leadership in consolidation and reporting. The news also points to a growing trend among organizations worldwide to implement proven reporting and consolidation systems in the wake of regulatory requirements. [Read more…]

NYU Implements Hyperion System 9 Planning and Business Intelligence Solutions

By Budgeting Software Journal

NYU Colleges and Business Units to Leverage Hyperion to Tie Financial Reporting and Budgeting to University Operations

HyperionTo streamline its planning and budgeting processes throughout its academic, administrative and auxiliary units, New York University (NYU) announced plans to implement Hyperion System 9 from Hyperion (Nasdaq Global Select: HYSL), the global leader in Business Performance Management (BPM) software.

A longtime user of Hyperion Performance Suite software, NYU is migrating to Hyperion System 9 to extend its operational analysis to planning and budgeting functions. In doing so, NYU will gain more accurate insight into both its financial and operational data, enabling more reliable plans and forecasts, and more insightful analysis of ongoing operations. [Read more…]

L’Oréal Manages Customer Forecasting With Cognos Planning

By Budgeting Software Journal

Leading cosmetics manufacturer uses Cognos planning solution
to get closer to retail giants.

CognosCognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions,announced today that L’Oréal UK has implemented Cognos Planning to automate existing spreadsheet-based business processes and improve reporting efficiencies.

The world’s leading cosmetics manufacturer, working with Cognos partner BI Inform, chose Cognos Planning to drive the development of joint business plans for major retailers that sell its range of L’Oréal Paris, Garnier and Maybelline products.

L’Oréal UK’s national accounts team, which works with retailers including Tesco, Asda, Boots and Morrisons, is using Cognos to improve planning and forecasting visibility. By taking customers’ electronic point of sale (EPOS) data, the national accounts team can develop unit, sales and profit margin projections including built-in key performance indictors that are tailored to each customer’s requirements. In addition, scenario modeling can be used to forecast the success of customer promotions or L’Oréal-led promotions and track how seasonal variations may impact sales and profits. [Read more…]