Planning &
Control
Systems
«If one does not know
to which port one is sailing,
no wind is favourable.»
(Lucio Anneo Seneca, 1st century A.D.)
«If one does not know
to which port one is sailing,
no wind is favourable.»
(Lucio Anneo Seneca, 1st century A.D.)
Action Is a Leader in Designing
and implementation of P&C systems
for medium and small companies,
with Microsoft 365 tools.
Almost all of Action’s founding members come from the field of Management Consulting, in particular from the Administration, Finance and Control function. Consequently, it was a natural choice for investments in proprietary IT Solutions – all of them based on MICROSOFT technology (Dynamics ERP, Power BI, Excel, and other M365 tools) – to focus on these areas.
Our approach is based on the guidelines set out by Robert Newton Anthony, the founding father of this economic, financial, and organisational discipline, which entails three different but complementary processes (see the diagram below, revised by Action).
According to Anthony, STRATEGIC PLANNING is the decision-making process to outline an organisation’s goals, their changes, the resources to be deployed to achieve them, and the policies which should inform resource sourcing, use, and allocation.
Therefore, the current company information system is only partially useful: the most important data for this purpose is external and essentially refers to multi-year forecasts, estimates, and hypotheses which also consider the ‘reactions’ of existing and potential competitors.
Which conceptual tool is used for strategic planning? The “Business Plan”.
And which digital tool is the most appropriate? “M365 Excel”.
Action relies on highly experienced Management Consultants to support clients along the Strategic Planning journey.
According to Anthony, MANAGEMENT CONTROL is the process applied by the management to ensure that company resources are allocated and used efficiently to achieve the organisation’s goals.
In other words, this process translates the goals identified through strategic planning into a detailed roadmap that includes the activities and expected results of a single financial year and engages all managers, who must share this economic, financial, and asset plan and ensure it is complied with.
Which conceptual tool is used for strategic planning?
The “Budgetary Control System – BCS”.
Which digital tools are the most appropriate?
In very practical terms, the ERP Transaction System – equipped with budgeting, analytical accounting, and industrial accountability, where necessary – and the Management Reporting System.
In broader terms, we can talk about “CPM – Corporate Performance Management”: according to the Gardner Group, it is a generic term that describes the methods, evaluation parameters, processes, and systems used to monitor and manage business performance. The applications supporting CPM translate strategic information into operational plans and produce aggregate results. CPM must be supported by a suite of analytical applications enabling such processes, methodologies, and evaluation parameters.
THE MANAGEMENT CONTROL PROCESS
MANAGEMENT CONTROL “OBJECTS”.
Action relies on highly experienced Management Consultants to support clients along the Management Control design and implementation journey.
Action created several
add-ons for Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft 365 templates to help you implement your Management Control system.
According to Anthony, OPERATIONAL CONTROL is the process which ensures that specific tasks are completed effectively and efficiently.
As a consequence, while strategic planning and management control require a comprehensive ‘global vision’ of the whole organisation – which implies a unit of measurement that can be applied indistinctly to any phenomena worthy of being evaluated (the ‘currency’) – operational control can be implemented even with physical-technical units of measurement only.
Which conceptual tool is used for operational control?
The “Key Performance Indicator”
(KPI).
And which digital tool is the most appropriate?
The“Business Intelligence”.
Action offers M365 Power BI technology and other complementary M365 apps to design and implement any specific Business Intelligence tool to ensure operational control for single business processes. In accordance with our basic approach, Action’s BI Experts always act proactively and in their advisory capacity to create added value which makes a difference.
Join a free webinar on Planning and Control Systems and the Demo Software Add-on Action.
