Microsoft Acterys for XP&A

Enable Your Power BI Users with Microsoft’s XP&A  

Business Processes like Budgeting, Forecasting and Planning usually have some challenges in every organization including multinational firms. While most groups initiate these processes with Excel spreadsheets, they grow out of this phase and demand a better solution to meet their ever-changing needs.  

The absence of a single source of truth has led to teams spending more resources sorting through different spreadsheets in a bid to validate their results rather than researching to find better possibilities within their business. 

There is a need for a reliable platform surrounded by an entire ecosystem that works seamlessly together is more important than ever. In today’s business, business stakeholders are shifting to a broader planning strategy that cuts across all the departments within their firm  

A step towards XP&A 

 FP&A strategies have shown just how valuable data is when planning your organization’s future. Organizations across the globe are shifting to a concept called XP&A. 

What is xP&A?  

Extended planning and analysis, or xP&A, is a concept of collaborative planning across your organization. This involves the use of financial planning tools and data for non-Finance matters. This approach gives a full picture of your organization given all departments are in the picture.  

Financial tools and data like sales, inventory, workforce management, and CapEx are fusion into financial planning across the organization. 

Benefits of xP&A 

Collaborative decision-making across all departments will aid the business processes within the organization. Cross-functional decisions use a single source of truth. Every decision made in your organization impacts all stakeholders hence there is a need for data to be in one place.  

For instance, when the Procurement Unit gets a new machine, it directly affects the finance department. P&L needs to be updated, which may then alter existing budgets or projections.  

Using an xP&A approach improves the communication between departments for seamless business processes. It also facilitates more efficient and confident decision-making.  

Acterys is Now Microsoft’s xP&A Tool of Choice 

A reliable connection between all the departments within an organization is paramount for an effective XP&A strategy roll-out. Acterys is a Microsoft tool to perform xP&A.  

Microsoft recently added Acterys into their ecosystem with the sole purpose of offering xP&A technology to its users. Acterys is a financial reporting and planning solution fused into Microsoft Dynamics 365.  

The Acterys xP&A Suite has a cloud-based repository where it stores data. It has a large pool of connectors for multiple sources. Dynamic dashboards are driven by AI-powered planning processes with high-speed writeback capabilities while incorporating popular enterprise tools, such as PowerBI, Azure Cloud, Teams, and Excel.  

Benefits of Acterys and Microsoft  

Robust planning capabilities get into the hands of users when they use the Acterys suite within the Microsoft ecosystem. Users can make effective xP&A strategies when they engage in the use of Acterys and Microsoft. Below are some key benefits of employing this tool:  

Time Savings  

One of Power BI’s biggest pros is its capacity users can harness to develop complex data outputs for planning and analysis purposes. However, the need to access Power BI and planning platforms becomes time-consuming.  Acterys’ writeback capabilities ensure the team can perform all planning and analysis within a single platform. Instead of having to jump around to different systems every time you make changes to your data, you’re able to make changes to the data and have these changes saved on your database in real-time.  

A Single Source of Truth  

Maintaining a single source of truth is a key priority in every organization. The writeback capabilities of Actery rule out the need to juggle Excel spreadsheets or manually update data on your database hence all of your data inputs are pulled back into Power BI in real-time. Manual data entry and update introduces inconsistencies which can lead to poor decision-making across your organization.  

Data Storage  

With the broad range of connectors available within Acterys, organizations can be flexible with their choice of data storage plans given that data standards vary in different organizations. Acterys can accommodate security standards that require on-premises, cloud or hybrid data storage.  

Self-Service Builds  

Power Apps is a versatile tool in various organizations thanks to its self-service capabilities however Acterys takes it to another level especially when there is a specific xP&A request when a firm. When it comes to more complex scenarios, like concurrent write-back, where you have multiple people updating and adding comments and audit logs tracking, Acterys fit the bill. Executive users can create solutions without relying on IT heavily since the Acterys platform is all self-service. These processes improve scalability across your organization.\ 

The Power of BICS, Power BI and Acterys Together  

By combining the power of Acyerys, Power BI and BICS, your organization will be able to tailor the user experience for each department and increase user adoption. Strategic business decisions can only get better when a single source of truth is in place.  

Ready to make the most of what Power BI and Acterys have to offer? Schedule a call to partner with BICS’ expert consultants.