Enterprise Planning

There are many kinds of plans in any organization. The kind of plan depends on what the plan is trying to accomplish, who the audience is, and how frequent and granular the plan needs to be. Here are the most common types of EPM plans:

Strategic Planning

• Annual budget
• Long-range plan/strat plan
• Cash-flow forecast
• Balance sheet plan

Finance Planning

• Annual operating plan (AOP)
• Revenue and expense plan
• Sales plan
• Capital expenditure plan

Operational Planning

• Workforce plan
• Project financial plan
• Marketing plans (including category plan, campaign plan, etc.)
• Demand plan

Forecasts

• Sales forecast
• Expense forecast
• Demand forecast
• Project forecast

Many of these plans are interrelated and components from one can and should feed another. For example, the total planned salary and benefits expenses from the workforce plan can feed the AOP and the expense plan—at different levels of detail if required, by team, by geography, or by individual if required.

Where does planning work well in your organization and where could it stand to be more rigorous or interconnected?