Featured Article

“Combine Data and Acumen to Fill Information Gaps” (full article from May, 2010 edition of Financial Executive Magazine)

The Gartner-FERF Technology Issues for Financial Executives 2010 study found that a lack of information for decision-making is negatively impacting profitability. This article breaks down the clichés ("get everyone on the same page") and gets to the root of the real problems that cause personal, team-based and interdepartmental information gaps. Three financial executives share how to be successful in combining data and business acumen to move the company forward.

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arc|webinar (co-produced with Financial Executives International)

CFO’s Guide to Empowerment: Boost Team Productivity and Close Information Gaps

With so many organizations having to do more with less, how can CFOs and their teams create the time and resources to lead the organization forward?

This free webcast co-sponsored by Financial Executives International shows how three companies overcame process inefficiency and closed information gaps, empowering their finance teams and transforming their organizations. Learn strategies that can help your organization boost productivity, gain more visibility, and enable better decision-making.

• Reduce the burden that the budgeting process places on the Finance team and budget owners
• Give budget owners and executives an all-encompassing view of business drivers and financial performance

Duration: 50 minutes

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arc|webinar

More Dash and Less Bored: Five Ways to Build a "Go To" Dashboard that Even the Pickiest Executives Will Love

Sure you have a dashboard, but when you have a question about company performance, is it the first place you go for answers? Learn about best practices for dashboard design and hear how some of the best performing companies have deployed dashboards to deliver decision-driving information to their management teams. Find out how to make your dashboard a definitive source of actionable, timely and relevant information for ALL stakeholders in the company.

• Get predictive rather than reactive by including hard-to-get leading indicators
• Display data so that trends and problems pop
• Enable self-service for user-guided queries

Duration: 39 minutes

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arc|inspire White Paper

Is Your BI Tool Putting You Ahead of the Pack? Use Leading Indicators in Dashboards and Scorecards to Separate Yourself from Competitors

When Leading Indicators Drive Dashboards, Decisions Go from Good to Great: Just as you can't navigate the highway by using the rearview mirror, you can't drive your business forward by focusing on the past. Overcome the obstacles that keep you from delivering KPIs that accelerate the company ahead of competition.

Learn more about how to use a combination of leading indicators and lagging indicators to improve organizational performance and prevent financial and operational problems before they impact the bottom line.

This free guide discusses the basics of choosing the right KPIs for your business and how to leverage your BI tools to make sure you get what you need to make the right decisions for growth.

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arc|inspire White Paper

Battling the Cost of Poor Supplier Quality (CoPQ)

The Cost of Poor Supplier Quality (CoPQ) may account for more than 10% of an organization's revenue. This free guide, which was featured by the American Society for Quality, discusses how you can quantify the true cost of poor supply chain quality and put millions back on the bottom line by measuring the right time, quality and cost-related metrics. Download this white paper and you will learn:

• How companies that closely manage suppliers on average realize more than 25% improvement in key supplier metrics such as on-time delivery, quality and cost. You'll read about one $2B manufacturer that saved more than $250K annually per supplier by reducing the cost of poor quality.
• Which cost, quality and time-related metrics are the most important to measure, and where your company can get the data.
• How poor supplier quality could actually be a reflection of your company's internal processes for example if lead times given to suppliers are too short or documentation is inadequate.

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arc|inspire Case Study

AmerisourceBergen Finance Team Delivers Guided Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting Solution

AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation's (ABDC) Finance team rolled out arcplan Edge to improve the corporation's Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting process and drive better operational and financial performance through greater efficiency and giving better intelligence to budget owners regarding performance. Learn how ABDC:

• Reduced cost and time as manual processes to compile spreadsheets, correct data inaccuracies and inconsistencies, track budget status and create reports have been eliminated
• Guided budget owners through data entry, what-if scenarios and tasks using full-featured budgeting templates
• Put finance team in charge of the application, which delivered cost reductions and more rapid modifications
• Better manages performance throughout the organization using customized daily, weekly, and monthly online reports