• Scorecarding.
• Business intelligence (or decision support), including financial reporting and consolidation.
• Planning.

• How are we doing?
• Why?

• What should we be doing?

Scorecarding, business intelligence, financial consolidation, and planning technologies answer these questions. The answers must be based on a common understanding of metrics, data dimensions, data definitions, and views of the organization. Drawing answers from different, disconnected tools can cloud the window into the organization’s performance. The resulting dimmed view hampers the organization’s decision-making ability, and therefore, overall company agility.

Historically used within finance departments, CPM software is now designed to be used enterprise-wide, often as a complement to business intelligence systems.

The real value of performance management is found in the seamless way that decision-makers can move among the three fundamental business questions: How are we doing? Why? and What should we be doing? Ideally, the answers to these questions should be based on a common understanding of metrics, data dimensions, data definitions, and views of the organization.

A CPM solution delivers integrated planning, consolidation, query and reporting, analysis, and metrics management capabilities necessary for better decision making across the enterprise. With improved performance management, companies can find new opportunities to increase revenue and profits, hold down costs, and better manage working capital. CPM has helped companies:

Evolution of CPM System
Smart Companies