Ask an FEI researcher about... Business Performance Intelligence Software.

• Position: Resources - Brief Article

The article on Business Performance Intelligence (BPI), Leveraging BPI Applications to Drive Value, in this issue describes BPI applications, how they can create value and how they contribute to the financial executive's evolving role as a business partner.

The FEI Research Foundation has recently published an Executive Report on BPI software titled Business Performance Intelligence Software: Understanding What It Does and the Value It Creates. This report provides an overview of the BPI software market. The authors are Dean Sorensen and Ken Peckham of Bywater Consulting, the authors of this month's magazine article. Order the report from the FEI Research Foundation Web site: www.fei.org/rfrookstore/default.cfm.

Once you have an overview of the BPI market, you will want to understand the potential value of BPI applications for your organization. However, you will first need to define your objectives by defining the problems you are trying to solve. A white paper titled Creating Superior Value by Making Strategies Work: The Case for a Business Owner Mentality is available at no charge on the Bywater Web site: www.bywater-consulting.com.

Exhibit 1 of this month's magazine article, titled "Business Performance Intelligence Application Categories," illustrates the intersection of three types of BPI software:

* Strategy Development/Execution & Performance Management

* Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

* Strategic Analysis & Profitability Management

A number of vendors offer one or more categories of BPI software. Here are just a few of them, listed by category. (Note: These vendors and their Web sites are provided only as examples of the different categories of BPI software.)

1. Strategy Development/Execution

   In Phase

2. Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

   PerformancePlus is a leading enterprise performance management and balanced scorecard application. It provides interactive mapping of company strategy, visualization of the cause-and-effect chain and corporate, team and personal scorecards. (www.inphase.com)

   Microsoft Great Plains

   Enterprise Reporting is a budgeting, forecasting and reporting solution for mid-sized and large corporations and organizations. It is based on Microsoft platforms and integrates with Microsoft productivity applications, such as Excel and Analysis Services (online analytical processing or OLAP). (www.solomon.com)

3. Business Analytics & Profitability Management

   Acorn Systems Inc.

   Acorn enables customers to measure...