xP&A – eXtended Planning & Analysis - a term coined in 2019 by Gartner, represents an evolution of traditional Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) towards integrated, continuous enterprise planning breaking down barriers between finance and operational functions including HR (Human Resources), Supply Chain and Sales. Companies are embracing xP&A in order to achieve strategically valuable benefits like better coordination, improved forecast accuracy, reduced cycle times and more agility. 

Until as recently as 2018, the term xP&A (eXtended Planning & Analysis) didn't exist. It was coined in 2019 by Gartner to visualize the evolution of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A). It was typical of the finance team, before 2019, to work in a silo - they alone were responsible for all the data, intelligence, and financial planning requirements of the company. But xP&A aims to extend these planning and analysis capabilities beyond the boundaries of the finance domain and into other operational areas of the enterprise such as sales, supply chain, and HR. In a way, xP&A represents the convergence of traditional FP&A with integrated business planning (IBP).

IBM Think 2021 was 100% virtual and offered for free, though certain Labs and Roundtable sessions were by-invitation only. QueBIT mostly attended free and on-demand sessions during the North American event on Tuesday May 11, 2021. There were parallel events for other regions (APAC & Japan, EMEA & India) which we did not attend.  

Coined by Gartner in 2019, the term xP&A stands for Extended Planning and Analysis. Often touted as a rebranded and overhyped version of Integrated Business Planning by many pundits, Gartner claims xP&A is much more than just that. In this article we will offer arguments to support this contention.

When To Use The IBM Planning Analytics REST API (And When Not To) 

What is xP&A?

QueBIT’s typical client is a Vice-President of Finance, CFO, or an operational executive - say an Inventory manager or Vice-President of Supply Chain. Our typical conversation with them involves an aspect of digital transformation in their planning, analysis or reporting processes; and how technology may help them increase business agility, improve forecast accuracy, speed up planning cycles and make better data-driven business decisions.

Data is the fuel of all analytics, whether you want to provide accurate timely information to decision-makers on the front lines, provide a comprehensive customer dashboard to your executives, do a predictive demand forecast or simply complete your annual budget.

With the October 2020 release of IBM Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) 2.0.57, IBM is boldly starting a brand-new chapter for Planning Analytics (TM1) leveraging their open source Carbon design system for products and digital experiences. Going forward, all IBM software products will share the Carbon look and feel.

About 20 years ago my mentor and former boss, Richard Creeth, was introduced to a new company called OutlookSoft that had developed a corporate performance management (CPM) product called Everest on top of Microsoft SQL Server and Analysis Services. Richard was well-known back then as an industry analyst and co-author of the OLAP Report and up-and-coming vendors were eager to court his good opinion. Richard was also the principal of a boutique consulting firm that specialized in financial reporting, consolidations and planning which QueBIT acquired in 2008.