Strategic Planning Systems (Corporate)

CPS Competitors Analysis

Strategic Planning Systems (Corporate)

AFSA

FinanceAdvisor 2.0

/ Alcar Strategic Financial Planning System
(revised 3/1/99 by) The Alcar Group / Finanseer
Stern Stewart / Evaluator
Interratio
Intellexis / Longview
Khalix 2.4 / Adaytum Software
Adaytum Planning
Type of tool /

Performance measurement
Forecasting
EVA and Free Cash Flow focused

Strategic Financial Planning
Financial Analysis
Valuation

Financial analysis
Forecasting and Valuation
EVA focused

Valuation

/ Analysis
Budgeting
Forecasting
Consolidation
Planning
Reporting /

Budgeting and Planning
Forecasting and management reporting

Modules /

Developed Finanseer and KPMG EV Manager

Alcar Strategic Financial Planning System
Debt Rater Plus (DOS)
APT! (DOS)

/ No /

Hierarchy Manager

MBA Business Plan
Adaytum Planning in 1992
Adaytum Allocator
Adaytum Cash Forecaster

Clients /

2000 clients

500 clients
AT&T, Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly, etc.

Nestle, Hewlett Packard, Philips, etc.

From Fortune 1000

More than 5,000 users: Bodyshop, Kwik Save Stores, Mother care, WHS Smith, Barclays.

Main Competitors /

Alcar, Finanseer

/ Alcar / Finan, Finiconsult, Goalfix, Alcar in a limited way. / Hyperion, Oracle,

Arbor, Comshare

SW / HW requirements /

Windows 95 or 98

Win 95 or higher
64MB RAM, 32bit

Win 3.1 & later

Win 3.1, 95, NT
486, 8 MB RAM

Client: MS Windows 3.x, 95/98 or NT
Server: Unix

Windows 95, NT, Win OS/2
15 Mb space for installation.

Language / It’s written in C++ for Windows / Developed in C++ / Visual basic on top of Excel / C / Visual basic
Other /

Since 1979 in mainframe
Since 1984 in DOS
Since 1996 in Windows

/ Adaptable to Java
Partnership with SUN, Digital, HP, Pyramid, Oracle, Informix, Sybase, Micro Soft, CTG, Cognos
Support Line /

Yes
Technical and modeling support
Worldwide

Difficult to reach in Europe
Staffed by marketing people with limited financial knowledge

/ Yes /

Yes, worldwide. Implementation personnel are financial experts with solid technical backgrounds

Yes, US, UK, France and Denmark.

Helpline service from 9am until 5.30 pm. Helpline via E-mail:
Price license /

$745 for the license

Client Specific
(one installation reported at $12,000)

$ 6,500 per system
$10,000 for 2 systems
$15,000 for 5 systems
Prices have dropped from $8,500.

Usage by unlimited number of persons costs $17,500

Prices start at $190,000

License for one LAN server, three controllers, and 10 managers plus two weeks of consulting is priced at $46,000.
Allocator for Adaytum Planning: $20,000 per server plus license.

Price maintenance /

$250 per year
$500 per year for application support

18% of listed price

First year free

Level 1: $ 1000/year
Level 2: $2000/year

Was $1500/year for all.

16% of price of the software

Included in the cost of the license for the first 12 months from the date of the contract. After that, 15% of the license price

Price training /

$900 per day for software training

/ Private ($5400 for 3 days) or public training ($1200 per person for 2 days) / $ 3500/day
was $500 for public and $1500 for private / 0, 1 or 2 days dependable on the knowledge of user. /

Based on a price per person per basis. Training held in Markham, Ontario or can be conducted at the customers’ site

Users’ rights and protection /

Yes. Secure network access, intranet and internet

Yes.
User level security. Users control security with System Administrator access.

Right mouse /

Edit Undo /

Yes. Advanced undo and redo of model building and data changes.

ODBC /

Not clear

Yes and ASCII files Oracle, SQL server, Sybase, Access.

Links to databases /

No, but users have used their text file import Compustat data.

Yes
Essbase, Excel, Hyperion, others

No
Compustat, Extel, probably static links

Yes OLE 2

Yes. Oracle, Sybase, Informix, SQL Server

Yes

OLE in / out /

File management /

Utilizing a unique relation table indexing and corporate hierarchical relationships, Khalix provides exceptionally fast access to the data you need. Industry standard RDBMS

16 / 32 bit / 32 bit / 32 bit /

Yes

/ 32 bit.
Website ( / FinanceAdvisor.com / alcar.com / sternstewart.com / Interratio.nl / longview.com / adaytum.co.uk
Contact person / Jeff Macklis
(212) 349-2747 / The Alcar Group
Tel: +1 847 663 9000
Fax: +1 847 663 0130 / A. Matthews
Tel: +44 171 399 3600
Fax:+44 171 399 3601 / B. Keuss
Tel: 020 697 7336 /

Judy Winchell

Tel: +00 1 610 889 9380 /

Bright Masih

Tel: +44 0 181 563 7123
Corporate Finance
Time issues /

Annual, quarterly and Monthly forecast engine.

Extensive
366 days possible
Unlimited number of periods
Restatement

20 annual periods in history and 20 in forecast

Period detail is flexible
No PTD
No 366 days once in 4 years
No restatement

Unlimited user defined

Multiple time periods

Forecast methods /

14 forecasting methods.
Forecast methods as well as the underlying data (% or values) can be changed to reflect an account’s individual forecast.

10 predefined forecast methods

14 predefined forecast methods

Trend analyze function and user defined (free form).

Yes
Standard cell references
Input absolute values

Khalix can use predefined or user-defined algorithms, allocations, spreads, regressions, etc.

Yes, forecasting possible.

Freeform calculations /

Yes, extensive

/ Yes
Add accounts / change account names /

Yes
User Defined
Rename possible

Adjust to different accounting regimes /

Yes. Both the Chart of Accounts and the Report definitions are maintained externally to the system and can be easily changed to accommodate any basic analytical structure.

No
Only possible by exporting via OLE link to Excel.

Number of predefined accounts /

1000 accounts

Extensive

Limited

No predefined accounts

Taxes /

Extensive
Carry back and carry forward

Reasonable

Limited
Carry forward / backward is not possible
Interest tax shield is possible.

Tax logic is unlimited – it is configured to meet each clients needs

Yes with Cash Forecaster.

Number of reports /

32 reports
15 reports can be displayed at one time.

17 reports, including custom report and OLE report

40 standard reports
Possible to edit data also from reports

30 interactive flow charts

Virtually unlimited

Define custom reports /

Yes, with optional Report Editor module.

No, adjusted reports can not be saved. Option to use predefined report templates using Custom Report Writer

/ Configured to meet each clients needs / Ad Hoc reports on demand, customized or standard batch reports.
Lay out reports / style /

No, only after exporting to Excel

Yes, extensive. It is more a documentation tool.

/ Yes / Yes
Graphs /

No, but can easily move the data to Excel.

Yes, only historical analysis

Yes, extensive

Yes, automatically.

Suppress zero values on reports /

System accounts are automatically surpressed when they result in zero values for all periods.

Checks /

Yes, Validation Report

Yes, Retained earnings report: Financial alerts, Built-in audit trail

Yes, checks at every step, ensuring that user errors are quickly identified.

Scenario /

Multiple forecast scenarios. Can select the appropriate version of your forecast.

Yes
To be saved in separate xls files

Yes (max. 36 scenarios)

/ Yes, limited to hardware and database capabilities
Sensitivity analysis / Changing an item in the Forecast Editor window will instantly change the values in the Report Generator. The sensitivity of any variable can be measured easily. /

/ SA is configured for each users needs including the definitions of drivers and algorithms / Yes
Peer Group analysis / A Consolidations program has been released. The system has an optional data collections feature, which collects and reports data from the individual companies that are analyzed. /

Yes
Industry averages

Account notes /

Yes. Cell annotation capability.

Goal Seek /

Drill down analysis /

Drill-down into any item whose definition is a formula or defined calculation.

Yes. Supports multiple levels of drill-down.

Consolidation /

Yes
Multiple files, percentage, elimations in separate file, and no financial consolidations.

Currency translation /

No. Not yet but it’s on their development priorities list.

Yes.

Memo accounts /

Yes. The system is very strong with respect to memo accounts. Half the standard Chart of Accounts is and memo accounts (called User Accounts) can reference the financial statement accounts and vice-versa.

Yes
User Defined

Help /

/ Help menu available / Help menu available / Help menu available /

Khalix includes robust help linked directly to the menu picks or dialogs and includes hypertext, etc.

Yes, instructions, accounting principles.

Credit analysis /

Yes with Cash Forecaster

Templates /

Qualitative assumptions /

Debt scheduler /

No, but can be developed using Khalix modeling language

Bond rating /

Yes (Debt Rater Plus

/ Yes
Database for bondrater Yes /

No, but can be developed using Khalix modeling language

Covenant ratios /

Not Standard

Of certain results

Ratio analysis /

Yes. Several

Limited

Yes, can create unlimited ratios.

VBM /

Valuation methods /

EVA but could easily be augmented to support SVA.

SVA
EVA
DDM
Liquidation value option
Customizable

EVA
SVA
No DDM
No liquidation value option

None are predefined in the software, but are configured to meet each client’s unique needs

Funding options /

Yes. Determines whether excess cash has been created or additional financing is required.

Yes
Standard
Target Capital Structure

Yes
Via Treasurer Feature
Not very advanced but e.g. including target debt / capacity.

/ It is difficult to select an own defined order. /

None are predefined in the software, but are configured to meet each client’s unique needs

Yes with cash Forecaster.

Target capital structure /

/ Yes in Treasurer Feature /

IRR calculation /

Cost of capital /

Yes, calculator

/ Yes, Business Risk Dbase + Cost of capital calculator Levered / Unlevered / Calculator: Yes /