MXI specialists in the UK/Ireland sales budget modelling software. MXI advises organisations on forecasting, financial and sales modelling to plan and monitor corporate business performance. MXI advises on the intricate process of compiling plans and budgets. Thats why MXI should your first call for any sales budget modelling in the UK.
At MXI we offer tailored training to financial and non-financial staff to support any financial or sales modelling requirements that you might have.
Beneath are listed some of the major issues that MXI clients have found in building a UK sales budget, 5 year forecast, projected cash flows for the UK/Ireland corporate sector.
- Period for modelling 1 year, 2 years, 5 years. The norm is 5 years.
- Weekly monthly quarterly financial periods
- Identify key business drivers in business (This changes constantly)
- Product, service offerings, 10, 20 Product Groups
- Income flow from Sales, Standard debtor days patterns (Impacts Cash Flow, profitability, rolling forecasts)
- Target Market penetration, unit sales volume, seasonality product by region by month
- Customer churn rates (subscription-or licence products & services)
- Revenue calculation parameters - sale prices by product by region by year, flat fees Vs user-based fees, etc (There will be huge variations within the revenue calculation module, depending on type of business, product characteristics, etc.)
- Revenue share % where distribution is via business partner.
- Recurring revenue models where % based maintenance fees apply - e.g. second and later year fees for software products/services
- Additional revenue streams - e.g. after-sales service offerings, product upgrade options, etc
- Direct costs - % of turnover or fixed value by product by region by year
- Other % based expenses
- One-off expenses by month Salaries, Consultant fees, personnel budget
- Salaries, months of commencement and yearly salary review levels
- Other expenses, months of commencement and yearly increase or reductions.
At MXI we understand the challenges of accurate forecasting thats why we are offering a 30 day trial of our budget and forecasting as used by JP Morgan, Bank of America, Caterpillar and KRAFT-Cadbury. Request Here: QUANTRIX TRIAL
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Minister of Finance revealed as "shocking" the complete lack of cash management, credit control, margin analysis, risk management systems such as Quantrix from MXI Software deployed in the Banks. Powerful easy to use software that would have deftly illustrated the scale of the risks that are at the core QUANTRIX financial modelling, risk modelling abilities.
Minister of Finance has charged the Regulator with improving Bank IT systems to reduce dependence on aging, faulty spreadsheets compelling Financial Instiutions to use recognised dependable bank modelling software such as QUANTRIX from MXI Software.
Brian Lenihan, Dublin Government, Minister of Finance
March 30th the Irish tax-payer inherits the mess and settles the bill for the witless financial vandalism of the Tiger years. Minister of Finance intends to buy Euro 81 billion of distressed loans. Instantly creating the world's largest property operation. Ironically housed in the Treasury Holdings Building. Lets hope these guys have the power of MXI Quantrix at their disposal.
Powerful financial modelling and scenario testing is requried when considering selling Hotels cheaply, trying to complete just started schemes, rising interest rates, reducing prices of the NAMA owned houses. If NAMA had QUATNRIX from MXI software it could easily models all these financial risks, test assumptions and recover tax payers money.
That is roughly 50,000 per head for every Taxpayer in Ireland or whatever number actually remains working. The Financial crisis which the rest of the world appears to be emerging from is just got a lot more serious for the Paddies.
NAMA (subsidiary of the National Treasury Management agency) needs the risk management, cash flow planning, financial modelling capabilities MXI Software brillaint and easy to use financial modelling software. QUANTRIX
MXI Software is therefore delighted to announce another Financial Industry seminar demonstrating how QUANTRIX manages the following easily in Dublins IFSC on April 27th.
- Financial Forecasting
- Budgeting and Forecasting
- Risk control
- Risk analysis
- Credit risk
- Financial assumptions
- Cash Flows and margins
- financial projections
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Forecast pro in the UK is helping British companies to plan and forecast international sales and purchasing. Forecast PRO is used 2000 plus companies throughout the UK. Users include UK Treasury, BP, Coca Cola UK, Shell UK.
DOWNLOAD Forecast PRO TRIAL NOW:
Start using Forecast PRO in the UK, download Forecast PRO from the mxisoft.co.uk website. Prospective buyers can check UK/Ireland pricing on our pricing page.
Forecast Pro is easy to use as it allows users, companies, organisations without any knowledge of statistics to benefit from statistical forecasting. All you need is series data (sales data, purchasing history, incidence of cancer cases) in a spreadsheet. Forecast PRO connects for example to your UK/London Sales data or mortgage defaults in Scotland/Wales and does the maths and the statistics for you.
Contact me I need to know more about Forecast PRO
That's why Mark Smith, UK Treasury Financial Analyst, says "Forecast Pro is an invaluable and essential part of the tool set we use to predict UK regional Tax returns for the Chancellor". Caterpillar UK uses Forecast PRO to predict the demand for high value spare parts.
500 Forecast Pro in UK/Ireland Food sector can't be wrong, managing promotions, special offers, supply chain pressures, demand management and planning, sales operations & planning issues. Forecast Pro is helping the British food Industry work profitably with the ferocious supermarkets
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There is a low cost cost-effective solution to replace desktop spreadsheets. It's QUANTRIX a desktop solution for the real world MXI Software that helps clients to implement the multi dimensional Quantrix Modeller. It can replace most or all (depending on how it's used) of the difficulties that organisations face in budgeting, forecasting, sales & operations planning as part of a repetitive collaborative business process.
This is particularly important in planning, budgeting, forecasting and modelling. The business intelligence integrator, DataPush helps companies to automatically push data from Quantrix models to databases or business applications. DATA Push feature is useful when people want to do integrated business planning, cash flow, scenario testing and "what if".
This speed of analytic capacity is vital to city's key financial thinkers in planning the way out of the current financial morass. That's why we are running a seminar in Dublins IFSC on March 11th to demonstrate this innovative planning advantage.
Priority QUANTRIX Registration: March 11th IFSC Jurys Inn
Research on this topic shows that corporations engage in multiple, parallel planning activities: there are sales plans, operations and demand plans, transportation plans, marketing plans etc. Most don't formally integrate the results of these plans. The closest thing to an integrated plan is the annual budget and the periodic updates. However, there are at least two important issues that prevent spreadsheet-based budgets from being a useful integrated business plans. First, since budgets are mainly concerned with money, much of the non-financial operating detail is omitted - limiting the budget's usefulness in supporting non-financial planning. Quantrix Modeller enables companies to keep track of "things" (headcount by grade, units of bar stock, minutes of machine time, consulting hours and so on) as they construct their models and share this data.
The problem with rolling up and consolidating data from multiple sources in desktop worksheets is that the connection is indirect and not necessarily co ordinated. DataPush addresses this. When changes occur that require an update, DataPush will send out updates of specific pieces of a plan out to every other planning unit (such as a department, division, business unit, etc.). Formally linking the models ensures that accurate, synchronized and up-to-date information is used by all parts of the business. The data also can be pushed into ERP systems, databases or other information sources that can use this data to prepare reports or drive other analyses.
Quantrix launched DATABAV for BI Business intelligence in 2009. MXI research indicates this is a strong business intelligence tool at a new price point level with excellent query, analysis and visualization capabilities to strenghten the core Quantrix Modeller.
This the next move for companies seeking to reduce cost in this area, increase output, put new performance monitoring metrics in place. Forecasting, Modelling, planning, business intelligence, sales & operations planning, budgeting cost can be greatly reduced for planning teams. As well as providing methods for rapid query and analysis with neat navigation and visualization.
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The ECB and Bank of England are keeping rates low, business confidence sags, spending over Christmas lagged seriously not a even a drink could cheer us up we didn't buy any. It's likely that conditions economically are going to remain challenging that delightful phase that slipped into our conscience a decade or two ago.
You can't cut buck the market, you have to cut costs and give the public what it wants when it's ready. And better forecasting is the key.
If we saw a man digging a hole on the road using a beach bucket and spade we would all say he needs a Jackhammer! So why do so many use Spreads***ts for business planning, time series forecasting, modelling, sku sales forecast, inventory predictions, production management, MRP purchasing decisions, trending, seasonality and sales promotions.
Bob the Builder has all gear he needs so why don't you. If you are responsible for managing stock, purchasing, sales projections, demand management, demand planning, forecasting times to stop using s****she**s.
Sales and Operations planning support organisations to deploy resources efficiently and most importantly cash. No point having the spare part in Stockport when it's needed in Shanghai or Spokane in the morning. If it's going to be hot holiday week end, we need lots of Beer, Ice Cream, lettuce, charcoal, gas, beach gear. No good telling the boss Tuesday stock will be in Wednesday.
Forecast Pro is the most successful computer forecasting application ever written. 50,000 licenses sold users such as IBM, Diageo, Ford, BMW, Sony, and hundreds of smaller companies. It does the exponential smoothing, holt winters, extrapolations, using an expert selector. It does the projections you handle business.
We at MXI understand accurate forecasting thats why we give you the chance of a 30 FREE trial. Request your download.
Forecast PRO compared to Spread*****s. Some Facts
- Faster & Accurate first time.
- There is only one methodology in a spre******t, Trendline and it is the least reliable.
- Forecast PRO has 20 and an expert selector.
- 3 time PC Magazine Editors Choice and multiple Insead awards for accuracy
Use MXI Forecast Pro Supply Chain technology. Forecast Pro will improve your sales & operations planning, demand planning, sales forecasting. Users include Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, SIEMENS, UK Treasury, Caterpillar, Irish Airports Authority.
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Nothing like an old fashioned gag to highlight a a truism and it's certainly true to say too many serious business decisions are made with the aid of spreadsheets. Leading British magazine The Economist implicates spreadsheets for the part they played in the international credit crisis.
In talking with prospective customers for our budgeting, modelling, forecasting and analytics products, people say well "We have been using spreadsheets for years, the work is done and the spreadsheets were free with the PC, it would be a waste of money to revisit this ." Or words to this effect.
Understandably they feel this way as there has been a lot of time invested in the spreadsheets.
Mistakes - There is lots of evidence that Spreadsheet are not fit for purpose. Errors in formula's, links to worksheets and too much cut and paste. Many financial market observers (Investors, commentators, Pension Funds) are very surprised to learn that the Markets were using spreadsheets to analyse, control and price risk.
Communication - Spreadsheets are essentially personal yet many organisations are sharing Spreadsheets. The possibility of error grows exponentially as the number of users climbs. Spreadsheets are not easily understood or well documented. It's well known that users force data, change formulas to get things done. And then forget (deliberately or otherwise) to advise these changes properly to others. Some organisations go through very expensive and time consuming spreadsheet re engineering when users leave organisations.
X & Y - Spreadsheets have 2 dimensions only. Above and Across that's it. One line of data down the side and across the top that's all. Most people want to see far more information than that. For example, sales by product, region, customer, year and month. That's very limiting and prevents productive number crunching.
Cost - It is very surprising but most companies have not costed the time spent generating, using, fixing, tracing errors in spreadsheets. In most cases it will far exceed the cost of an investment in a system. Why should using a spreadsheet be exempt from normal performance metrics. If there were used for manufacturing widgets they would have gone long ago!
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I've had a series of interesting discussions with potential clients this week, one of which inspired me to sit this evening and write my latest blog. The client concerned was clearly very attached to the spreadsheet based forecasting and budgeting system his company employed and repeatedly took umbrage at the merest suggestion that there may be a better alternative. Our discussions culminated with the guy in question spluttering "Will you leave my spreadsheets alone"
I found his outburst fascinating on a number of different levels, firstly, why did this guy seemingly have such an almost personal attachment to this computer application and secondly why was he desperately defending them?
Furthermore, his attachment, based on the law of averages, can't be an isolated view and many business people must have a similar level of attachment to Microsoft's product.
I then thought back to a time when (as some of us remember) spreadsheets didn't exist and budgeting and forecasting were a painfully laborious processes. All of sudden a product was presented to the Financial fraternity that revolutionised the entire process and made an enormous difference to their working lives. Small wonder there is a loyalty to that product. Then I considered the amount of man hours this client and thousands of others like him have invested into the creation of the spreadsheet based process they use. They have probably spent more time with that collection of spreadsheets then they have with some of their families, again small wonder they defend them.
So my challenge is to build a robust argument to challenge these relationships. Driving home my thoughts were:
1) Would their relationships with spreadsheets falter if they understood the inherent flaws that many of their spreadsheets contain (97% of spreadsheets contain errors according to reliable sources)
2) Do they appreciate the amount of errors that the multiple copying and pasting of formulas over time are likely to have created
3) Are they relying on the information these flawed systems often throw out to make business critical decisions and do they appreciate that these flaws can effect outputs by as much as 5%
4) Do my spreadsheet obsessed potential clients appreciate the huge amount of time that is consumed in checking and maintaining these vast data beasts
5) How on earth do people share information amongst divisions and colleagues and how can they restrict access to suit their needs?
If you share my clients obsession with spreadsheets and need some help then please give me a call.
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I'm often asked by potential clients "how do you know that (our spreadsheet based) financial planning processes could be improved? It's served our business well for the for the last x years", is a typical comment.
I have a simple reply. Go through the following checklist and if you answer more than 50% of the questions positively then you should look at an alternative approach.
Time - Do you spend more time maintaining the spreadsheets that you use to ensure their reliability and accuracy. More so, do you actually have people in your Financial Department whose total or partial responsibility it is to maintain their integrity?
1. Do you spend time when you budget, forecast or plan checking and fixing formulas?
2. Do you worry that you should be spending time checking formulas, but don't?
3. Are you frustrated that you and your team have to devote time to checking spreadsheet integrity?
4. Are you afraid to touch your spreadsheets, is the prospect of changing or altering them too daunting?
5. Do you cringe when a senior member of the team asked for a forecast or model that you currently can't produce?
6. Are you more than 70% certain that your spreadsheets are accurate?
7. Are you cutting and pasting formulas from one location to another repeatedly and are you confident that errors are never made during this procedure?
8. Do you suspect that members of your team have made errors in the past that are a potential time- bomb?
9. Do you know that there are inherent errors within your spreadsheets but can't face the prospect of having to track them down?
So, as I said if you have answered yes to more than 5 questions here I would strongly recommend that you speak with MXI or a trusted partner who understands the market.
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