OVERVIEW

• The Planmaster software has evolved over the years to ease and speed the tasks of the Finance Department. Built with Accountants in mind, it minimises the need to involve your IT Department.

• The software offers many features that assist in the completion of consolidated accounts for Financial Reporting, Management Reporting, Budgeting or Planning.

• All this from one software.

• Planmaster applications can be configured to the client’s exact requirements resulting in a system that is easy to use and maintain and moreover provides the depth and breadth of reporting required by the client.

Click on the navigation arrows to see more details about some of the features available.

USABILITY

• Planmaster requires no specialist IT Knowledge. It has been designed by people whose expertise is in accountancy and planning rather than information technology.  

• As a company we understand the importance of properly training users and developers of the system. This minimizes the need for on-going assistance. However, our experienced consultants are always available to help and advise, should the need arise.

• This is backed up by our first class and highly experienced consultants.

FLEXIBILITY

• Planmaster applications can be modified to suit current requirements at any time by accounts staff.  Company hierarchies, accounts, logic, report layouts, time scales and menus can all be quickly changed by an authorised user.  

• Reports can be produced in any layout, at any level in the hierarchy and in any currency defined in the currency table.

• Financial Accounts, Management Accounts and Budgeting/Planning along with all reporting are all handled by a single application. This greatly simplifies maintenance and staff training. Planmaster will accept data from and output to other systems.

• A batch facility enables multiple updates and reports to be run with little or no user intervention.

• Ability to setup “whatif” scenarios to aid in budgeting and planning.

SECURITY

• Planmaster data is stored in databases in encrypted form. This ensures the integrity and accuracy of data and prevents unauthorised access.

• Access to applications is controlled by a centrally maintained Users’ database which has the necessary permissions for each user. For example, a user may be allowed access to just one company or to the reporting functions only or to a specific part of the system, etc.

• Customised menus can limit the ability of end users to view and adjust both the data and configuration of the application.

• Standard network security coupled with the Users’ database means that Planmaster applications can not be accessed by unauthorised persons.

MENUS

• An application specific menu system allows or restricts access to the various features of the application in whatever way the developer chooses.

• Menus can be customised for end users, supervisors and controllers.

• Menus are centrally maintained by the person in overall charge of the application.

CONSOLIDATION

• Multiple company hierarchies are used to specify views of the organisational structure, for example, one hierarchy can be based on management control, one for financial accounting and another on a geographical basis. This flexibility allows the data to be viewed in different ways.

• Consolidated reports may be easily produced on demand at all levels of whichever hierarchy is chosen.

• At consolidated levels, these reports default to the main currency of the application. Data in other currencies is automatically converted using the exchange rates input to the currency table. However, reports can be produced using any currency available in the application.

• Integrity of data ensures that only up to date values are used.

CURRENCY

• Planmaster stores data for foreign subsidiaries in local currency both for base data and journals when used.  

• At Group or intermediate levels, reports can be printed in either the main currency or the local currency of the subsidiary or indeed any other currency in the application.

• Multiple rates may be used for opening , closing, average, etc. This enables the automatic calculation of foreign exchange differences.

• Rates can be entered as either month end or year end rates depending on the type of data held in the system.

JOURNALS

• Planmaster journals provide the ability to make adjustments to base data. Using journals provides a detailed audit trail of both the data adjustments as well as explanatory text for each line of the journal. Journal reports are available on demand.

• Journals may be entered in both true audit mode and also in planning mode, the latter to facilitate data traces on budgets and plans as well as non-financial data.

• Journals cannot be deleted. Incorrect journals can be reversed,  creating a new journal. This ensures integrity of data, especially important for financial reporting.

• Journals can be printed to provide a permanent record of the postings.

DATA CAPTURE

• Data in Planmaster can be captured in a variety of ways.

• In-built Excel style screens allow data to be entered manually with associated validation checks to ensure the accuracy and integrity of data. These screens are designed so that they can reflect your users’ needs and workflow.

• Nominal Ledger data can be loaded directly from files produced by your ledger systems. These files are typically in standard CSV format. However, Planmaster can work with almost any type of data file and with almost any ledger system. Input of data can be subject to additional validation checks, if required.

• Data can also be captured from a variety of other systems for example,  Fixed Asset Registers, systems holding non-financial information, etc.

REPORTING

• Reports are designed using a simple procedure. They can be easily enhanced to produce board quality presentation.

• Reports can be “printed” to pdf files. Multiple reports can be sent to the same file. This allows for easy sharing of reports. Reports can also be “printed” to pdf files and emailed in one operation.

• Reports displayed on screen allow the user to drill down on values.

• The drill-down facility allows the user to investigate all values and accounts in the displayed report. A double click will expand the selected account row, report column or individual value by one report level at a time. This may be repeated until underlying data values are visible. Planmaster retains the same report style as used in the top level report. Drill reports are of the same high quality as the originally designed reports.

• Multi-level drill-down greatly speeds the correction of errors and discrepancies. It is also invaluable for budgeting/planning applications and for use by the Auditors. This feature is built in to Planmaster’s reporting mechanism and does not require any special programming by the application developer.

EXCEL INTERFACE

• Planmaster applications can interface with Microsoft Excel to either read data from or write data to, a spreadsheet.

• Although data can be read from a spreadsheet, data integrity can be greatly enhanced by using Planmaster’s own in-built Excel lookalike screens and associated data validation checks. Excel is a flexible program but can be prone to errors.   

• Planmaster provides a tool that allows data to be retrieved directly from Planmaster databases into any spreadsheet. This data can then be formatted and added to, plotted, etc.

Finally …. Why Planmaster ?

• Planmaster requires no specialist IT knowledge. It has been designed by people whose expertise is in accountancy and planning rather than information technology.

• Experienced Consultants to assist and advise

• Multi-dimensional, dynamic system with flexible and automatic consolidation. Able to handle large and complex corporate hierarchies.

• Applications can be built to the level of detail to match your business needs. They can be built to any level of granularity with time dimension (daily,weekly,monthly,quarterly or yearly), any level of hierarchy and accounts.
  
  
• Produces clear well presented reports.

• Ensures only valid data is accepted for processing by providing user defined validation and checks.

• Fully automatic currency conversion.

• Ability to drill on reports to underlying data, accounts and companies.

• Full batch processing of multiple reports is available.

• On demand processing demonstrates the blistering speed of the software. Reporting is especially fast with full consolidations achieved at the rate of 10’s of entities per second.  

• System is fully scaleable able to handle even the largest of corporate applications.

• Undemanding software - Planmaster does not require dedicated servers on which to run. All versions of Windows and Windows Server are supported as well as CITRIX and Terminal Services for remote access.

• Planmaster applications can be implemented in far shorter times than competing products.

• Experience - Planmaster has been in existence for over 35 years, the software is stable and the experience of Planmaster’s consultants is unrivalled.