As CFMs, we are typically charged with being historians. What was our profit margin? Did we come in under budget? Yes, we also prepare budgets, and forecasts too, but the challenge is that, as the person charged with ‘telling the story’, we need to rely on many others to fill in the blanks.
What’s in the pipeline? What is the expected margin on that work? How certain are we to actually get the work, and have it start on time?
To that ‘guess work’ we need to add the current ongoing projects, and with the help of others (and liberal interpretations of what they provide) determine whether we’re on target regarding schedule and margin, and how that all plays into the forecast looking forward.
Bruce Vandersyde, writes in his blog (http://www.anterratech.com/2012/09/21/the-definition-of-business-intelligence/ )about Business Intelligence, and simple terms, it’s not just key indicators or dashboards.
It’s about process, and accountability, and repeating it, over and over, all in service to having the correct information when it’s needed, so decisions are made that have the most positive, or least negative impact on the organization.
The challenge is that we do most of this freehand. We’re using spreadsheets, and reports generated from our accounting/project management software, manipulating that data, and getting input and feedback from others. By the time we get done massaging it, it has changed in real-time.
A CFM needs to live in two worlds; the first is operational. There’s no denying you have to really “know” where you’re at (thinking or feeling doesn’t work very well here, unless you’re a savant!). The second world is strategic. Where is all of this activity taking us? What information can you or I provide to help others in the organization make better decisions?
There’s no denying that we must make sure that the existing work and operational results must be accurate and reported in a timely fashion, but what I’m curious to see is what people think, and are doing out there to move towards that second world of Strategic Thinking, and whether you’re using home-grown tools like me, or have found a better mousetrap.