Aimplan

Aimplan is a SaaS/Software company with a mission to help organizations reach and exceed their goals with superior financial planning and reporting capabilities all within the Microsoft Power BI platform. The Aimplan™ SaaS solution is extending Power BI adding planning and input capabilities to support forecasting, simulations, budgeting and many other use-cases. Aimplan enhances the Power BI structured reporting capabilities and also adds master data management capabilities.
 
aimplan.com

CEO & Founder

Sherpas Group AB

Senior Advisor and Product Manager

insightsoftware

Cloud and Integration
Coordinating the work with the Insightsoftware Cloud Connector integration platform to connect the different products within the portfolio with leading ERP systems.

Senior Product Manager

Bizview Systems

Leading the Swedish and Norwegian Bizview operation. Post-acquisition integration and supporting the global Bizview go-to-market initiatives.

General Manager Bizview

Responsible for the development and customer success of the FP&A software Bizview. Leading the engineering-, support- and cloudops teams. Member of the executive leadership team, co-owner, and board member. In September 2019 we finalized the sales transaction where Bizview was acquired by Insightsoftware Inc (Raleigh, North Carolina).

CTO and Product Manager

IFRONT AB

Worked as an independent CPM/BI consultant in Scandinavia and UK with enterprise customers. Specialized in customer- and product net profitability analysis (i.e. profit and margin after smart allocation of overhead costs using cost drivers, down to each sales transaction). SQL Server, ETL-processes, large data volumes, data analytics.

Senior Management Consultant

EBI Systems AB

Swedish start-up, and award winning company developing the document and issue management system "Platina". Developed using by the time the not even released .NET-framework and related web technologies. Later acquired by Formpipe. Worked with software product strategy, implementation project management, development team lead.

Product Manager

Prodacapo

Worked as a consultant and later as the product manager for Prodacapo. At that time one of the leading global software vendors within the customer- and product profitability modelling area (rated by Gartner). Product strategy/positioning, development planning, pre-sale, evangelist, user conferences etc.

Vice President Product Management

Management Consultant

Hi, I’m Erik!

I have spent 25 years of my life working in the FP&A / EPM / CPM space, both as a consultant and within software companies delivering FP&A solutions. Now, I'm the CEO and founder of Aimplan, with the purpose of changing how companies work with planning, forecasting, budgeting, and financial reporting.

So finance professionals always ask me this:
“Why do we need to buy separate FP&A software when we already have Power BI?”

The answer is simple - Power BI is not a FP&A tool! Users can’t edit any data in Power BI to create plans, budgets, and forecasts. Controllers and CFOs cannot easily create the structured reporting (P&Ls, etc.) that management wants. And there is no way in Power BI to manage different scenarios, mappings of accounts, or other critical structures (i.e. no master data management).

That’s the reason we started Aimplan!

We want our customers to be able to extend their usage of Power BI and extend their existing Power BI models to also solve the needs of the office of the CFO. And move away from manual, disconnected, error-prone spreadsheet way of working into highly efficient, automated, integrated, and Power BI supported processes.

I feel so privileged to help companies get better at FP&A.

I personally love building products, companies, and teams. I have a wife and two grown-up girls, one still living with us and one living in Stockholm.

When I'm on vacation, you'll see me near the lake house in the summer, cutting the boards to the right length or driving a Seadoo Spark watercraft. During the winter season here in northern Sweden, with abundant snowfall, snowmobiling is the way to go when seeking fun and excitement.

I believe a healthy body equals a healthy mind. So here at Aimplan the team loves running out of the office to the gym and coming back with a refreshed brain, ready to take on challenges.

That’s it!

Please reach out to me if you need help or would like to talk FP&A and Power BI!

FP&A is not about VLOOKUP or INDEX MATCH.

In reality, FP&A is not about technicals.

It's about:

- People.
- Forecasting accurately.
- Automating manual reporting.
- Telling good stories backed by data.
- Working with the CFO to minimize risks.
- Guiding teams to make better financial decisions.
- Experimenting with 3rd generation of FP&A tools.
- Providing unbiased advice to leadership on key issues.
- Helping non-finance folks understand business strategy.
- Partnering with the CEO & CFO to align goals and strategy.
- Translating complex financials into insights others can action.
- Getting to know your business partners and what matters to them.

FP&A is about people. 

Without people, there is no FP&A.

Erik Lidman

Accounting and Finance are not the same.

Let me give you a simple breakdown.

Accounting:

- Focuses on historical and current financial information.
- Prioritizes compliance and adherence to accounting principles.
- Looks backward to report and analyze past financial activities.
- Involves matching revenues with expenses and being conservative in recording economic activities.

Finance:

- Focuses on current and future cash flows.
- Aims for value creation through strategic capital allocation.
- Is forward-looking, planning, and predicting future financial performance.
- Revolves around investing and efficiently distributing financial resources for profit maximization.

Takeaway?

You can only improve finance when your accounting data is clean. When your chart of accounts is standardized and your books are closed properly.

P.S. Hi, I’m Erik! I have spent 25 years of my life working in the FP&A, EPM, and CPM spaces. I share daily FP&A tips and talk about finance trends.

After 25 years in FP&A, I can confidently say this:

FP&A is a great career choice.

To become a great FP&A professional, start here:

1. Understand your business inside and out:

• Be curious.
• Ask great questions.
• Read and analyze the business reports.
• Look for insights in reviews that others overlook.
• Talk to marketing, sales, and operations to gather insights.
• Set goals for the year and plan what to focus on every quarter.

2. Build your network:

• Don't procrastinate at work.
• Be the first one to say hello.
• Be friends with accounting.
• Don't say yes to everybody.

3. Build great financial models:

• Get familiar with different FP&A software.
• See how other FP&A folks do their work.
• Make easy-to-use templates for your reports.
• Understand the difference between what's important and what's urgent.

4. Be analytical:

• Do one deep analysis every month.
• Write short, clear reports about your findings.
• Use PowerBI to create impressive data charts.
• Plan your weeks and check on your progress every day.
• Understand how changing prices and sales volumes affect business.
• Use tools to figure out costs and profits and to see when you'll break even.

5. Learn how to predict finances:

• Spot and understand trends.
• Test out different 'what if' scenarios.
• Remember to think about the uncertainties.
• Keep an eye on how accurate your predictions are.
• Use the 3-statement financial model. 

P.S. Hi, I’m Erik! I have spent 25 years of my life working in the FP&A, EPM, and CPM spaces. I share daily FP&A tips and talk about finance trends.

After 25 years, here are 5 lessons for FP&A professionals:

1. Master the fundamentals:

While tools and technology will continue to advance, strong foundational skills will always be critical. Take time to learn Power BI and Excel formulas, pivot tables, and lookup functions. 

Learn SQL queries to pull data from databases. 

Study data visualization best practices for communicating insights.

And know your company's financial statements, operating metrics, and value drivers.

2. Adopt a data-first mindset:

FP&A is increasingly data-driven. 

Approach your work with a data-first perspective, asking:

"What data do I need to support this sales forecast or budget?" 

Then focus your energy on getting clean, normalized data from various systems to drive insights. 

The best analysis means nothing without good data.

3. Visualize and tell stories:

Turn data into compelling stories and visuals. FP&A pros must communicate insights, not just calculate them. Use data visualization best practices like small multiples, histograms, and scatter plots to showcase trends, outliers, and opportunities in a digestible way for stakeholders. 

Break down complex driver-based models into compelling yet simple narratives.

4. Keep learning:

FP&A is growing.

Commit to continuous learning by taking online courses on business intelligence tools, reading books on statistical analysis, and attending FP&A conferences. 

Stay on top of new techniques like rolling forecasts, capacity modeling, and predictive analytics. Master tools like Power BI, and Aimplan. 

A progressive mindset is key.

5. Focus on stakeholders

Provide analysis and insights tailored to your stakeholders' needs, not just what's interesting to you. Talk to executives, managers, and end-users to understand their pain points and challenges. Then focus your efforts on serving them better through FP&A findings into things like product profitability, capacity constraints, and sales projections.

These 5 lessons are certainly important foundations for FP&A professionals.

P.S. Hi, I’m Erik Lidman! I have spent 25 years of my life working in the FP&A, EPM, and CPM spaces. I share daily FP&A tips and talk about finance trends and doing FP&A within Power BI.

What FP&A is NOT:

- A back-office function.
- Limited to accountants.
- Just reporting the numbers.
- Making decisions in isolation.
- Optional to business success.
- About fancy charts and decks.
- Throwing Excel models over the wall.
- A solitary job. FP&A requires teamwork.
- Easy. Navigating between people and politics is hard.

FP&A = human bridge that delivers cooperation.

It’s the trusted advisor guiding leaders through uncertainty.

Let’s start recognizing FP&A's full value—both hard skills and soft skills. 

Because, at the end of the day, sure, you need accurate models.

But you also need people who trust your guidance.

An observation from 25 years of working in the FP&A, EPM, and CPM spaces. Both as a consultant and within software companies delivering FP&A solutions:

3 skills you need to become great at FP&A.

P.S. It's now possible to plan, budget, and forecast inside Power BI with Aimplan → https://lnkd.in/gFvw25hQ

3 skills you need to become great at FP&A 

I’ve observed that great FP&A pros know that:

You can never have all the data to plan, budget, and forecast.  

But it’s your job to find effective ways to gain insights.

When you deal with an unpredictable business environment, be imaginative.

- Experiment with new analysis techniques in Power BI.
- Apply scenario planning and "what if" analysis to various possibilities.
- Listen closely to conversations with business leaders for subtle changes.

You can only become agile and creative when you let go of your strict attachment to past trends and models.

Don't lock yourself to perfection in numbers and formulas.

You must mix analytics and ideas to hit profitability.

Remember: CFOs need guidance even without all the answers.

And if you wait for complete clarity, you might miss strategic opportunities.

Look at the data as a point of discussion, not as an outcome.

Repost ♻️ if you agree.  

P.S. I'm excited to be your host and show you how you can do sales and demand forecasting with Power BI. Alongside me will be Michael P. (speaker), diving deep into the capabilities of Power BI.

If you're in FP&A, you'll love being part of this event:

https://lnkd.in/dCVixzFg

Here's an example of a very simple use case where you want to update a few measures / KPIs directly within Power BI and see the results live and updated in charts and other visuals.

It's now possible to edit data and update numbers within Power BI using Aimplan write-back technology.

Most people don't realize it, but Power BI is a great alternative to Excel. 

You can now plan, budget, and forecast inside Power BI → https://lnkd.in/gFvw25hQ

You can't build this in a pivot table in Excel or in a matrix report.

Here is an illustration of some of the unique features of Aimplan when it comes to the flexible design of planning and forecasting input forms. 

Pivot-table-style forms with write-back are not good enough in real FP&A planning and forecasting applications! 

Instead, it must be possible to, on a much more granular level, control the different column and row sections within the form. 

This is a unique feature of the aimplan.com Planning and Reporting Visual for Power BI. 

Thank you to everybody who joined us yesterday on the LinkedIn live event to learn about sales and demand forecasting inside Power BI with Aimplan.

I'm excited to tell you that I'll be speaking at the BARC webinar and would be very happy if you could join me → https://lnkd.in/grcZZxuK
 
It's on April 16th. 

Whether you're adjusting an allocation to $400K or implementing other changes, you can easily track all your financial actions. Every change you make is recorded, creating a great audit trail.

This leads to better accountability and transparency.

Aimplan is the go-to tool for FP&A, with scenario planning, real-time adjustments, financial projections, and detailed audit trails.

And you don't have to leave Power BI. 

You can plan, forecast, and budget directly inside Power BI.

Once, FP&A was challenging.

 But now we are here to make FP&A easy so you can have a better life and a great business.

P.S. Hi, I’m Erik Lidman! I have spent 25 years of my life working in the FP&A, EPM, and CPM spaces. I share daily FP&A tips and talk about finance trends and doing FP&A within Power BI.

More CFOs today rely on FP&A people for faster forecasting, planning, and budgeting. Finance is going through exciting times of change. 

But, in many companies, FP&A folks and finance managers are stuck with Excel.

Excel has been a faithful assistant for years but is slow, boring, and prone to errors. So, finance people are seriously considering switching to a tool that can make you more strategic and automate boring and repetitive tasks.

If manual Excel spreadsheets are your pain, you’ll love reading this article to understand Excel alternatives for faster planning, budgeting, and forecasting needs.

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