What’s in a name – PBCS vs EPBCS

About PBCS v. EPBCS, so after careful deliberation, you’ve decided that PBCS is the planning software you need to help grow your organization, but now the question is which version – The original, or the newer EPBCS? What are the differences between the two offerings, and what are the pros and cons in choosing one over the other?

Below, I will enumerate the common features, and then highlight the key differences, in order that you can make an informed decision, and ensure that you choose the right product for your business’ needs.

 

An Overview

PBCS was built upon on-premise Hyperion Planning, so you’re already getting a proven system. One element to remember is that everything you get with PBCS, you’ll also get with EPBCS. Both have the following common features:

• 3 BSO Custom Plan Types
• 3 ASO Custom Plan Types
• 1 Consolidated Reporting Cube
• FDMEE data integration tool, now known as “Data Management” .

It provides quality assurance for data load processes and also enables data transformations and mappings. On-premise FDMEE is quite costly, so having it included presents a great benefit for both PBCS and EPBCS.

 

E for Extras

The E in EPBCS stands for a lot more out-of-the-box (pre-built) frameworks and benefits to your business.

 

Financial Statement Planning

The Financial Planning framework allows users to link balance sheets with income statements and cash flow. When you make changes on an income statement, the balance sheet and cash flow are updated automatically. This framework did not exist under the old Planning modules and there is no plan in introducing it on the on-prem version.

This feature can be integrated with Workforce, Capital and Project framework if you need more detailed planning for your business processes.

 

Workforce Planning

Workforce planning allows for prebuilt content to support plans and forecast for headcount and workforce expenses. It is a new framework which is not based on the original Planning module. The Workforce plan type creates in the background 2 more Plan types: Capital and Project Plan types, which allow for additional standard 3 BSO plan types and 4 ASO plan types. All these cubes are transparent to the user.

With this module, you can align your HR strategy with your corporate needs. It is also a very useful tool for business users to manage their expenses and benefits.

 

Capital Asset Planning

This framework tracks new and existing asset planning and intangibles. It has prebuilt content to support plans and forecast for capital expenses via driver based-calculations. This is where you can do your investment planning, such as treasury. You have to ability to approve or not approve certain capital expenditures, and check the impact of that expense.

It integrates nicely with the Financial and Project Framework.

 

Project Financial Planning

Lets you plan for indirect projects. It has prebuilt content to support plans and forecast for corporate initiatives. Helps to understand the financial impact of these projects and review and approve them. It is really a driver’s business process (short and long-term projects).

It integrates with the Financial Framework so you can track your asset-related expenses and projects revenues. The features are also incremental so you can enable or disable them based on your business needs.

 

Strategic Modeling

The Strategic Modeling module allows you to get rid of manual and unreliable financial modeling methods. This module can be used for long-term planning, corporate financials, and treasury initiatives. You can stress test various financial models scenarios.

 

Benefits of EPBS over PBCS features

All these EPBS features are incremental which means that you can pick the module you want to use and can implement the others at a later stage or as they get released.

You can configure them as per your need and add your custom dimensions, members and logic within the framework.

Note that they are not modules in the traditional sense, but rather business processes, which gives you a better control on your business and its Financial, Capital, Workforce and projects aspect.

Furthermore, these new Frameworks are completely integrated via Smart Push and data maps.

There are plans to add more pre built framework in the future, so watch this space.

 

Making the choice between PBCS and EPBCS subscription

Deciding on whether to purchase a PBCS or an EPBCS subscription comes down to the built-in business processes and content.

In case you do not need the new business processes, PBCS is your prime choice. If you want speedy deployment of best practice business processes, EPBCS is the better fit.

If you’re still not sure which version is the best fit for your organization, or you simply want to learn more about the above EPBCS or PBCS different offerings, an experienced Oracle partner like Tactic Key Consulting, with a dedicated team of Oracle EPM Cloud and industry experts, will  address your specific queries.