General diagnostic guidance. Examples and questions do not establish the treatment or readiness of a particular client landscape.
Separate the finance decisions
Planning, management reporting, statutory consolidation and close can share information while serving different needs. Establish which capabilities need to change, which can remain and which requirements are mandatory before creating a product shortlist.
Understand what the current environment actually does
Inventory finance processes, models, source data, interfaces, calculations, journals, reports, manual interventions and ownership. Include the work done outside the platform, such as spreadsheets and local adjustments. Document the business consequence of current limitations.
Compare architectures as well as products
Consider how the proposed platforms divide responsibility, exchange data and preserve controls. Test performance, integration, support and operating assumptions using current product evidence and the organisation’s requirements. A product name alone does not specify an implementable target architecture.
Make the transition credible
Identify data preparation, historical information, reconciliation, coexistence, skills and support prerequisites. A viable target still needs an achievable sequence of intermediate states. Agree how the finance team will review results while the transition is in progress.
Record the basis of the investment decision
Agree criteria and weighting before scoring. Compare commercial inputs on a consistent scope, state assumptions and distinguish implementation cost from ongoing operation. The recommendation should show its conditions, unresolved evidence and the next decision.
Inspect the method
See a clearly labelled synthetic example of the corresponding finding and the next evidence it requires.
View the worked example