Companies can optimize their performance as the business environment changes by using a continuous planning approach. For executives, COVID-19 has been a major eye-opener. It has become clear that the uncontrolled factors can entirely overshadow what corporate leaders believed they had control over. FP&A teams are aware of this and are aware that making judgments with confidence is challenging. FP&A professionals need to be prepared to evaluate a variety of situations in their capacity as strategic advisors to the C-suite and course-correct more frequently, presuming most decisions will be somewhat off the mark. Because of this, their planning needs to be more incremental, making it naturally fluid and allowing for course correction before they go too far down a road.
However, without enabling technology, it can be challenging to access all of the pertinent data that is kept by business units throughout the organization, most of which is kept in segregated spreadsheets. Without a single source of truth on a shared platform that everyone can access and utilize together, Finance executives find it challenging to work with budget owners.
Business dynamics are without a doubt evolving at an accelerated rate. Additionally, a business' planning procedure must accommodate this dynamic environment. In order to meet the demands of a constantly shifting context, there is a tendency away from static, annual planning models and toward more continuous, dynamic ones. How to modify a company's planning procedures so that decision-making is continuous at predetermined intervals hence preventing them from being quickly rendered obsolete.

Organizations had to make changes to their financial strategy just a few months into the year 2020. As a result, many organizations were forced to plan more frequently than in the past and communicate with leadership more frequently. As a best practice for the future, organizations are now embracing ongoing financial planning. Organizations need to make technology investments for bettering the finance process and start utilizing AI and RPA, or better yet, Risk Intelligent RPA and Financial Controls AI, as tools created specifically for the finance and accounting teams. Because of this, effective ongoing financial planning will be possible. These integrated solutions increase the Office of Finance's data integrity, identify areas that provide a substantial risk, automate formerly manual operations so finance teams may concentrate on more strategic projects, and they not only enforce standardized finance processes.
Data-driven financial planning is prevalent today. Planning is now a more integrated, ongoing process rather than a periodic activity generally handled by finance. Previously, planning and forecasting decisions were based on historical trends; today, machine learning predictions based on many data points, scenarios, and trends are utilized to forecast, making the planning process even more precise and nimble. Financial planning now is evolving toward becoming more prognostic, using data science, and utilizing best practices and methodologies to focus not only on what has occurred or is happening now, but also on why and how it is occurring—as well as what is expected to occur in the future. Over time, the process of financial planning has changed from being largely manual and dependent on human input to becoming more data-driven and capable of utilizing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other cutting-edge technology.

Rolling forecasts enables businesses to constantly plan, or forecast, across a given time period. For instance, a rolling forecast will update its projection for the following twelve months at the conclusion of each quarter. This is distinct from the conventional method, which uses a static annual prediction and only generates updated projections toward the end of the year. A rolling forecast, when used properly, is a crucial management tool that enables businesses to identify trends or prospective headwinds and make necessary adjustments. As an illustration, the sales staff might have a strong understanding of the revenue stream but no knowledge of expenses or working capital problems. As a result, a common problem for developing businesses is that management's capacity for making decisions becomes constrained until it introduces a procedure for recovering a complete understanding of what is happening. This perspective is essential for assessing the health of various business segments and for choosing the most efficient way to allocate money. It is even more difficult for businesses with several divisions to get a comprehensive picture.
Using a five-quarter rolling forecast, initially the first quarter is a forecast period. However, In the next cycle the first quarter becomes actual, and there are five forecast quarters (with a new forecast quarter added). Similarly, the process continues giving the finance team and management a rolling view of the next five quarters or as many periods that are relevant to the business needs.

The scenario planning procedure is a forecasting exercise based on expected market developments and historical trends. That used to entail abstract conversations and time-consuming efforts to quantify scenarios and monitor the potential effects of different choices. The current problem is one of volume and complexity. Useful scenarios must be as thorough and precise as feasible, updated frequently with the most recent information, and, most crucially, refreshed throughout with the effects of the tactics under consideration. When supported by external data sets, such as macroeconomic forecasts, scenario planning can be more productively used to estimate a broad influence on the firm.
Spreadsheet-based scenario planning can often become unmanageable due to the sheer amount of data and the requirement to make changes rapidly while also understanding their effects.Finance users require a scalable and adaptable technological solution to swiftly predict and evaluate the business impact of a variety of situations. A highly flexible planning environment is required to support scenario modelling in order to get the most out of it. This environment should provide business users control over the decision-making process, enable speedy generation of new "what-if" models, and put the power in their hands. It should be able to integrate information and drivers from all types of internal systems as well as outside data from partners, suppliers, and industry trackers. A great planning tool should be able to analyse enormous amounts of data very fast and connect enterprise stakeholders so they can easily collaborate around a single set of facts. Last but not least, it should employ cutting-edge analytics and AI to uncover untapped dangers and opportunities. If a small to medium sized business has cost considerations in setting up a planning tool, custom developed low code no code and analytical process automations can be leveraged for a fraction of the cost of a planning tool.

Since the 1980s, spreadsheets have been the most widely used planning technology. Spreadsheet-based planning processes have problems like static data, version control, input errors, broken formulas, etc., as the majority of financial professionals painfully know. Instead of concentrating on strategic goals, FP&A teams spend an excessive amount of time and effort organizing and inspecting worksheets when using spreadsheets. With iterations being forwarded to stakeholders, updating plans becomes a time-consuming and frequently error-prone process.
The barriers to continuous planning have gradually diminished with the introduction of cloud planning tools. Teams from various departments, including finance, HR, operations, and sales, can work together to create plans, use workflows to make reviews and approvals quick and easy, update budgets and forecasts that are immediately reflected in the plan, and offer self-service reports that support executive decision-making. Instead of being isolated in a spreadsheet on one or more people's PCs, the entire database is housed within the system.
The capacity to automate financial procedures whenever possible is a crucial element of continuous planning. Automating repetitive, transactional, and data-driven processes that involve manual data entry is generally a good idea. The loading of invoice and collections data, as well as board reporting, are a few examples of these time-consuming tasks. Finance teams can concentrate on more valuable tasks when laborious processes are automated.

Continuous planning necessitates integration, frequently in both directions, between the main systems that supply the plan. Data from professional systems automation, ERP, CRM, and other systems is incorporated into a dynamic planning model. Inefficiencies and frequent errors occur when data extraction and uploading across systems require manual labour. When reforecasts are conducted on a weekly or more frequent basis, manual entry or upload of data is neither scalable nor viable. Integration procedures can be planned on a regular basis, making it possible to perform even daily data refreshes. To plan and report effectively, data must be timely and coordinated.

Using cutting-edge cloud-based planning tools or custom developed low code no code solutions,analytical process automation, artificial intelligence, and robotic process automation, continuous planning enables finance teams around the world to automate the financial planning and analysis processes, enabling firms to avoid manual operations. Continuous budgeting and numerous scenario creation are made possible by cloud-based technologies, which also maximize ROI by providing comprehensive insights. As a result, continuous planning is more effective with timely projections enabling the business to adapt and respond faster, and the finance staff has more time to devote to more important and strategic tasks that advance the organisation's growth. As a result, small and medium sized businesses can use the planning automation tools at their disposal to effectively allocate resources and make data-driven decisions for the business activities.