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Our mission here at Planium
is to create software tools that will really help managers to make
better business decisions
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E-Mail: info@planium.com
Tel: (972) 8-9261058



 

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Can I try it ?
You can download evaluation version of Business Planner in the
Download page. The evaluation version is active for a few days and doesn't allow printing.
Note: Business Planner newest version is installed to a different folder than any previous version and doesn't overwrite it. You can load a plan that you did with a previous version and it will be upgraded and copied to sub-folder Plans in the folder of the software.

What is the Price ?
As a user of a previous version of the Business Planner you are entitled for a special upgrade price that you can see above.

What's new in Business Planner 19 (2018)

Compressed Plan files (bpfx)

  • Plan files are now saved to a new file format with .bpfx extension. This file format is compressed to a much smaller file size. It saves up to 90% of space and is useful for backups and when transferring files to another user or computer.

  • The compressed plan file can include connected Excel files (see below).

  • The software can still load from, and save to, the format of the previous versions - files with a bpf extension.

Connected Excel files

  • The compressed plan files can include connected Excel files (if so selected in the "Settings" screen, in a new "Files and Backup" tab). If a plan file is sent to another computer there is no need to send the Excel files separately.

  • The location of connected Excel files is now more flexible. If the software cannot find a connected Excel file in its original folder it will look for it in the folder where the plan file is saved to. This is useful when moving the plan to another computer with different folders.

  • A color legend was added to the list of connected Excel files, in the Excel File Administrator screen. Excel files that were found in their original folders appear in black. Excel files that were not found at all appear as red text. Excel files that were not found in the original folder, but in the plan folder appear as blue text.

  • The Loan Table data can now be connected to an Excel file like all other data screens.

  • If the connected Excel file was changed after creating the connection, the software will analyze the change, e.g. If a sheet name was changed a warning will be displayed, if a new sheet was inserted between existing sheets it will not prevent the software to load the correct sheet. (However, the software cannot detect changes done in table structure such as adding rows or columns between existing ones).

Report Generator – User Defined Reports

  • A report generator was added and it is combined with the graph generator (User Defined Graphs). The combined generator allows the user to select sets of items from the financial reports, and these sets can now be used to create both graphs and reports.

  • The report/graph generator can be accessed from the Report Table, Graph Table, and from "User Defined Reports" screen that was added to the Analysis menu.

Automatic Plans Backup

  • Plan files are now being backed automatically to a backup folder (under the software folder in Documents). The backup is done for the current plan at work, every time that the software is closed or before loading another plan.

  • A new tab "Files and Backup" was added to the Settings (Preferences) screen and allows user to decide if the automatic backup will be active, what will be the backup folder, and what will be the maximum space for the backups (old backups will be deleted if the maximum space is exceeded).

Export Graphs

  • Graphs can now be exported to Excel, with their data table, by clicking the new "Export Graph to Excel" that was added in each Graph screen.

  • Graphs can now be easily copied and pasted to Word, or any other application, by using the new "Copy Graph to Clipboard" button that was added to each Graph screen.

Actual vs. Plan Reports

  • Year-end forecast columns were added to the Actual vs.Plan P&L, Balance, and Op Cashflow screens.

  • The table headers in the Actual vs. Plan screens were reorganized and merged and are now much easier to read and understand.

  • Descriptions column in the main Actual vs. Plan screens can be moved to a new position between the current month data and the YTD data.

  • User Defined Ratios are included also in Actual vs. Plan Financial Ratios screen.

Main Screen Display

A new button with the name "Settings" was added to the main screen. Clicking on it opens the Settings screen in a new tab called "Main Screen" that allows the user to decide what data and items will be displayed on the background of the main screen (e.g. the plan name, plan file, buttons, etc.)

Reports Order

The Report Table now enables the user to set the order by which the selected reports will be created in a multiple report document.

Dynamic Export to Excel

  • The Dynamic Export to Excel screen now includes a feature enabling the user to decide if the selected reports will be generated each on a separate sheet (as it was in previous versions) or in one continuous single sheet, one below the other.

  • The user can now set the order by which the selected reports will be created in the Excel file (identical to the same feature in Report Table).

  • Dynamic Export to Excel was added to Tools menu in the Navigator and also to the Right-Click popup menu in the main Analysis screens (P&L, Cash Flow, Balance).

Percentage Analysis and Index Analysis

  • The Balance and Operating Cashflow screens, in Analysis module, now include the tabs that enable the user to display Percentage Analysis and Index Analysis (similar to the features in the Profit and Loss screen).

  • Percentage Analysis in the Balance shows each item as percentage of Total Assets. In the Operating Cashflow it shows each item as percentage of Total Cash In or Total Cash Out.

  • The Index Analysis shows each item in each year as percentage of its value in the first plan year.

Depreciation Report

A Depreciation Report was added to the Investment Plan screen (in Analysis module, Plan Details sub-menu) and it shows the amount of depreciation for each investment in each of the plan periods.

Financial Parameters Screen

  • The Financial Parameters screen was reorganized and include tabs for the main groups of items that are included in this screen.

  • Several items in this screen now enable the user to set VAT rate: Intangible Assets, Other Income, Other Expenses.

Start New Year

The Start New Year module was enhanced and improved to enable moving a current plan to a new year plan more easily.

Import Actual Data

The user can now decide to remove all the data in the Actual Data screens (Profit and Loss, Balance) before the import is done. This is useful when user wants to remove all actual data that was entered manually, or in a previous import, to items that are not target for the current import.

Setting Current Actual Month

The current actual month can now be selected not only in the Actual P&L screen, but also in the General Data screen (Periods tab), Report Table, Dynamic Export to Excel screen, and Rolling Forecast screen.

Other new features

  • The Scenario report now includes the parameters that were set in the Scenario screen to create this report.

  • The Direct Cost, in Product Profit Centers and Market Profit Centers analysis screens, is now detailed by Material, Labor and Other costs.

  • When changing a price in Sales Price screen a check will be done, and if prices were entered in Sales Price tab for the same product, a warning message will be displayed for the user to check if these prices should be changed too.

  • Note: Color Code column was removed from Actual vs Plan reports, because it was not clear what was its meaning, and what data should it reflect (accordingly Color Code settings were removed from Settings screen).

Technical Improvements

The new version includes a few technical fixes and improvements, mainly in the field of faster loading of some screens and better adaptation to Windows 10 environment.

Features added in version 18 (2015)

Expert Review

An Expert Review screen has been added to the Analysis menu. This screen displays a quick assessment of the business situation according to the plan results, based on analyzing the profitability and liquidity as they are reflected in the financial projections.
Unlike the other Analysis screens, the Expert Review screen doesn't show a table of numbers but presents a short description from a point of view of an expert who is trying to summarize the main results of the plan in just a few sentences. The screen includes also two graphic indicators that display rates of selected financial ratios.

Viewer Version

The new version is accompanied by a special Viewer version that can be given to users who  don't have the software installed but want to review a plan that was prepared by the software on another computer. The Viewer version allows anyone to load plans and view the data and analysis screens. But data entry is not possible. If the loaded plan was prepared by a licensed version of the software, the viewer will also allow the user to print the reports and export them to Excel and word.

On-Line Help

This new feature is active in the financial projections screens in Analysis menu: Profit and Loss, Operating Cash flow, Cash flow Statement, Balance and Cash Based Income Report. It enables you to see specific help for each item in these screens by moving the mouse cursor over the item. A small help window pops-up and displays explanation for the specific item on which the mouse cursor is positioned.

Direct Cost Details

In the Product Margin screen, in Analysis menu, the direct cost for each product is now detailed by Material, Labor and Other Costs, according to the details in the Products and Cost table.

Comment Display

Most of the screens in the data and analysis sections include the feature to add a comment to each line in the screen. A line with comment is marked with a small green marker in the description cell. In previous version user had to right-click the cell and choose add/edit comment from the pop-up menu in order to see the comment. In the new version, when you move the mouse cursor over the small green marker in the description cell, the comment that you entered for this line will be automatically displayed in a small window on the screen.

Production / Purchasing Plan

The new Production / Purchasing Plan screen enables to enter data concerning the production plan, quantity, inventory and cost changes during the plan period. The screen is organized in tabs, as follows:

  • Parameters - inventory parameters that are used to calculate the inventory during the plan period

  • Production / Purchasing - the quantity or value of the products that will be produced (or purchased, depending on the business type) in each plan period

  • Product Cost Change - the increase or decrease which is expected in the product cost during the plan period.

Sales Plan - Products by Markets

The Sales Plan screen now includes a new feature that enables the user to select which products are sold in each market. This is useful because when you plan the sales for a specific market you see only the relevant products to that market and not all the products (as appeared in previous versions). This is also reflected in the appropriate analysis screens and reports (e.g. Profit and Loss, Sales Analysis) where only products that are sold in a market will appear.

Rolling Forecast - Details in Profit and Loss Forecast

The projected Profit and Loss report which is part of the Rolling Forecast module includes now the details of the main items (sales, operating expenses, etc.) similar to the Analysis Profit and Loss and Actual Profit and Loss screens.

Sum of a Selected Range

When a range of cells is selected in a data screen or an analysis screen, the status bar at the bottom of the main screen displays the Sum, Average and Count of the numbers in the cells in the range, similar to MS-Excel. In many cases, this is useful for understanding and validation of  the selected data that is entered or displayed in the screens.

Plan Table - Recent Plans

The Plans Table that appears under File menu, is reorganized and displays the plans that were recently used in a more convenient and useful way (similar to MS-Word recent documents screen).

Network Version

A network version is available now. It enables a group of users to share plans on a network folder. For more details please refer to our site or contact us.

Report Customization

The report customization screen was changed so that it will now be clearer to users. The sample grid preview was removed because it was confusing to some users. The results of changes in setup parameters is shown on the preview of the report after clicking the OK button, as in previous versions.

Editing Functions

In this version we have added the most used editing functions: cut, copy and paste, to the pop-up menu that is displayed when you right click on a cell or a selected range of cells in the Data screens. In Analysis screens it is also included but only the copy function is enabled as cut and paste is not permitted there.

 

Technical Improvements

The new version includes a few technical fixes and improvements, mainly in the field of faster loading of a few screens and better adaptation to Windows 7 and Windows 8 environment.

 

Features added in version 2012

Strategy Module

 

A Strategy module was added to the software and includes:

  • SWOT Analysis: enables the user to list and evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that are involved in the business

  • PEST Strategy: enables the user to analyse external parameters that influence the business: Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors.

  • Porter Analysis: allows to run Porter 5 Forces analysis that deals with the competition, attractivity and profitability of the market in which the business is active.

  • Balanced Scorecard: this module is now part of the Strategy module and enables to set goals and measure the plan and actual performance according to the goals.

Grants

 

The new Grants screen enables to enter the grants that the business is entitled for in relation to various operating expenses that the business has. In addition the Plant and Equipment screen has a new added Grants column that enables to enter investment grants as percentage of each investment item.

 

Actual Graphs

 

The Graphs table includes now a new Actual group of pre-prepared graphs that display various Actual vs. Plan data. The actual data of the main financial reports is now also available in the Graph Generator for user defined graphs.

 

Previous Profit and Loss Details

The data for items in the Previous Profit and Loss can now be entered in details, e.g. revenues are detailed by products and markets, expenses are detailed by departments and expense items, etc. The details entered for the previous Profit and Loss are included in the analysis Profit and Loss report, in previous periods columns, to help in comparing the detailed past values of revenue and expense items to their values in the plan periods. The details are also available in the Sales Plan and Operating Expenses screens, to help planning future values based on past values.

Plant and Equipment Analysis Screen

The Analysis menu, in Plan Details sub-menu, includes now the Plant and Equipment screen. This screen includes the investments as entered in Plant and Equipment data screen, but all amounts are shown in the analysis currency and a total line shows the total investments in each period. unnecessary parameters are not included, e.g. VAT, payment days etc.

Display Details as Table

In a number of screens there are items that have details. These screens include the Profit and Loss, Operating Cash Flow, Loan Analysis, Sales Analysis and more.  Displaying the details is done in a tree structure, in which the details are displayed below the line that contains the total value of the details. This display may be convenient on-screen when the details can be shown and hidden, but is not common in financial reports where the detail lines are displayed first and then the total line. A button was added to these screens' toolbar and it enables to display the details before the total line and not below it.

Additional Changes

 

Excel 2007-2010 Interface

The software can now work with Excel 2007-2010 files (with .xlsx extension), import data from these files and export data to them.   

 

Change Percentage Base in Actual vs. Plan Profit and Loss

When percentage columns are displayed in the Actual vs. Plan Profit and Loss screen, user can select what will be the base (100%) for the percentage calculation of each row: the Revenues, the Total Production or the Gross Profit values. The default base is Revenues.

 

Variance Amount in Color Coding of Actual vs. Plan
In Preferences screen, Functions tab, you can now change not only the percentage value that serves as a limit between orange and red color for negative variance between Actual and Plan values, but also enter a minimum value for showing the red color, so that lines which have high percentage of negative variance but the amount of variance is not significant will still be colored in orange and not red.

 

Working Capital in Graphs

Working Capital report was added to the User Defined Graphs definition screen and its items can now be selected to be displayed in the graphs..

 

Start New Year - Use Existing Data

The option of using existing data when running the Start New Year function, was enabled and enhanced by adding a possibility to select if the period types in the new year plan will be changed according to the period types of the existing data.

 

Operating Cash Flow - Breakdown of Opening and Closing Bank Balance

Opening and closing Bank Balance in Operating Cash Flow report includes now breakdown that shows for all the periods what is the cash balance and what is the bank and short term liabilities that together build up the Bank Balance amounts.

 

Office 2010 User Interface

The Ribbon style menu enables now the user interface of Office 2010.

 

Free Cash Flow Valuation

The Free Cashflow valuation screen was improved and allows to select the residual method that will be displayed, out of the 3 available methods that the software calculates. It is still possible to display the 3 methods together as it was in previous versions.

 

Features added in version 2011

 

Business Plan Writer

The Business Plan Writer is a new module that allows you to write a business plan document and to incorporate in it tables and graphs, which are created by the software in the Financial Planner module.

 

Writing the business plan begins by building the Table of Contents that includes text topics combined with tables and graphs. The order and structure of the topics in the Table of Contents are set by the user and can easily be edited and changed.

 

Once the Table of Contents is ready, you can write the contents of each text section and then create the whole business plan. The tables and graphs will be created and added automatically in their designated sections. The created business plan can be printed or exported to a Word or PDF file. The values in the tables and graphs are the up to date figures from the Financial Planner

 

Reporting Package

The Reporting Package is a new module that allows you to prepare reports that include text sections and incorporate tables and graphs from the Financial Planner module. A typical report can show Actual vs. Plan results. You can build the Table of Contents of the report and then write the text sections. When finished, you can create the report and the tables from the Financial Planner will be added automatically. The report can be printed or exported to a Word or PDF file.

 

Color Codes in Actual vs. Plan Reports

The main Actual vs. Plan screens and reports include now a color code column that shows the variance between plan and actual in colors. When the actual results equal or better than the plan values, the green color appears. When the actual results are less than planned, a yellow color appears if the variance is moderate (up to 3%), or a red color appears to emphasize a significant variance.

 

User Interface
The User Interface of the software is enhanced and uses Office 2010 Ribbon technology, which makes it easier for the user to find all the functions of the software in the same place. In Preferences screen, Interface tab, the user can select:

- changing the main screen interface to the old (Classic) menu and toolbar style similar to previous versions of the software and Office 2003.

- different colors and styles for the appearance of the software

 

Import Actual Data
The Import Actual Data module is simplified and enhanced. The complex possibility to define different import profiles and to import files with inconsistent structure was removed.  The new module can import data file with specific structure (e.g. columns for account codes, account description and for each month).

The method of linking accounts (rows) from the import file to the target rows, in the software financial reports, was much enhanced and allows linking ranges of accounts to a target row instead of linking one row at a time.

The import definitions are now saved with the plan file and that enables to import data not just to the top level rows in the financial reports but into the details rows as well.

The import process produces reports that show which rows in the import data file are not linked and could not be imported.

Product Profit Centers
You can can allocate operating expenses to Products and analyze the profit of each product as a Profit Center. This feature is added to the existing Market Profit Centers and enables to analyze the profitability of the business segments from several points of view.

Personnel Cost Analysis

Personnel Cost analysis screen was added to the Analysis menu under Plan Details group. This screen shows the cost of salaries and the headcount of employees in all the departments in one report.

 

Working Capital Analysis

Working Capital analysis screen was added to the Analysis menu under Financial Analysis group. This screen shows the current assets compared to current liabilities of the business throughout the plan periods and what are the Working Capital requirements of the business.

 

Variable Expenses as % of Direct Costs
Variable expenses, in Operating Expenses, enable now to choose that they will be calculated as percentage of a selected product direct costs, in addition to the existing options which include sales, sales by markets and sales by products.

 

Activation of New Investments
In Plant and Equipment screen you can set the activation period for each investment and depreciation will start from this period and on. This is useful for investments that are done during a few periods, and activated in the completion period.

 

Profit and Loss - Percentage and Index Analysis

The Profit and Loss report includes now two additional tabs:

- % Analysis - shows the P&L in percentages. Each amount is calculated as percentage of the Revenues or the Total Production, according to the selected Percentage base. This analysis shows the structure and inner division of the P&L items and how they develop through the plan periods.

- Index Analysis - shows the base period values as 100 and each value in each period is calculated in relation to it, e.g. if a revenue of 20,000 in first year is 100 then a revenue of 30,000 in second year will be presented as 150. This analysis enables to detect trends in each P&L item. 

 

Linked Documents

The Documentation module includes now a possibility to add a list of linked documents, e.g. Word documents or Excel sheets, to each screen of the software.

For example, if the user had a number of Word documents with assumptions and data that relate to the data in the Sales Plan screen he can open the Documentation module, select the Linked Documents tab and add all the related Word documents to the list. Next time that the user will want to review a document that relates to the Sales Plan he will just select it and display it in the Documentation module rather then searching for it in the hard disk.

 

Report Profiles

The Report table includes an additional feature, the Report Profiles, that enables to save and load pre-prepared lists of reports.

When the user marks some of the reports in the Reports table he can click on the Report Profiles button and save the selection of the reports to a named profile. Next time that he will want to produce the same list of reports he will be able to enter the Report Profiles again and load the saved profile, this will mark the required reports as it was when saving the profile.

 

Password for Plan
You can now enter a password for a plan (in General Data screen, General Parameters tab there is a button for it). The password will be asked when opening the plan. The Password for the software (entered by pressing Password button on Preferences screen) was improved too. A button was added to change the password and new password is asked twice.

 

Widths of Columns are saved
If you change width of columns in any data or analysis screen it is saved and used next time the screen is loaded or a report is created. This feature is very useful for reports and presentation.

Product Components Term of Payments
The product component tables include a new column for payment days for each component.

Product Components Report
A Product Components report can be created by clicking a button on the Product and Cost screen toolbar.

Cursor movement after entering data
In Preferences screen (in General tab) you can decide to what direction the cursor will move when clicking Enter after data entry in a cell. Like Excel, the cursor can move right, down, left or up.

Copy and Paste of a Range
Like Excel, when pasting a range of cells it can be done by marking only the first cell in the target range, and not the whole range as it was before.

 

Dynamic Link between Documentation and Navigator
When an screen that has documentation is selected in the Navigator, it is opened with the Documentation screen. A checkbox on the Documentation screen can be unchecked to disable this link.

Sales by Units in Ratio Generator
The Financial Ratio Generator enables now to choose also lines from the Sales by units table to be used in user defined ratios.

New Year - copy Previous data from Rolling Forecast
The New Year function can copy previous period data from the Rolling Forecast screens.

Button to expand/collapse tree
A Button was added to the toolbars of the Profit and Loss, Operating Cash Flow and the Profit Centers screens. This button enables to expand and collapse quickly the tree structure of these screens.

Reports and Export to Excel enable Expanded Trees
A parameter was added to the Reports Table and to the Export to Excel screen that allows to select if the Profit and Loss, the Operating Cash Flow and the Profit Centers reports will be created expanded and show all the details or collapsed and show only the main items (as was in previous versions).

Enhanced Task Controlling

The Task List was enhanced and includes now fields to enter who is responsible for each task, when the work on the task should be started and what is the estimated working days that are required for the task.

These added features, together with existing features that enable to enter the due date of each task, to mark if it is completed and to present all or only uncompleted tasks, makes the Task List a powerful tool to control all the activities that are concerned to the planning and controlling activities with the softrware.

 

Actual vs. Plan Percentage Analysis

The Actual vs. Plan enables percentage analysis for the Accumulated column as well as it was for the periodical columns.

Cash Flow Statement of Previous Periods
The Cash Flow Statement screen was added to the Previous Periods screen. The data entered here is shown in the Cash Flow Statement screen in the Analysis section and enables to see the trends from previous periods to the plan periods.

Details in Actual Markets and Products Profit Centers
The actual data can be entered in details for Market Profit Centers and Product Profit Centers. The Actual vs. Plan is also detailed and comparison for each income and expense item can be done.

Analysis items reorganized in groups
Analysis items in menu and navigator are organized in 4 groups to make it easier to understand the different analysis tools.

Navigator rebuilt to emphasize main items
Main items in the Navigator are emphasized by colors and graphics. When user selects a main item in the Navigator it is expanded and the other main items are closed. This is an option that the user can change in the Preferences screen, Navigator tab so that it will work as before.

 



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