Annual budgets require months to prepare and too often are obsolete before they are actually completed. That defeats their original intent which was to foster greater financial control and administration. They also tend to only be an inward look at the company’s finances and how they are to be controlled for the next year. Strategic plans take a more outward and continuous view of all necessary resources including: manpower, units, facilities, growth, and the company’s position in its markets. Both planning processes tend to be siloed and lack the comprehensive view that integrated planning provides.

Integrated business planning is the process of connecting the strategic planning function across an organization to improve its internal alignment, annual budgets and financial performance. Integrated planning links strategic planning, operational planning and financial planning. Linking all plans and forward looking assumptions across an enterprise, executives and other decision makers are able to evaluate plans more realistically, uncover inconsistencies and risks and assess opportunities.

In this course, you learn emerging techniques to master key objectives through integrated planning. You learn how to develop an integrated plan that fosters inter-departmental collaboration and promotes agility to help your company rise to the challenges of a volatile economy and changing markets.