To illustrate the concepts discussed in this book, we will use a simple Profit and Loss model of our fictitious company, ABC Company. This model makes use of the common Analyst objects and functions that are important in the subsequent chapters. It will also be the template upon which we will build the Contributor web application. You can download this model from Packt Publishing's web site, http://www.packtpub.com/files/code/6842_Code.zip. The following are details of the company.
Employees: 4,000
Expense Departments: 1,100
Products: 350
Planning Cycle: Yearly budget
Planning approach: Bottom up
Number of Planners: 35 planners across the United States
Fiscal Period: Calendar
Model Requirements: In May 2009, the Director of ABC Company's Financial Planning Department has selected the IBM Cognos Planning tool to create the budget template for their 35 users. He/she asked you to work with the business users and design, and deploy the revenue and expense planning models for 2010...