Data before the tool: the real EPM challenge

The hidden challenge of ERP ↔ EPM data integration

Rankings of the best EPM platforms are multiplying, and with them a litany of criteria: functional coverage, native artificial intelligence, deployment times, fit with the size of the organization. All legitimate dimensions — but they often overlook a more fundamental prerequisite: the quality of the feed of actual data from the ERP.

An EPM, however sophisticated, is only as good as the data it receives. A forecasting module capable of simulating dozens of scenarios loses much of its value if it relies on weekly manual exports from the ERP. In that case, the tool’s intelligence is neutralized by the slowness and fragility of the process that feeds it.

The right questions to ask

Before even comparing EPM features, four criteria deserve to be assessed first:

• The availability of certified native connectors with the market’s main ERPs (SAP S/4HANA, Oracle, Dynamics 365, Cegid, etc.);
• The quality of automated transformations and reconciliations between ERP and EPM reference data;
• The synchronization frequency, from real time to daily processing;
• The ability to integrate heterogeneous sources — CRM, HRIS, operational data.

A real issue: feeding several target systems, not just one

What complicates the equation further is that the ERP is never the only recipient of financial data. In parallel, consolidation, reporting and performance analysis solutions need to be fed as well — but rarely with the same expectations. An accounting system works at the level of journal entry lines and accounts; an EPM thinks in aggregates, analytical dimensions and scenarios; regulatory reporting imposes its own formats and its own granularity.

Feeding these different systems consistently, without multiplying parallel flows or the risk of discrepancies between figures, is a challenge in its own right. This is precisely the role of an Accounting and Financial Hub such as Axway Financial Accounting Hub (AFAH): collect the data once from the source systems, control and reconcile it, then distribute it in parallel to the accounting ERP and to the reporting and EPM solutions, each receiving the data in its own format, structure and granularity, from one and the same trusted reference source.

AFAH does not replace the EPM. It secures it, while at the same time securing the accounting system. It directly addresses the four criteria mentioned above, with an additional advantage: ensuring that accounting and performance management rely at all times on the same data, with no discrepancies or rekeying, whichever system is consuming it.

What this changes in practice

For a finance department, the stakes are not only technical. A reliable, automated and consistent data feed across systems means fewer manual reconciliations between accounting and reporting, faster closes, and above all the certainty that the performance management figures and the accounting figures always tell the same story.

Before choosing an EPM platform for its simulation capabilities or its ergonomics, it is therefore worth asking a broader question: What is the foundation of the data feeding all my financial systems? That is often where the real value of the whole setup is decided.