Platform Planning Solutions
Our platform-based solutions are tailored to your needs on one connected platform. You have complete ownership and control over every aspect of your solution, from the data architecture to the forecasting models to the user interface.
Below is only one example of a Platform Planning solution for 3-statement modeling and workforce planning for a SaaS business.
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FAQs
Platform Planning is not proprietary planning software – your solution is built using platforms that many organizations already use, e.g., M365, Power BI, and Power Platform. Beyond the Microsoft platform, there is no additional software vendor or subscription involved in adopting Platform Planning.
Platform Planning can immediately save you 50%+ on software alone, provide the flexibility of a fully customized solution from data to UI, and allow your team the familiarity of working in Excel while still scaling data and reporting.
This isn’t to say that all planning software is bad and only Platform Planning is good. Platform Planning will be more beneficial for those who value first-party ownership, don’t fit out-of-the-box templates, and need to operate within tight economic constraints.
Your solution can be as simple or sophisticated as you want it to be. An ideal Platform Planning solution is one that starts small and evolves over time. With some clients we start with simple data wrangling and reporting before gradually building toward an end-to-end solution. Every team's Platform Planning journey will look different to adapt your changing needs over time.
We researched and experimented with many tools and platforms before landing on Microsoft. We chose Microsoft because it met all of our solution criteria: 1) Data Platform with Fabric, 2) Forecasting Engine with Excel, and Fabric, 3) Reporting & Analytics with Power BI, and 4) User Apps with Power Platform. It also evaluated well in terms of cost of ownership and ease of ownership.
As other platforms like Google evolve, we plan to apply the Platform Planning approach to other options in the future.
We have spent many years advising against spreadsheets and Excel in favor of planning software. Microsoft has evolved its platform in many ways over the past 15 years that make an Excel-based approach much more compelling now.
A few examples: a) everything is now cloud-based and collaborative, including Excel, PowerPoint, and Power BI, b) everything is now interoperable, for example Power BI now connects directly with Fabric, and c) Microsoft’s AI roadmap is compelling as they seek to be a ‘fungible’ platform for any AI models and continue to evolve Copilot, Azure AI Agents, and more.
If your organization is already committed to Google, adding another platform into the mix is likely to do more harm than good. If there is broad buy-in to transitioning to a new ecosystem, Platform Planning can certainly help to accelerate adoption, but otherwise we'd recommend waiting until Platform Planning on Google is figured out.
No - Platform Planning is accessible for non-technical users. It does not require learning a proprietary formula syntax or coding language.
All aspects of the Microsoft platform offer intuitive low-code/no-code interfaces for non-technical users, making everything from data transformation in Power Query to modeling in Excel available to users with no technical background.
For teams with technical skills, it also offers full-code options in universal languages, e.g., SQL and Python. With Copilot and AI support, even full code aspects are more accessible than ever to non-technical users.
In terms of software, the Microsoft platform is much more cost-effective than alternatives, especially if your organization already uses Microsoft. As a starting point, at OVG we pay $20 per month per person for Power BI Premium and Power Apps Premium, respectively, and around $300 per month for Fabric capacity, which scales up and down based on compute needs. Microsoft is viable for startups and enterprises alike.
On the services side, we provide the same competitive pricing that we would when launching a client on planning software. Pricing varies widely but a typical project could start at ~$15k for a startup to $75k for a midsized team to ~$125k for a large team.
OVG’s role is to help you bring the different pieces of Platform Planning together in an effective way and equip you and your team with the knowledge and skills needed to realize maximum value from the approach.
We combine many years of building and deploying connected planning solutions for clients of all shapes and sizes with deep (and growing) understanding of the vast Microsoft ecosystem. We have spent much time and effort figuring out the right ways (and many wrong ways) to solve planning problems with Microsoft, and we impart that knowledge to you along the way. We also partner with you on an ongoing basis, providing advisory, technical guidance, and extra capacity based on your needs.
It all starts with a simple conversation to see if Platform Planning is a fit for you.
There is no upfront commitment on either software or services. All of the software offers free trials and we can even help you to set up a sandbox to explore. Finding a quick win that provides immediate value to you with minimal upfront investment is the ideal way to start.