PeopleSoft Opens CFO Portal

Internet business software maker PeopleSoft Tuesday is sending a shot out to all those number-crunchers out there with the launch of its PeopleSoft 8 CFO Portal.

The portal offers financial information, analysis and alerts in real time to business managers through a personalized, Web interface.

“PeopleSoft’s CFO Portal solution connects people in real time to their business results,” says PeopleSoft VP and General Manager Renee Lorton. “The new solution gives managers visibility to key financial metrics, and alerts them when actual results are out of target range. The instant notification saves time, ensures focus on operational performance and enables managers to act quickly and effectively.”

The platform is based on PeopleSoft 8, the Pleasanton, Calif.-based company’s Internet-based enterprise application, which up until now has been used mostly as a customer and employee relationship management tool. Because of that, CFO Portal is priced similarly to PeopleSoft 8.

To research results, managers can easily drill down into performance details. Each manager can identify key performance areas, specific to their responsibilities, and create acceptable tolerance ranges for those items. If actual results are not in line with expectations, they receive an instant alert.

The CFO Portal monitors data automatically so the manager doesn’t have to spend time locating and analyzing data in reports. The portal is also designed to work well with PeopleSoft applications, third-party applications, and external sources through the PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal open integration platform.

But the company’s partners are already happy that they have something to stuff in the stockings of their financial friends. They do write the checks, after all.

“Today’s business managers have increased accountability and must think and behave like CFOs,” says META Group Program Director John Van Decker. “CFO portals that extend operational performance can provide the critical intelligence necessary to enable managers to act effectively and quickly, particularly in a challenging business climate.”