For decades, annual operating planning (AOP) has anchored business performance management. Its purpose was to set objectives, align resources, and measure results. But in today’s volatile environment, its shortcomings are clear: static annual planning is time-consuming, resource-intensive, and quickly outdated. However, volatility isn’t the real problem — operating blind is. By the time the board reviews your annual plan, assumptions have already shifted.
Instead of treating your AOP as obsolete, think of it as a necessary anchor. Annual planning still provides the ‘line in the sand’ for stakeholder reporting, variance analysis, and aligning on strategic goals. The challenge is that on its own, it can’t keep pace with constant change. That’s where rolling forecasts come in — not as a replacement, but as a complement that keeps your AOP fresh and decision-ready throughout the year.
The drawbacks of AOP as a standalone solution are well known:
- Backward-looking: Built on historical data and slow to adapt.
- Time-consuming: Often two to five months of effort across the business.
- Rigid: Tied to a fixed calendar year, quickly obsolete as conditions shift.
- Narrow in scope: Limited ability to model multiple scenarios and test assumptions.
Enterprises require a financial planning approach that is dynamic, adaptive, and forward-looking. Rolling forecasts deliver exactly that.
Rolling forecasts: Planning that keeps pace with change
Alongside the annual plan, which serves as a fixed baseline, rolling forecasts extend beyond a fiscal year and continuously update as periods drop off and new ones are added. Together, they give you both a committed foundation and a dynamic view of what’s ahead. Finance refreshes drivers monthly, runs “what-if” scenarios in minutes, and reallocates spend and hiring to hit targets.
Key benefits of rolling forecasts include:
- Agility: Revisit strategy as conditions evolve.
- Future focus: Maintain a forward-looking horizon that adjusts with change.
- Scenario modeling: Test multiple outcomes and pivot with confidence.
- Efficiency: Spread planning evenly across the year, reducing fire drills.
How Anaplan enables rolling forecasting
Rolling forecasts demand real-time data, collaboration, and scenario modeling at scale — capabilities that spreadsheets and legacy ERPs cannot deliver.
Anaplan’s AI-infused connected planning platform enables:
- Unified planning: Finance, supply chain, sales, and HR aligned on one version of truth.
- Dynamic modeling: Instant “what-if” analysis and scenario testing.
- Transparency: Confident decisions driven by accurate, real-time insights.
- Scalability: Models evolve as the business changes.
Rolling forecasts as your GPS for growth?
If the annual plan is a static map, a rolling forecast is a GPS. You still need the map — it provides a common reference point and satisfies governance, reporting, and investor requirements. But the GPS makes sure that your map stays usable when conditions shift. The combination helps you stay grounded in your commitments to stakeholders while steering flexibly toward growth in a dynamic environment.
With Anaplan, automated rolling forecasts help you make faster, more informed decisions, align teams around a single source of truth, and pivot with confidence when conditions shift. Your business can then treat uncertainty as an opportunity — strengthening resilience, and improving agility.
As one chief planning officer reminds us, “Your actions, your decisions, your leadership have to adapt because things are changing so rapidly.” Rolling forecasts make that adaptation possible. They are not just a process improvement, but a strategic shift that equips your enterprise to thrive in a world of constant change.
