Abra: ask clearer questions of your business numbers

Start with a question your team repeats

If answering the same planning question means finding several spreadsheets and asking someone to explain the figures, write that question down. Note which records are needed and what decision the answer should help you make. That is a useful starting point for trying a planning assistant.

Abacum launched Abra on November 2. Abacum is software for business planning, including reports and forecasts. Abra gives its existing AI helpers one starting point: you ask in everyday language, and it brings together the tools needed for the job.

Read the announcement: Abacum: Abra launch and customer availability.

What the new assistant brings together

The announcement builds on tools Abacum already offered. Modeler prepares and explains planning calculations. Analyst explores why figures changed. Reporter creates reports and slides. Data Manager organizes the records and inputs behind a plan.

Abra can direct a question to those helpers, ask for missing information and return a combined answer. You can still choose an individual helper. The change is how the work comes together, rather than every underlying feature becoming available for the first time.

Abacum also describes helpers you can design for your own repeated jobs. Its current product page marks those custom helpers as coming soon. Do not plan a purchase around them being ready today.

Keep the figures and decisions visible

Abacum says Abra uses the information each person is already allowed to see. Its existing calculation software does the maths, while the assistant plans the work and explains the result. Proposed changes wait for a person to approve them before saving.

Those controls are useful things to ask about in a demonstration. They do not remove the need to check the records, assumptions and explanation. A calculation can be consistent with a spreadsheet that contains an old price or a missing update.

For a planning question you know well, ask where each important figure came from. Change one assumption in a separate practice version and compare the result with what you expected. Keep the original plan available for comparison.

Check access and the whole cost

Abra is available to all Abacum customers and is included at no additional charge, according to the launch announcement and product page. This is access within the Abacum platform.

If you are considering the platform for the first time, ask for the full subscription, setup and data-connection costs. Explain the particular question you need answered and ask the team to demonstrate that job with information you have approved for the purpose.

Practise with a familiar question

You can prepare for this kind of tool without changing your business software. Use made-up figures or a copy approved for training.

1. Choose one question that comes up in a regular planning meeting.
2. List the records, dates and assumptions needed to answer it.
3. Write the calculation or explanation you would accept, including what should happen when information is missing.
4. Ask a helper to explain its answer, then check the figures and decide whether a proposed change should be saved.

Bring your knowledge of the work

Our perspective is that knowing the business question remains valuable as the tools get easier to use. A training session can focus on tracing a figure, testing an assumption and explaining a decision. If you build alongside someone, those examples also give them a clearer brief for the tool you need.