Paul Alan Brann

Senior IBM Planning Analytics (Cognos TM1) Consultant specialising in the design and delivery of enterprise planning, budgeting, forecasting, cost allocation and financial reporting solutions for global organisations, including L'Oréal, Standard Bank, Brooks MacDonald and Brewin Dolphin. Experienced in partnering with finance stakeholders, functional consultants and business representatives to shape requirements, facilitate workshops and design scalable Planning Analytics solutions. Strong background across the full project lifecycle, including requirements analysis, technical design, development, testing, deployment, mentoring, code reviews and production release.

Recognised for delivering robust, maintainable Planning Analytics solutions for FP&A systems and finance systems that balance finance requirements with technical quality, scalability, governance and long-term supportability.

Senior IBM Planning Analytics Consultant at L'Oréal Paris (2023-04 – 2025-11)

Working within L'Oréal's global Planning Analytics change delivery programme, partnering with finance stakeholders, functional consultants and user representatives to design and deliver enhancements across a platform serving more than 2,000 finance users and 15 interconnected TM1 environments.

• Facilitated collaborative workshops to shape business requirements and translate them into scalable IBM Planning Analytics solutions.
• Produced technical solution designs covering cube architecture, data models, TurboIntegrator processes, Rules, Feeders and reporting structures.
• Designed and developed enhancements supporting budgeting, forecasting, allocations and financial reporting.
• Reviewed code, mentored developers, promoted standards and technical quality across the delivery team.
• Estimated effort, contributed to sprint planning, presented delivery updates and worked directly with IBM Product Support on complex technical issues.

Senior IBM Planning Analytics Consultant at Brooks MacDonald (2020-02 – 2023-04)

Following FinanceBI's successful implementation of IBM Planning Analytics at Brooks MacDonald, continued as senior consultant responsible for enhancing and extending the platform in line with evolving business requirements.

• Partnered with finance stakeholders to deliver enhancements across financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting.
• Designed and developed interconnected models supporting workforce planning, compensation, cost allocations, fixed assets and financial planning.
• Delivered automated month-end, flash, FUM and income reporting using TurboIntegrator processes, Rules and Feeders.
• Led the implementation of IBM Planning Analytics into Microsoft Azure and supported testing through to production deployment.

Co-Founder | IBM Planning Analytics Consultant at FinanceBI Ltd (2018-02 – 2023-02)

Co-founded an IBM Planning Analytics consultancy specialising in finance, reporting and planning solutions for the wealth management sector.

• Designed and developed reusable Planning Analytics accelerator solutions for budgeting, forecasting, profitability analysis, FUM reporting and regulatory reporting.
• Won Brooks MacDonald as FinanceBI's first major client and led the implementation of the Planning Analytics solution.
• Delivered sales demonstrations, solution architecture, client workshops and implementation projects.
• FinanceBI solutions received the Goodacre Systems in the City Award for Reporting & Analytics Solutions in both 2021 and 2022.

Senior IBM Planning Analytics Consultant at Brewin Dolphin (2015-09 – 2018-02)

• Designed and delivered Planning Analytics solutions supporting budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, FUM planning, income planning, workforce planning and management reporting.
• Built planning and forecasting models supporting multiple business functions and automated financial and month end reporting processes.
• Delivered Planning Analytics solutions from requirements through to production deployment.

Senior IBM Planning Analytics Consultant at Standard Bank / ICBC Standard Bank (2009-08 – 2015-09)

• Delivered enterprise Planning Analytics solutions supporting finance reporting, budgeting, treasury, capital management and cross-border cost allocations.
• Led TM1 stabilisation and performance optimisation initiatives, reducing TurboIntegrator processing times by up to 83%.
• Reduced cube memory usage by approximately 60% through architectural improvements and targeted optimisation.
• Designed disaster recovery architecture, supported multiple Planning Analytics upgrades and introduced structured communication and governance processes.

IBM Cognos BI Developer at Barclays

TM1 & Cognos BI Developer at easyJet

Cognos BI Manager at Panasonic Australia

Senior AS400 Analyst at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young

IBM AS400 System Support Analyst at Panasonic UK

IBM AS400 System Support Analyst at Diageo

BA/BSc in Sport Science & Business – Canterbury University A Levels and GCSEs – Reigate Grammar School