AI Planning

AI planning is the use of artificial intelligence throughout the business planning process. It applies machine learning, predictive models, natural-language interfaces, and autonomous agents to planning work. Typical tasks include data preparation, baseline forecasts, driver discovery, scenario generation, variance explanation, and recommendations.

In FP&A, AI planning lets finance and business teams plan faster and more continuously. Predictive forecasting models refresh baselines as new actuals arrive, so planners spend less time rebuilding numbers and more time on the decisions behind them. People keep judgment and accountability: they set assumptions, review outputs, and approve the plan.

AI planning is broader than AI-assisted planning, where AI helps inside a process people lead. It also covers agentic AI that can start and run multi-step analyses within defined governance, such as investigating a variance and drafting the explanation.