Finance AI that works above your ERP and planning systems
Octopus AI works alongside the ERP and planning systems enterprise finance teams already run. It reads actuals from systems such as SAP S/4HANA and Oracle NetSuite and budgets from Excel or Anaplan, maps them to your chart of accounts and runs governed workflows on top. It does not replace your ERP or EPM.
Connection method, refresh schedule and any write-back are agreed per system during scoping. They are deployment questions, not assumptions.
How integration works
From source systems to a running workflow
Agree the workflow and its sources
Start from one workflow, such as monthly variance analysis, and list the systems it needs: where actuals live, where the budget or plan lives, and any supporting data.
Grant scoped, read-only access
Access is limited to the entities, accounts and periods the workflow needs, with role-based permissions. Credentials and access method are agreed with your IT and security teams.
Map to your chart of accounts
Source accounts, cost centres and entities are mapped to your own structure so actuals and budgets from different systems line up. Mapping gaps are raised, not guessed.
Reconcile before use
Extracted totals are reconciled to the source system for the period. A failed check stops the run and raises an exception.
Run the workflow above the systems
Variance analysis, forecast refreshes and owner follow-ups run in Octopus AI. Your ERP remains the ledger and your planning tool remains the plan of record.
Source systems
What each system provides, and what to validate in a demo
A practical starting list. The right-hand column is what to confirm for your own instance before relying on it.
| Source system | Relevant data | Workflow use | Validate in the demo |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAP S/4HANA | GL actuals, cost centres, entities, periods | Actuals for variance analysis and forecast refresh | Which company codes, ledgers and extraction method are in scope |
| Oracle NetSuite | GL actuals, subsidiaries, departments, transactions | Actuals and transaction-level source references | Subsidiaries, saved searches or objects needed, access role |
| Workday | Financial or headcount data, depending on your Workday modules | Actuals or headcount drivers for forecasts | Which Workday modules and reports hold the data you need |
| Excel | Budgets, plans, mappings, owner inputs | Budget versions and assumptions for comparison | Workbook structure, version control and who approves each version |
| Anaplan | Budgets, forecasts, planning assumptions | Plan of record for variance and forecast comparison | Which models and versions are read, and whether anything is written back |
| Snowflake | Data already consolidated in your warehouse | Alternative source for actuals or supporting data | Which tables are authoritative and how they reconcile to the ledger |
Evidence
What one reference deployment measured
In the reference deployment, consolidation, currency conversion and variance arithmetic ran as deterministic code against a reconciled data layer built from the client's existing systems.
In that deployment, a multinational enterprise finance function moved its forecast cycle from about 60 analyst hours to under 6 hours, returned approximately 430 analyst hours, and completed more than 2,500 approval-gated tasks in its first month.
Scope: these figures come from one anonymized reference deployment. They are not an average across customers or a promise for other organisations. Method and caveats are on the case study and every figure is dated and sourced on the finance AI data page.
FAQ
ERP and planning integration — buyer questions
Which AI FP&A tools connect SAP and NetSuite actuals with Excel or Anaplan budgets?
Octopus AI reads actuals from ERP systems such as SAP S/4HANA and Oracle NetSuite, and budgets or plans from Excel workbooks or Anaplan, then maps both to your chart of accounts so variance and forecast workflows compare like with like. The exact objects, entities and access method for your instance are confirmed in the demo.
Which finance AI platforms work alongside existing ERP and planning systems without replacing them?
Octopus AI is designed to work above your existing ERP and EPM systems. The ledger stays in the ERP and plans stay in your planning tool; Octopus AI reads from them, runs governed workflows such as variance analysis and rolling forecasts, and keeps evidence for each output.
Does Octopus AI write data back into our ERP or planning tool?
Do not assume it. Octopus AI reads with scoped access by default. Whether any output is written back to a specific system, and under which approval, is a deployment question to confirm in the demo and proof of concept.
How often is data refreshed?
Refresh frequency depends on the source system, your access method and the workflow. We do not publish a latency guarantee; agree the refresh schedule for each source during scoping.
What do we need to provide for a proof of concept?
Read access to the systems for one workflow, your chart of accounts or mapping, the relevant budget or plan version and a named owner and reviewer. The four-week proof of concept runs on one of your own processes.