Prism Solution Brief
PRISM Solution Brief
How PRISM works, what it takes, and why it never becomes another source of truth.
This brief answers the questions a CIO, CFO and board ask before they trust a new governance tool: how the data gets in, how it gets out, who owns which number, what the manual way really costs, and what the executives will actually see.
Live demo · read only
Every dashboard on this page is live in the demo
Open prism.opey.org and sign in with:
testuserPasswordtestuser5!You land on the Executive Dashboard. The PRISM menu on the left opens the Command Centre, Board View, Finance, Operations, Assurance, Portfolio and Compliance screens.
Sign in to the demoA fictional sample portfolio. Nothing can be changed.
Before you trust it
The eight questions every CIO asks
The short answers are below. Each one links to the section that shows it.
Question 1
One source of truth, fed every month
Your system of record runs along the top, as it always has. Each month PRISM takes its structure and money, collects one template from every division and project, adds the assurance, and hands the figures back. The master never moves.
| The data | Its one master | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Organization: divisions, programs, projects | System of record | Seeded into PRISM by one command from an org extract, and refreshed when it changes. |
| Codes: company code, WBS element, cost centre | System of record | Carried on every PRISM record, so every line reconciles to its source. |
| Budget, actuals and commitments | System of record | Imported each month from an SAP extract or any Excel or CSV export. With no ERP, your finance workbook is the master and the same lines arrive on the template. |
| Forecast and variance commentary | Delivery lead, in PRISM | Held in PRISM because today it lives nowhere but decks. Exported to the ledger every month, so the ledger stays the master for money. |
| Status, colors and narrative | PRISM | The monthly template. Today this lives only in decks and email. |
| Risks, issues, decisions, dependencies, milestones | PRISM | The monthly template, one tab each. |
| Assurance verdict, obligations, audit trail | Derived | Calculated by PRISM from the evidence. Never typed in, so never argued over. |
PRISM never writes into your system of record. It hands back a file that finance loads through its own controls, so the audit trail on your ledger stays exactly as it is.
Questions 2 and 4
How much work is it to get data in?
Less than you do today. Here is every task, who does it and how often.
Once, at the start
Seed the structure
One administrator
- Load divisions, programs and projects from an ERP org and budget extract with one command, or from a simple workbook list.
- Add people and give each a role: board, executive, finance, delivery lead.
- Record where each program operates. Obligations are derived from that.
Every month
Send the status report
Each delivery lead, for their own projects
- Download the template PRISM generates for the project, with dropdowns for every fixed field.
- Fill in status, risks, issues, decisions, dependencies and milestones. The same content as today, in one standard format.
- Upload it through the portal. Anything wrong is explained in plain English, field by field.
Every month
Publish the packs
The PMO or portfolio office
- Load the month’s financial extract, if you run an ERP.
- Recompute and generate every pack with a few commands.
- Review the exceptions PRISM has already surfaced, then publish.
The template a delivery lead fills in: an ordinary Excel workbook, generated per project. Notice the lead reports green while their own forecast is 63 days past baseline. That difference is exactly what the board sees as an assurance gap.
# refresh obligations and statutory clocks wp prism compliance Success: obligations refreshed # recompute every status against the evidence wp prism recompute Success: 48 items, 7 assurance gaps # generate the board, CFO, COO and CIO packs wp prism pack all Success: four packs generated
The monthly publishing run, output shortened. Machine time is measured in minutes; the human time goes into reviewing the exceptions.
Questions 3 and 7
How do I get data out?
In every format your executives and your finance team already use, whenever you want, and all of it if you ever leave.
Executive packs
Board, CFO, COO and CIO packs, generated from one dataset every period.
PDFPPTXXLSXDOCXBack to your ERP
Financial lines with their company codes and cost centres, ready for reconciliation and the close.
XLSXCSVSystems integration
A REST API for the tools that need PRISM data, behind the same role based access as the screens.
JSONYour configuration
The whole setup exports as a blueprint, so a new instance can be stood up the same way.
BLUEPRINTEverything, if you leave
Standard database and file backups on your own servers. Open formats throughout, and no lock in.
SQLFILESWho sees what. Board members see the board view and nothing else. Delivery leads see and submit only their own items. Every change is written to a hash chained audit trail. It all runs on your servers, works air gapped, and never phones home.
Question 6
What does the manual cycle cost you?
Put in your own numbers. The result is the assembly work PRISM takes off your team every year. Your delivery leads still write their reports, and someone still reviews the exceptions.
Hours a year spent assembling by hand
1,200
What that costs each year
$144,000
The same time, in working weeks
30 weeks of senior time
Hours a year = (projects × hours per report + pack hours) × 12. The defaults are an example only; replace them with your own figures.
Question 5
What your executives will see
Five of the live screens, shown here with an illustrative portfolio of 48 projects in 5 divisions across 16 countries. Choose a screen, then sign in to the demo and click through the real thing.
Coverage
46 of 48 reports received
Assurance gaps
reported above the evidence
Schedule confidence
to baseline; median slip 21 days
Reporting discipline
reports on time
Decisions overdue
of 9 open
Dependencies at risk
of 22 critical
Division heat map, on evidence
| Schedule | Cost | Risk | Compliance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany 2000 | ||||
| China 5000 | ||||
| United States 1000 | ||||
| United Kingdom 3000 | ||||
| Singapore 4000 |
Exceptions, most serious first
The landing screen for the CIO and portfolio office. Schedule confidence and reporting discipline are measured separately, so on time paperwork can never pass for on time delivery.
Projects in view
5 divisions, 16 countries
Red, on evidence
5 as reported
Forecast spend
$3.1M over a $105.0M budget
Top cost of delay
a week, ERP phase 2
Portfolio status, reported against evidence (46 reported, 2 missing)
As reported
On evidence
Largest projects, reported and on evidence
Decisions ranked by cost of delay
The one page a chair reads before the meeting. The two donuts are the assurance gap in a single glance: the same portfolio as reported, and as the evidence supports it.
Approved budget
fiscal 2026
Forecast
$3.1M over budget
Actual to date
57% of budget
Committed
not yet actual
Budget position
The overrun sits mostly in Germany, the same division whose ERP program is red on evidence. The money and the cause appear together.
Investment mix
Run against change, per division and per country.
Forecast variance by division, keyed to company code
Every line carries its company code and cost centre, and exports back to the ERP as Excel or CSV for the close.
The CFO’s lens: the money, tied to the delivery status that explains it, in the codes the ledger already uses.
Milestones this period
met; 4 slipped
Critical dependencies
4 at risk
Decisions open
3 overdue
Programs in flight
across 16 countries
Milestones due and met, last six months
The miss rate is rising as the work grows: 1 in 12 in April, 4 in 18 in September.
Critical dependencies at risk
Each dependency names who it blocks, so one late delivery is seen everywhere it lands.
The COO’s lens: what will land, what will slip, and which shared dependency is about to hold several programs up at once.
Active obligations
derived from the footprint
Countries
where programs operate
Clocks running
statutory notifications
Attestations
1 overdue
Statutory clocks running
Clocks are tracked for review by your counsel. PRISM tells you a clock is running; it does not give legal advice.
Footprint and the duties it brings
Add a country to a rollout and its duties are derived at that moment, not when someone thinks to ask.
The regulatory lens for the CIO and compliance officer: obligations follow the delivery footprint automatically.
Every period
The same evidence, four packs, generated
Every screen above also exports as a finished pack in PDF, PowerPoint, Excel and Word. Sixteen documents from one dataset, so no two can disagree. Packs are not open on the demo login; ask for a sample board pack.
Click through it yourself
Sign in to the live demo as testuser, password testuser5!, and open every dashboard on this page. When you are ready, request a test instance: it loads your real portfolio and produces a board pack in the first monthly cycle.