Anaplan
Anaplan, IncExternal reviews
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Anaplan SPM Deployment Experience
What do you like best about the product?
I like the flexibility of Anaplan, their efforts in creating best practices and the amount of effort that is put into their community base. Their training has improved immensely since I started using Anaplan in 2017. They listen to their users and adjust so that newer users being onboarded each year have a better and better experience. The idea of connected planning is also very interesting and something that we'd like to further implement at our company.
What do you dislike about the product?
The downsides of Anaplan is that it exposes inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the existing processes. Most of the time spent implementing an Anaplan solution is understanding and reshaping business processes. Often times, the time spent actual solution building in Anaplan is a fraction of the time it takes to get the business aligned on process. The flexibility in Anaplan is at times a detriment as there are many different paths to arrive at the end goal, and many paths will cause performance problems or are inefficient. There is a lot of thought that is required to build a sustainable and scalable solution.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Problems that we are solving with Anaplan include: Territory and Quota, Sales Forecasting, Revenue Planning, Compensation Plan Scenario Modelling. The benefits we've had specifically to the SPM models surround the notion of having real time updates in a centralized system rather than sending out 50 Excel files, getting 50 Excel files in return and manually consolidating into a single report. The amount of time that is saved on the consolidating alone is probably a half day of effort per week. Other benefits specific to revenue planning is our revenue planning models in Excel were complex, large and very slow. We often had data quality issues with Excel, at times saving the Excel file would take several minutes. With Anaplan, those Excel specific performance issues were eliminated, it was easy to build out new dashboards and different views of the same data for BI.
Using Anaplan for connected Supply Chain Planning use case
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is relatively low cost platform which provided business a quick ROI.
I am using Anaplan since year 2015 and switched my career to consulting, before year 2015 I used to work as a Head of Production Planning and Logistics for one of the Tata Group entity. I was responsible for end to end supply chain, production planning , distribution planning , after market and logistics planning. It was very difficult for me to do planning, budgeting, supply chain provisions in excel spread sheets at granular level of details, considering huge count of SKU's I was not able to create detailed rough cut /short term planning at product or product-customer level, because of which I always faced challenges while planning plant capacity, planning constraint based production etc. It was always difficult for me to commit production / distribution to sales team, impact on inventory carrying cost.
From 2015 I have started using Anaplan and I implemented many end to end Anaplan models in the field of Production planning, inventory planning , capacity planning, S&OP, demand planning, supply planning for multiple global customers and I really can see my clients taking huge benefit out of Anaplan in terms of profitability or cost reduction. With proper planning company can decide their strategy to make business more profitable. Anaplan is a great tool.
I am using Anaplan since year 2015 and switched my career to consulting, before year 2015 I used to work as a Head of Production Planning and Logistics for one of the Tata Group entity. I was responsible for end to end supply chain, production planning , distribution planning , after market and logistics planning. It was very difficult for me to do planning, budgeting, supply chain provisions in excel spread sheets at granular level of details, considering huge count of SKU's I was not able to create detailed rough cut /short term planning at product or product-customer level, because of which I always faced challenges while planning plant capacity, planning constraint based production etc. It was always difficult for me to commit production / distribution to sales team, impact on inventory carrying cost.
From 2015 I have started using Anaplan and I implemented many end to end Anaplan models in the field of Production planning, inventory planning , capacity planning, S&OP, demand planning, supply planning for multiple global customers and I really can see my clients taking huge benefit out of Anaplan in terms of profitability or cost reduction. With proper planning company can decide their strategy to make business more profitable. Anaplan is a great tool.
What do you dislike about the product?
Nothing to dislike, I think Anaplan is a great and competitive tool at this point of time in market.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Problems solved - Rule based allocation / Allocations using Anaplan optimizer, capacity planning, production planning, distribution planning, Sales and operations planning, connected supply chain and finance planning.
Benefits -
Anaplan is very flexible to use
Takes extremely less time for planning
Easy to aggregate / disaggregate the data
Cloud based
Easy to integrate and highly scalable product
Benefits -
Anaplan is very flexible to use
Takes extremely less time for planning
Easy to aggregate / disaggregate the data
Cloud based
Easy to integrate and highly scalable product
Anaplanner with 4 yrs Exp in Implementing End to End Anaplan solutions
What do you like best about the product?
1. Connect People and Data which helps planner to make the decision faster
2. Cloud-Based Platform which gives advantage of accessing Anaplan from anywhere in the world.
2. Cloud-Based Platform which gives advantage of accessing Anaplan from anywhere in the world.
What do you dislike about the product?
Less Charts Options and visualization in Anaplan models.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Implemented Anaplan soutions in Supply Chain, Sales Planning and FP&A Domain.
Benefits
1. Data consolidation is substantially quicker - instead of it taking days, it now only takes seconds
2. The company has global visibility into quota attainment and sales performance on day one of the fiscal year. Anaplan reduced the time spent aggregating sales data from a month to three days
Benefits
1. Data consolidation is substantially quicker - instead of it taking days, it now only takes seconds
2. The company has global visibility into quota attainment and sales performance on day one of the fiscal year. Anaplan reduced the time spent aggregating sales data from a month to three days
Anaplan acts as a unified system for all financial planning needs
What do you like best about the product?
I've been using Anaplan for the past 10 years, and witnessed Anaplan ongoing product enhancements.
1.Regular updates ranging from modeling capabilities, user interface improvements, user management, machine learning based forecasting, workflow automation features makes Anaplan an increasingly powerful and user friendly platform.
2. Implementation time with Anaplan is notably shorter compared to other Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) tools, allowing organizations to deploy solutions faster and realize value more quickly
1.Regular updates ranging from modeling capabilities, user interface improvements, user management, machine learning based forecasting, workflow automation features makes Anaplan an increasingly powerful and user friendly platform.
2. Implementation time with Anaplan is notably shorter compared to other Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) tools, allowing organizations to deploy solutions faster and realize value more quickly
What do you dislike about the product?
Overall, I really enjoy modeling in Anaplan and its capabilities. However, I believe there’s still room for improvement in the user experience (UX) to enhance usability. Additionally, some Excel functionalities are not yet available in Anaplan, which occasionally requires workarounds
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We've been using Anaplan for over a decade, applying it across various financial use cases like Real Estate Cashflow modelling, Expenses and Financial Planning and Forecasting.
Our first implementation replaced a manual process involving 100+ spreadsheets from asset managers across locations. With Anaplan, we now have real-time, consolidated reporting on a single platform managing over 100 properties, eliminating time spent on data collection and manual reporting.
Our first implementation replaced a manual process involving 100+ spreadsheets from asset managers across locations. With Anaplan, we now have real-time, consolidated reporting on a single platform managing over 100 properties, eliminating time spent on data collection and manual reporting.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Refer to the Apps in Anaplan App hub and check best practises articles like Planual and other Posts in community.
The ideal planning tool for a business oriented team
What do you like best about the product?
Initially my first good impression came with the training materials which allow self-learning while at same time being very business oriented. Working on it for a few years now I'm still impressed with how easy and flexible is to build a model and then changing it as needed, specially comparing to other similar tools.
What do you dislike about the product?
Lack of basic ETL tool to transform data to be imported
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Being a consultant, it allows me to build complex models for any planning issue that my clients presented so far.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Have a go - training materials are excelent and if properly followed with the proper business expertise they will allow you to be quite self-sufficient
Anaplan as TPM
What do you like best about the product?
We implemented a TPM solution with Anaplan and found it very flexible in developing customized solutions. Integration with SAP was also seamless.
What do you dislike about the product?
Dashboard features could be a little better but new user interface is on the right track
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
TPM related customer specific processes
NextGen Planning platform
What do you like best about the product?
Self service for FP&A analysts
Self service for LOBs users
Rapid implementation time
Flexibility to make changes
Quick backup and recovery
Self service for LOBs users
Rapid implementation time
Flexibility to make changes
Quick backup and recovery
What do you dislike about the product?
130 GB model size limit
Missing public APIs (There is only one API related to data import/export)
Missing public APIs (There is only one API related to data import/export)
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
FP&A planning, forecasting & budgeting (Contribution Margin, Opex, Capex, Headcount, Personnel spend, Department Spend, Program Spend etc)
Connected planning
Treasury planning
Collections forecasting
T&Q
Sales Planning
Connected planning
Treasury planning
Collections forecasting
T&Q
Sales Planning
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Always go with master anaplanners as lead for all implementations. Other model builders can work under the guidance of master anaplanners.
Anaplan the future of enterprise performance management - better than excel!
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is a platform like no other.
It can be described as and related to a version of excel - an excel on steroids without the side effects and complete governance.
Anaplan is a smart multi dimensional calculation engine which leverages relationships in your data to plan smarter.
Why is the governance aspect so important - because with great power comes great responsibility and the Anaplan platform handles this well.
Anaplan is extremely flexible, it uses your business logic, it is not a black box of hard codes.
Anaplan creates your vision and makes it a reality because it is a fully customized product.
Anaplan listens to its community of users and uses their feedback to influence the design of enhancements.
Learning Anaplan is free (license is required to build but all materials are free).
Anaplan has community where you can discuss designs and share your ideas with peers.
Anaplan is the only tool I know of that truly achieves connected planning - connecting your business models together to better understand the performance of your business.
You can build planning applications very quickly in Anaplan - weeks and months not years!
It can be described as and related to a version of excel - an excel on steroids without the side effects and complete governance.
Anaplan is a smart multi dimensional calculation engine which leverages relationships in your data to plan smarter.
Why is the governance aspect so important - because with great power comes great responsibility and the Anaplan platform handles this well.
Anaplan is extremely flexible, it uses your business logic, it is not a black box of hard codes.
Anaplan creates your vision and makes it a reality because it is a fully customized product.
Anaplan listens to its community of users and uses their feedback to influence the design of enhancements.
Learning Anaplan is free (license is required to build but all materials are free).
Anaplan has community where you can discuss designs and share your ideas with peers.
Anaplan is the only tool I know of that truly achieves connected planning - connecting your business models together to better understand the performance of your business.
You can build planning applications very quickly in Anaplan - weeks and months not years!
What do you dislike about the product?
Like with every tool there are limitations however it must be said that Anaplan is constantly working on a roadmap of new improvements to remove the limitations.
Anaplan is not the best reporting tool, it's primary purpose is as a calculation engine but it does connect directly to tableau to allow you to produce better reports.
Anaplan is not the best reporting tool, it's primary purpose is as a calculation engine but it does connect directly to tableau to allow you to produce better reports.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Building driver based forecasts and at the lowest level on a global scale - bottom up and top down!
Creating the ability to run scenarios across the whole business and understand the impact very quickly.
Automating repetitive reporting process.
Building a new standard to report against and saving time while doing it.
Creating the ability to run scenarios across the whole business and understand the impact very quickly.
Automating repetitive reporting process.
Building a new standard to report against and saving time while doing it.
Ultimate flexibility
What do you like best about the product?
Despite being primarily used for finance and sales, Anaplan isn't limited to those areas. Because it can be used as the primary forecasting engine throughout the business, it can enable collaboration between teams in ways that multiple point solutions can not.
What do you dislike about the product?
The platform has a steep learning curve that requires heavy investment upfront. Many customers underestimate this and just tell their junior analysts to learn everything while also doing their day jobs, while the primary decision makers are not involved in learning the platform and ensuring that their ideas are considered in the design process.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We're able to more dynamically review the state of the business than we can using spreadsheets.
Anaplan leading the way in Connected Planning framework
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan may probably be initially though of as another planning tool. However, its strategic planning approach for using the tool, the online training, the project approach during implementation projects, and the openness and desire of the Anaplan staff to assist are what I think are the key things that make the company successful.
I especially like the focus on the Connected Planning framework where it almost forces business to rethink their internal processes and highlights that its internal teams (e.g. sales, supply chain, marketing, finance) have to work together and plan together to provide the best possible results for the business as a whole.
I especially like the focus on the Connected Planning framework where it almost forces business to rethink their internal processes and highlights that its internal teams (e.g. sales, supply chain, marketing, finance) have to work together and plan together to provide the best possible results for the business as a whole.
What do you dislike about the product?
The new UX (user interface) is still maturing and is not yet at a level that they themselves are completely happy with although it is already provides a good base for generating powerful reporting and user interaction for planning and reporting purposes over multiple devices.
Some technical aspects of referencing data from source module and using them in a target module can still sometimes be complex and confusing even for seasoned users. A simplification of this process would be greatly welcomed by all model builders and would only enhance the already great tool that it is.
A simplification of the more advanced data integration process would also be a welcomed change.
Some technical aspects of referencing data from source module and using them in a target module can still sometimes be complex and confusing even for seasoned users. A simplification of this process would be greatly welcomed by all model builders and would only enhance the already great tool that it is.
A simplification of the more advanced data integration process would also be a welcomed change.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
As a consultant assisting business clients in their planning and reporting requirements, Anaplan was instrumental in assisting several of my customers in moving away from their extensive use of Excel spreadsheets and inconsistent and unstructured planning and reporting processes.
In most instances, the Anaplan projects I have managed have required me to guide the customer to moving to more robust, simplified and structured processes to enable them to gain the most from implementing a tool like Anaplan.
Shorter, simplified month end reporting processes, intuitive driver-based planning processes, focused and parameterised reporting are some of the benefits realised by customer base.
In most instances, the Anaplan projects I have managed have required me to guide the customer to moving to more robust, simplified and structured processes to enable them to gain the most from implementing a tool like Anaplan.
Shorter, simplified month end reporting processes, intuitive driver-based planning processes, focused and parameterised reporting are some of the benefits realised by customer base.
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