Collaborative planning has transformed budgeting and now drives faster, data-driven decisions
What is our primary use case?
IBM Planning Analytics is one of the best analytics platform tools that I have been using for the last three and a half years. We use it for creating a clear budget for our organization so that we can reach our future goals without many casualties. This tool also helps us in doing a financial forecast for our business and gives a platform to collaborate with different departments by taking their inputs in our upcoming projects so that the best utilization of our resources happens.
A specific example of how I have used IBM Planning Analytics to create a budget and collaborate with other departments is that it is definitely made for understanding our business better and providing it the best possible resources, allowing for detailed discussions regarding the challenges of all departments of our business like sales, operations, finance, and many more. It helps in making appropriate decisions so that the growth of our business can happen properly, and this is only done with the help of IBM Planning Analytics.
IBM Planning Analytics helps us by doing proactive planning and forecasts for our business according to the current market dynamics. It also provides us with the consolidation of our financial data from different sources to our finance team, enabling them to make concrete and data-driven decisions easily.
I would describe the collaboration features in IBM Planning Analytics for cross-departmental work as seamless and very easy to collaborate with different departments by taking their inputs in our upcoming projects.
What is most valuable?
Some of the best features IBM Planning Analytics offers are accurate analytics, its user-friendly interface, and its ease of use.
The user-friendly interface of IBM Planning Analytics stands out because it is a web interface with spreadsheets, which makes it easy for us to forecast and predict our financials easily.
In addition to the user-friendly interface, I would mention predictive forecasting, as it helps to predict and is AI capable for faster, more accurate forecasts while providing simple and seamless integration with our existing tech stack and other tools.
IBM Planning Analytics has positively impacted my organization by being really helpful, as the software has helped our finance team minimize the manual data entry by more than 80% and focus more on holistic data analysis and business strategies. It has also helped us understand real-time marketing dynamics and take decisions accordingly, and through analytics, we are able to gain accurate insights where we make data-driven decisions easily.
What needs improvement?
One of the main challenges that we faced with IBM Planning Analytics was installation, which takes multiple complex configuration challenges and training.
I would love to see improvements in IBM Planning Analytics regarding seamless integration with tools like Microsoft and Google Sheets, which would be very important.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using IBM Planning Analytics for the past three years and a few months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
IBM Planning Analytics is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
IBM Planning Analytics is highly scalable, as it handles my organization's growth well.
How are customer service and support?
The learning curve for new users of IBM Planning Analytics is a bit smooth because of the dedicated customer support, which helps new users learn and get familiar with all the robust, multiple features of IBM Planning Analytics.
The customer support for IBM Planning Analytics is very unparalleled and available 24/7.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used
BitTitan MigrationWiz before choosing IBM Planning Analytics.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with IBM Planning Analytics, as we are able to forecast the budget for the entire year with significant time saving. We took 90 days to do this, but since we decided to implement IBM Planning Analytics, now it takes 40 to 45 days. All the complex data can be easily processed, and with the Excel add-in functionality, it is easy to have all the data in one place, which is used to create pivot or data visualization easily. The data protection protocols are well set up, and we are also able to make data-driven decisions easily through the analytics, from which we gain insight.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for IBM Planning Analytics has been okay, and the price is also relatively affordable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing IBM Planning Analytics, I evaluated other options, including Fortinet and IBM Cloud.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others looking into using IBM Planning Analytics is that it is a great tool that will definitely make you understand your business better and give it the best possible resources for doing detailed discussions regarding the challenges of all departments, ultimately helping to improve collaboration.
IBM Planning Analytics speeds up analysis and reporting for greater forecasting and budgeting.
We have saved time and improved business outcomes, as the overall time for doing the annual budget was about 80 to 90 days before we implemented IBM Planning Analytics, but now it takes 40 to 45 days. That is how long it takes now for doing our annual budget, so we have been able to save time and cost on the planning budget for the team.
IBM Planning Analytics integrates seamlessly with other systems or software in my organization.
I find the reporting and dashboard capabilities within IBM Planning Analytics to be customizable and excellent.
I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.
Grant Legal Systems & Technology
What do you like best about the product?
The speed at which it turns chaos into structure. Legal workloads shift constantly new filings, unexpected hearings, client emergencies and Planning Analytics lets me model those shifts in minutes. I can give a firm a clear, visual explanation of workload distribution, cost impact and staffing needs withous ten spreadsheets.
What do you dislike about the product?
The UI still feels more enterprise accounting department than legal operations and the learning curve can intimidate teams who aren't used to analytics tools. Once you get past that, it's excellent , but yes the onboarding takes some patience.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The benefit is simple firms finally operate with clarity instead of intuition and in legal work, clarity means better outcomes, healthier teams and fewer 2a.m. fire drills. It solves the visibility problem that every law firm secretly battles, no one truly knows where time, effort and bottlenecks are hiding.
Planning Analytics reviews of Eric Dalton
What do you like best about the product?
The speed and clarity. I can design assumptions, forecast workloads and model production impacts in minutes. Instead of guessing what a design change will do to cost or timing, I can show the results instantly. It makes engineering decisions far less emotional and far more grounded in actualo numbers.
What do you dislike about the product?
The interface still feels a bit rigid, especially for new sers. It's powerful once you understand the workflow, but the learning curve is real and when models get big, you can feel the weight, not a dealbreaker, just something you plan around.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It solves the engineering decisions without operational contex problem, something that plagues almost every design team. Planning Analytics lets me forecast production timelines, calculate cost impacts instantly, understand resource needs, compare scenarios side by side and prevent design creep from sinking margins. The benefit is simple smarter decisions made earlier, fewer surprises later. It keeps engineering aligned with reality which is exactly where it needs to be.
Streamlined Financial Reporting with IBM Planning Analytics
What do you like best about the product?
I really appreciate the Excel add-in that comes with IBM Planning Analytics because as a CPA, I work with Excel a lot and it's important to me to not have to learn a new web interface just to make a few adjustments. Being able to pull live data directly into my existing models without rebuilding them is a lifesaver. I also like that it's fast, making the process of adjusting and entering data by region or product quite smooth. It's especially beneficial during meetings because I can provide updates immediately without needing to follow up later. The automation features are incredibly valuable too, as they save us a lot of time by automating tasks like currency conversions and aggregations.
What do you dislike about the product?
So the licensing cost, it's a bit too much. It can be reduced. Also, they got it, like, in new app interface for their workspaces, which feels a bit flashy.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
IBM Planning Analytics gives us more control, stops calculation errors, and saves time with automations. It centralizes data, stopping the need for multiple spreadsheets. It automates currency conversions and aggregations, enhancing our financial reporting and handling rolling forecasts effortlessly.
Good Experience with IBM Planning Analytics
What do you like best about the product?
IBM Planning Analytics offers fast, flexible modeling, integration with other software such as Excel and a powerful analytical tool. It also supports forecasting, data integration, etc.
What do you dislike about the product?
In terms of disliking, It's requires proper training. This has very complex administration, limited number of templates, etc. Heavy reliance on Excel can also reduce the speed whlle working on big databases.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It solves disconnected, spreadsheet-driven planning by providing a fast, centralized TM1 engine for real-time forecasting and what-if analysis.
As a Data Scientist, it enables seamless integration of ML outputs, quick scenario testing, scalable multidimensional modeling, and automated data flows through APIs.
This helps me to bridge advanced analytics with enterprise planning.
Reliable and Fast Budgeting Tool with Intuitive Financial Management
What do you like best about the product?
Its a reliable tool for Budget and Forecasting. Easy to login, view financial statements, administer permissions for users and and is relatively quick for speed.
What do you dislike about the product?
The pages look clunky and can look outdated, sometimes it can be hard to troubleshoot business rules and rule building in the cubes can be complex and with not many online resources available.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Doing budgeting and forecasting across multiple Business Units and incorporating some complicated accounting business rules.
Boosts Productivity with Excel Integration, But Needs More Tutorials and Monitoring Tools
What do you like best about the product?
I love this platform for its capability to integrate with Microsoft Excel and prepare reports into excel. It makes work much easier, simpler and productive by using this platform. I also love this platform as it have a very user friendly environment to work with making things less complex. The platform can also automate workflow enabling data flow more organized and free from human input. It improves efficiency by allocating resource to more productive and critical work. This platform allows product management and planning more efficient with its superb business logic integrated into the system. A more informed Decision making can be made by using this platform.
What do you dislike about the product?
I wish that there were more tutorials to assist users to this platform. I also felt the cost can be a bit lower. I also wish that there was better monitoring tools that would allow to review the whole processes with ease.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Reports are more organized using this platform. It allows better decision making. It also reduces mistakes in reporting and allows conversion of data to information faster. Teams becomes more efficient and productive by using this platform.
Exceptional Speed, Flexibility, and Integration for Enterprise Planning
What do you like best about the product?
IBM is integrating AI/ generative-AI into BI and analytics workflows. For example, the next-gen BI in Cognos is being powered by the IBM Granite foundation models.
IBM.
Offerings such as IBM Planning Analytics now include a “Planning Analytics Assistant” plus “Multivariate AI Forecasting” to support plain-language queries, predictive insights and more autonomous planning.
What do you dislike about the product?
Setting up dashboards, modeling data, or creating visuals often requires more clicks or technical steps.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
-IBM Planning Analytics addresses complex and time-sensitive planning and forecasting needs in real time.
particularly within sales and supply chain operations. With its real-time calculations, planning cycles are significantly shortened, reducing the process from days or weeks to just a few hours. The platform’s centralized and consistent modeling improves the reliability of both sales and demand forecasts, leading to greater forecast accuracy. Organizations benefit from increased agility, allowing them to respond swiftly to market changes, supply chain disruptions, or sudden shifts in demand. Additionally, it helps optimize production and inventory levels, which in turn lowers carrying costs and improves resource utilization. The use of shared models and dashboards also fosters stronger collaboration and transparency among different departments.
Innovative Data Integration, Needs Goal-Based Analysis Features
What do you like best about the product?
It aims to reduce processing time and incorporate variables that current business models do not take into account, while also improving how data is prepared and integrated into the models.
What do you dislike about the product?
At the moment, I don’t program the tool myself; I focus on reviewing various model outputs and comparing them against our existing manual models. A potential improvement would be to enable goal-based analysis and present results at defined intervals, along with an assessment of their stationarity.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It reduces the time needed to model various outcomes and enables the inclusion of variables that are challenging to incorporate through manual modeling processes.
IBM Planning Analytics: Driving Efficiency and Accuracy in Business Planning
What do you like best about the product?
IBM Planning Analytics stands out for its impressive blend of flexibility and performance. The integration of TM1 with a user-friendly interface enables real-time data analysis and supports quicker decision-making. I also value how easily I can create dynamic dashboards and carry out multidimensional modeling. Its automation features greatly minimize manual work, which enhances both efficiency and accuracy across planning, forecasting, and reporting tasks.
What do you dislike about the product?
One aspect where IBM Planning Analytics could see improvement is in its user interface and the complexity of the initial setup. Although the tool offers robust capabilities, newcomers may struggle to navigate and set up models effectively without sufficient training. Furthermore, performance can occasionally lag when working with particularly large datasets. Improving the platform’s user-friendliness, as well as its documentation and troubleshooting resources, would help create a smoother and more efficient experience for all users.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
IBM Planning Analytics is helping us solve several critical challenges related to budgeting, forecasting, and data consolidation. It eliminates the need for manual spreadsheet work, ensuring accuracy and consistency across departments. The platform’s real-time data integration and automation capabilities enable faster analysis and more informed decision-making. As a result, we’ve experienced improved collaboration, reduced turnaround times, and greater visibility into financial and operational performance across the organization.
