As a client developer and solutions architect, I use Anaplan for building modules and deploying logic end-to-end. I work closely with the business in an agile manner to ensure the model aligns with business needs.
Anaplan
Anaplan LimitedExternal reviews
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High Flexibility＆High Performance
What do you like best about the product?
High flexibility
Anaplan's high flexibility allows it to replace most of the work done in Excel. It is like writing code.
High Performance
Anaplan can handle huge amounts of data that Excel and spreadsheets cannot handle. If designed well, there is no waiting time.
Quick development
Since a wide variety of components such as functions, batch processing, simple ELT, and AI functions are provided in advance, the system can be developed much faster than if you had to write code from scratch.
Anaplan's high flexibility allows it to replace most of the work done in Excel. It is like writing code.
High Performance
Anaplan can handle huge amounts of data that Excel and spreadsheets cannot handle. If designed well, there is no waiting time.
Quick development
Since a wide variety of components such as functions, batch processing, simple ELT, and AI functions are provided in advance, the system can be developed much faster than if you had to write code from scratch.
What do you dislike about the product?
Fewer graphs
While we already have simple graphs that are commonly used, in rare cases we are unable to meet our client's needs due to graph limitations.
While we already have simple graphs that are commonly used, in rare cases we are unable to meet our client's needs due to graph limitations.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It consolidates data siloed by planning work done in Excel into one single source of truth. And it will rapidly accelerate the speed of your business.
A product that does many use cases well! Flexible modeling for endless Oppritunity
What do you like best about the product?
I like Anaplan is flexible in it's modeling and does not hold you to 1 use case.
This is very valuable to bring to a firm and have endless growth with the tool.
The tool is relatively easy to learn and can be picked up my anyone.
This is very valuable to bring to a firm and have endless growth with the tool.
The tool is relatively easy to learn and can be picked up my anyone.
What do you dislike about the product?
Some aspects of the developer experience could be improved. Knowing what line items are used for what actions could be improved. Also, cloudworks having a snowflake connection would help.
"Toastering" of the model when a bad formula is inputted is very aggravating for users.
"Toastering" of the model when a bad formula is inputted is very aggravating for users.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Anaplan real time design is very helpful for our business. They can input their assumptions and see in real time the impact of their plans. This makes it so the tool can always be used as a conversation piece.
Anaplan was able to help allocation use cases, where we didn't previously have a tool to help us with completing large allocations. Users can assign drivers and see the impact in real time, where user's can truly "integrate easily on creating their allocated financials.
Anaplan allows for data to be exported to Power BI, which is helpful for storing data and merging with other data sources in a data lake.
Anaplan was able to help allocation use cases, where we didn't previously have a tool to help us with completing large allocations. Users can assign drivers and see the impact in real time, where user's can truly "integrate easily on creating their allocated financials.
Anaplan allows for data to be exported to Power BI, which is helpful for storing data and merging with other data sources in a data lake.
Anaplan continues to improve for Sales Planning
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan's platform continues to evolve in an incredible way. Just in the last 18 months, the following has released: app native workflow, build in data management, AI, brand new tech that builds models for you ("T&Q app"). It's changing what you expect from an EPM tool
What do you dislike about the product?
Anaplan's pricing can be confusing and opaque. This is due to an evolving platform, technology, and GTM model. Customers from just 3 years ago may have completely different expectations on pricing and that can cause friction. However, the GTM model had to change - the platform, which did not drastically change from 2014-2022, has received an incredible overhaul in terms of technical functionality, and old pricing models did no capture that at all.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I will specifically answer this question regarding the territory and quota (T&Q) use case. T&Q represents a widespread, needed-everywhere planning problem but it doesn't have any of its own big software players. The reason is that Anaplan is so well-suited to the use case, that you'd waste your time trying to create a bespoke competitor. And Anaplan's offering is only strengthening.
T&Q has the hallmarks needs of planning: nuanced, many disparate data sets, very large data sets, operational and financial considerations, many distributed stakeholders, and consistent collaboration. Anaplan checks each of those boxes an we see it at our customers. Our customers tell us they love a prescriptive approach that they still can own (the new T&Q app comes out of the box), where they can merge what they love about their current process with the best-in-class they need. These streamlined T&Q apps help our customers create fairer territories with better account scoring, build better quotas to set the right incentives and reach the right attainment curve, and do it all significantly faster. Our happiest customer now deploys territories and quota before the yera begins when it previously took them until 6 weeks into Q1.
T&Q has the hallmarks needs of planning: nuanced, many disparate data sets, very large data sets, operational and financial considerations, many distributed stakeholders, and consistent collaboration. Anaplan checks each of those boxes an we see it at our customers. Our customers tell us they love a prescriptive approach that they still can own (the new T&Q app comes out of the box), where they can merge what they love about their current process with the best-in-class they need. These streamlined T&Q apps help our customers create fairer territories with better account scoring, build better quotas to set the right incentives and reach the right attainment curve, and do it all significantly faster. Our happiest customer now deploys territories and quota before the yera begins when it previously took them until 6 weeks into Q1.
Anaplan is a flexible tool that is advancing with new platform capabilities
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is a great tool for multiple types of use cases. I think ALM is a really great aspect of Anaplan. I found it was instrumental in a particularly complex use case. Fluence has also been a great addition to the platform and has a lot of potential to add value to clients.
What do you dislike about the product?
How the standard model deals with sparsity can be particularly difficult for performance in complex models.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It's solving standardization within an organization. Its an easy tool for business users to use. And with a COE it enables an org to build so much more.
Versatility and ease of use is key
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan allows the "business" to own the toold rather than IT. This allows areas like finance and sales to make changes and updates to the logic without having to wait for IT to make the changes. Plus, the changes are easy becasue the "logic" is behaves in the same way as other programs used by the business. Anaplan also allows the business to design the tool to cater to the specific needs of the business such as terminoly and allowing for unique processes.
What do you dislike about the product?
There are quite a few ways to connect data to Anaplan, but not always a direct connection. However, Anaplan is constantly evolving as well.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Anaplan can be used as a tool to centralize many processes. Each department within a business can create a process in Anaplan that fits their specific needs while also being able to aggregate the results into a summary level (such as corporate planning) all within the same tool with real live connectivity.
Do it all planning platform
What do you like best about the product?
The modular structure - allowing for different dimensions to be used in different areas of the model which can enhance user experience.
What do you dislike about the product?
The modular structure significantly limits the reporting. Customers coming off of Hyperion with the smartview add-in struggle replicating the adhoc reporting capability ie using essbase datamodel and smartviews drag and drop pulls. There needs to be a option with fluence where customers can get a data model and not pay extra.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It has significantly helped customers modernize their planning process - move off of inefficient and complex excel models
A powerful platform with some minor gaps to Address
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is an excellent EPM tool for business process planning. Its computing power allows you to produce real-time simulations of several scenarios based on complex sets of hypotheses defined for and by the business.
Data processing is comprehensive, covering a wide range of business needs through a large number of native functions and formulas.
A large number of use cases can be modelled.
The user experience is simple to set up, pleasant to use and allows a large number of graphical displays.
Data processing is comprehensive, covering a wide range of business needs through a large number of native functions and formulas.
A large number of use cases can be modelled.
The user experience is simple to set up, pleasant to use and allows a large number of graphical displays.
What do you dislike about the product?
Despite its many strengths, Anaplan could benefit from better rendering tools for modelbuilders to manage complex models. The lack of a ‘saved views’ parameter-setting page, similar to the ‘lineItem’ page, can lead to a loss of time when analysing complex models.
There is also not easy to find indication of the publication of modules, and this information could be needed for a detailed analysis, particularly in the case of models with a very large number of pages in their app.
These few elements could improve the modelling experience.
There is also not easy to find indication of the publication of modules, and this information could be needed for a detailed analysis, particularly in the case of models with a very large number of pages in their app.
These few elements could improve the modelling experience.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Before using this EPM tool, the exchange file formats differed depending on who was involved. The business process was neither clear nor fluid.
Implementing a management system with Anaplan means more accurate decision-making, thanks to real-time scenario simulation, more reliable results, a single, well-defined process for everyone involved in the business, and a single, reliable data source.
Implementing a management system with Anaplan means more accurate decision-making, thanks to real-time scenario simulation, more reliable results, a single, well-defined process for everyone involved in the business, and a single, reliable data source.
Driving Connected Planning
What do you like best about the product?
The biggest Strength of Anaplan is its ability to connect disparate planning processes and enhance planning rigor, transparency, and tracability.
What do you dislike about the product?
The biggest weakness of Anaplan is the lack of data integration and data wrangling options without purchasing an add-on license for their data orchecstrator tool or acquiring a third party ETL tool with connectors to Anaplan. This limitation results in increased time-to-value and decreased overall value as a result of the additional monetary and time investment.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Anaplan is our primary planning tool for all budgeting and forecasting cycles and the source of truth for all planning data. Anaplan centralizes our revenue planning, HR planning, and OpEx plans for budget and in year forecasting and facilitates our pro-forma balance sheet and cash flow statements.
Real-time data integration enhances operational efficiency and flexibility
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Anaplan offers flexibility in building different options within the platform. The real-time data integration feature allows me to immediately see the impact of changes made in the model without waiting for a process to run. This has been instrumental in enhancing operational efficiency.
What needs improvement?
Anaplan could enhance its user interface by including a more user-friendly API. Improving the deployment process to make it less complex and easier to manage is another area for potential enhancement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Anaplan for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Anaplan is absolutely stable, with a stability rating of nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Anaplan is a scalable product, especially when managed with cost considerations. There are options to make it more scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from Anaplan is responsive and helpful, with a customer service rating of nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Anaplan, I worked with SQL databases and VBA. I switched to Anaplan because of its power and potential as a platform, offering similar functionalities to Excel and VBA but with much more capability.
What about the implementation team?
I have a junior colleague working with me on maintenance tasks for Anaplan.
What was our ROI?
It is difficult to quantitatively assess the ROI since it involves evaluating time saved from transitioning processes to Anaplan. However, the platform allows for significant operational efficiencies.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the licensing cost for Anaplan as a seven to eight, making it affordable.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend Anaplan due to the flexibility it provides for building modules and the various options available within the platform.
Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Anaplan is one of the best
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan provides greater flexibility in model building, as well as high computation speed.
What do you dislike about the product?
The price is why companies tend not to increase the number of licenses
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The entire forecasting process was rebuilt with new logic in Analpan, this helped to increase the granularity of planning and automate most processes, which significantly increased the speed and accuracy of forecasting
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