Anaplan
Anaplan LimitedExternal reviews
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Anaplan replaced shared spreadsheets.
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan's security feature enable input data accountability. Its dashboards or reports update on the fly when data change.
Its flexible modelling features allow seamlessly model update. For example, when adding a new entity to entity list in a model, the same set of calculations will applied to the new entity straight away. No need to duplicate calculations for the new entity.
Its flexible modelling features allow seamlessly model update. For example, when adding a new entity to entity list in a model, the same set of calculations will applied to the new entity straight away. No need to duplicate calculations for the new entity.
What do you dislike about the product?
Dashboard functionality is not as flexible as excel. For example, font size in dashboard is not adjustable. Cell highlighting by user is not possible. Line item alias is not there, we need to create a separate line item to accommodate the reporting requirement.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Before Anaplan, we used spreadsheet for monthly workforce planning process which involves 20 cost centers and around 400 workforce resources. Some resources will be shared by multiple cost center, and it caused double counting in planning. To maintain the accuracy and integrity of data, a delegated staff responsible to meet with individual head of business functions and to input the workforce planning data for them. Also, it took the staff around 3-4 stressful days to produce a consolidation report. During these 3-4 days, any new-comer or resignation still need to be handled and updated to get an accurate report.
With Anaplan, individual head of business functions are able to input the workforce planning data themselves via the self-serve dashboard. With the control of cost center resources hierarchy, planning for shared workforce resources without double count become possible. Also, a cost center dashboard, which is impossible in spreadsheet model, allows the head of business functions to review their own workforce planning. Once the workforce planning data is completed by the head of business functions, the consolidation report is produced automatically. For any changes in resource, it reflects in the report immediately.
With Anaplan, individual head of business functions are able to input the workforce planning data themselves via the self-serve dashboard. With the control of cost center resources hierarchy, planning for shared workforce resources without double count become possible. Also, a cost center dashboard, which is impossible in spreadsheet model, allows the head of business functions to review their own workforce planning. Once the workforce planning data is completed by the head of business functions, the consolidation report is produced automatically. For any changes in resource, it reflects in the report immediately.
Highly Customizable No Code Business Application Building Platform
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is highly customizable and can be used to create any business application. You can make changes to it quickly and you don't need a engineering team to support if the platform is built right.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is learning curve. Cost of license is getting more expensive. New features are behind paywall.
Poor customer support
Poor customer support
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We use Anaplan to automate financial modeling.
A Highly Effective, Intuitive EPM System
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is an excellent tool to standardize their planning processes and connect previously disparate systems. The speed at which an effective model can be built and integrated into an overall business process is one of the biggest advantages of the Anaplan platform.
What do you dislike about the product?
One of the challenges with Anaplan is the upfront investement to successfully integrate data with Anaplan. One of Anaplan's key advantages is the ability for a line-of-business user to be the model builder. This advantage can only be fully achieved with some initial investment to get data flowing into Anaplan.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Anaplan helps solve the following problems for our clients: planning and budgeting, enrollment and tuition forecasting, program economic analysis, capital plannning and budgeting, and long range planning to name a few
Powerful analysis and reporting tool
What do you like best about the product?
- Excellent analytical capabilities
- Easy to learn
- Encourages single source of truth
- Easy to implement
- Easy to connect to other systems
- Easy to learn
- Encourages single source of truth
- Easy to implement
- Easy to connect to other systems
What do you dislike about the product?
- Support improving but could be better
- Certain "nice-to-have" features missing despite community support
- Certain "nice-to-have" features missing despite community support
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Monthly forecasting process, annual budgeting process.
- Allows multiple users to input data simultaneously
- Connects to accounting ledger and other systems for actuals
- Displays budget/forecast in ROY months
- Displays actuals in YTD months
- Allows multiple users to input data simultaneously
- Connects to accounting ledger and other systems for actuals
- Displays budget/forecast in ROY months
- Displays actuals in YTD months
Anaplan Architecture and Functionality from a Model Builder Viewpoint
What do you like best about the product?
From a model builder’s perspective, what I like best about Anaplan is its flexibility and the control it provides over building complex planning models without needing traditional coding skills. The platform’s intuitive interface allows me to design and customize models that fit unique business requirements, combining data from multiple sources into a single, connected planning environment.
Anaplan’s in-memory engine is powerful and supports real-time calculations, which means changes in one part of the model immediately update all related calculations. This instant feedback is invaluable for testing scenarios and ensuring data accuracy. The drag-and-drop functionality and modular structure make it easy to organize data and logic logically, improving maintainability and scalability.
Another key advantage is the ability to create reusable components like lists, modules, and line items, which saves time and helps maintain consistency across models. The platform also encourages collaboration by allowing multiple users to work on the same model simultaneously, with role-based access controls ensuring data security.
While there is a learning curve, especially with complex formula building and model optimization, the extensive community support and training resources make it manageable. Overall, Anaplan empowers model builders to deliver agile, robust planning solutions that can quickly adapt to changing business needs, which is highly rewarding.
Anaplan’s in-memory engine is powerful and supports real-time calculations, which means changes in one part of the model immediately update all related calculations. This instant feedback is invaluable for testing scenarios and ensuring data accuracy. The drag-and-drop functionality and modular structure make it easy to organize data and logic logically, improving maintainability and scalability.
Another key advantage is the ability to create reusable components like lists, modules, and line items, which saves time and helps maintain consistency across models. The platform also encourages collaboration by allowing multiple users to work on the same model simultaneously, with role-based access controls ensuring data security.
While there is a learning curve, especially with complex formula building and model optimization, the extensive community support and training resources make it manageable. Overall, Anaplan empowers model builders to deliver agile, robust planning solutions that can quickly adapt to changing business needs, which is highly rewarding.
What do you dislike about the product?
What I don’t like about Anaplan is the performance slowdown when working with large or highly complex models. As the size of the model grows—especially with millions of cells, multiple dimensions, or intricate formula logic—calculations can take much longer to complete. This lag impacts day-to-day usability, causing delays when entering data, refreshing dashboards, or running scenario analyses. This becomes more noticeable when multiple users are collaborating simultaneously, sometimes leading to timeouts or frustration during critical planning cycles.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We use Anaplan to streamline our Master Production Scheduling (MPS) and Material Requirements Planning (MRP) processes for a CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) client. Before Anaplan, the client struggled with disconnected Excel-based planning, limited visibility across supply and demand, and frequent stockouts or overproduction.
Anaplan helped centralize and automate their planning process. The MPS model enabled planners to balance supply with demand using real-time data, while the MRP model calculated material requirements based on production plans, inventory levels, and lead times. This helped reduce excess inventory and improved service levels.
The scope of the project included demand inputs, inventory planning, BOM explosion, capacity checks, and purchase planning across multiple manufacturing locations. With Anaplan, the client achieved better visibility, faster planning cycles, and improved decision-making. It also allowed cross-functional collaboration between supply planners, procurement, and production teams.
Overall, Anaplan addressed key business challenges like manual errors, siloed data, and lack of agility in supply planning—resulting in a more resilient and responsive supply chain.
Anaplan helped centralize and automate their planning process. The MPS model enabled planners to balance supply with demand using real-time data, while the MRP model calculated material requirements based on production plans, inventory levels, and lead times. This helped reduce excess inventory and improved service levels.
The scope of the project included demand inputs, inventory planning, BOM explosion, capacity checks, and purchase planning across multiple manufacturing locations. With Anaplan, the client achieved better visibility, faster planning cycles, and improved decision-making. It also allowed cross-functional collaboration between supply planners, procurement, and production teams.
Overall, Anaplan addressed key business challenges like manual errors, siloed data, and lack of agility in supply planning—resulting in a more resilient and responsive supply chain.
Fulfilling career as an Anaplan Model Builder
What do you like best about the product?
I like that Anaplan is a massive upgrade relative to other tools (like Microsoft Excel) in terms of empowering users to drive connected forecasting and planning. There are so many features that make this empowerment possible, such as version control, real time calculation updates, and dynamic cell access.
What do you dislike about the product?
When an Anaplan Model Builder attempts to implement a formula that is invalid, sometimes, this results in the Anaplan model locking up (or "toasting") for a period of time that ranges from seconds to minutes (depending on the size and complexity of the model) while the model processes and reverts the change. During this "toaster" period, no one, including Model Builders and users, can navigate or make changes in the model - This is extremely disruptive.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Through Anaplan's Application Lifecycle Management functionality, I can Model Build in an existing Anaplan model without disrupting users' working in the Production model. Thanks to Anaplan's Hyberblock technology, I can build models containing data and calculations that far exceed anything I can build in other tools in terms of size and calculation complexity. Due to the ability to build and manage Anaplan models without help from a typical Information Technology (IT) team, I'm empowered to develop solutions for our users with minimal overhead or reliance from non-business teams.
Anaplan for Alternative Investments
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan's flexible model building platform allows users to create very unique models to handle a myriad of use cases in the alternative investments space, including carry calculations, carry allocation, fund modeling and more. The platform is easy to implement given that the formulas mirror excel.
What do you dislike about the product?
Anaplan does not have a very robust workflow management functionality.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Anaplan gets companies out of excel and into a model with auditability functions and application lifecycle management.
Anaplan, the flexible calculation engine
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is able to calculate millions and millions of data points in seconds, while still providing a great amount of flexbility.
What do you dislike about the product?
Anaplan is not at a point where it can be used as a reporting tool, and still sometimes requires the use of another software for specific reporting requirements.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I'm able to set up models in a way that scenarios can easily be added in order to create multiple forecasts.
Anaplan : A great connected planning platform
What do you like best about the product?
Anaplan is a lightweight solution which does not need labor intensive effort for implementation. It can remove excel-silos in the company and help collaboration among different department in the organization which can effectively shorten planning cycle and improve user experience in planning.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is no ETL tools embedded (excpet for paying a higher price for an OEM informatica). For every projects we have implemented, we require IT Department to help on ETL tasks which would always receive resistance and hesitation from the customers.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It helps our customers to solve the lack of multi-dimensional management in excel. Excel is an excellent tools for mathematical computation but it lacks the management of dimensions and hierarchy. Anaplan can effectively manage dimensions and hierarchy to help users shortening time for changing formulas in excel when there is any change in dimensions everytime, which is very frequent in business world nowadays. Strong computing power from Anaplan can also help users to plan at a more granular level when needed, the real-time calculation has outraced the performance in excel which could takes forever to update a formula if the source data volume is high.
Anaplan - Making Connected Planning Easier
What do you like best about the product?
Allows making connected planning across an organization's business areas more streamlined.
Allows to have one source of truth for planning accross the organization.
Allows to have one source of truth for planning accross the organization.
What do you dislike about the product?
Takes time to load data from source databases to allow refreshing the data in the platform.
Takes a lot of space if working with huge datasets - e.g. working with SKU/material level data.
Takes a lot of space if working with huge datasets - e.g. working with SKU/material level data.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Allows to streamline planning accross an organization - connecting business areas and allowing better connected planning. Allows areas to have a single source of truth for all data allowing planners to make better decisions.
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