A Modern, User-Friendly Planning Solution
Updated November 04, 2022
A Modern, User-Friendly Planning Solution
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Modeling
- Planning
- Reporting and Analytics
Overall Satisfaction with Planful
We use Planful (formerly Host Analytics) within our FP&A and financial reporting teams. Planful (formerly Host Analytics) is used to input our budget scenarios, monthly forecasts (including workforce planning), and long-term models. We replaced SAP BPC system, which would take 3+ hours to pull new GL data. Now, using Planful (formerly Host Analytics), we have GL data refreshing every 30 minutes during close.
- Customer support
- Product updates
- UI design/ease of use
- User feedback
- Wages--actuals vs forecast reporting
- Workforce--reporting number of employees with the same role
- Scenario management--folders/grouping
- Our GL integration went from 3+ hours to load down to every 30 minutes in Planful (formerly Host Analytics).
- Users are able to create their own reports easily; it was very cumbersome in our old system.
- It's very easy to audit different sources of data using data load rules and verify data.
Planful has allowed our team to maintain a single source of truth for our monthly forecasts and budgets.
We don't use Planful's consolidations, but being able to do planning (financial, operational, and workforce) and reporting all from a single platform allows for greater confidence in the data.
We have some report collections to help automate reporting out of Planful (formerly Host Analytics), but I think there's still additional work we could do to further streamline the process.
It's very simple to create and modify reports within Planful (formerly Host Analytics). We've only recently enabled dashboards (wasn't aware it was a feature we had access to use), but they seem pretty straightforward to create. Not as robust as a full visualization reporting tool (e.g., Tableau) but seemed to have lots of options.
I'd say for 90% of my user-base, it's very easy for them to create their own ad hoc reporting for analysis. I do have at least one user that tends to need additional assistance with any report changes that aren't simple dimension changes. Also, I frequently get very specific/complex reporting questions, too.
- SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Not sure if this was specific to our specific BPC configuration, but here are a few major issues we had with that system that have since been resolved switching to Planful (formerly Host Analytics): It was painfully slow to load new data into the system (3+ hours for new GL data) Contacting support was impossible (I had to request our IT team to contact SAP support. 0 direct contact for questions.) No integration with our HR system for forecasting employee data Managing and creating new reports was a very tedious process The UI was purely Excel-based and felt very outdated
Do you think Planful delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Planful's feature set?
Yes
Did Planful live up to sales and marketing promises?
I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process
Did implementation of Planful go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Planful again?
Yes
Planful Feature Ratings
Planful Features and Attributes
We reduced our GL data pull from 3+ hours (prior system) to every 30 minutes (in Planful).
We've been able to create specific reports to validate our Planful data and ensure accuracy for user submissions into our monthly forecasts.
In one of our quarterly check-in calls with our CSM, we described an issue that we were facing with actuals vs forecast wage reporting. Our CSM offered to setup a call with one of the Planful architects the following week, and I was able plan out a solution for our implementation, without any additional costs.
Planful Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Yes - Yes, the support team escalated to the appropriate team and was able to have it answered within a couple of days.
Using Planful
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Data load rules
- Reporting
- Dashboards