Anaplan vs. Dataloader.io

I've implemented a number of projects for Anaplan for Sales Performance Management use cases. It is obviously built for financial planning, but it allows for a lot of flexibility for territory and quota, ICM, sales forecasting, and other important use cases. Territory and Quota is very powerful in the tool as it organize complex assignment structures into hierarchies for easier analysis and reporting.

Replacing data. If we've put something in a category or a bucket that is no longer named that anymore because we've evolved with the times and we want to rebrand everything, it makes it way easier to do a quick import with the new terms.

Incentivized

• Anaplan removes the time consuming process of integrating the results of individual spreadsheets.
• Anaplan facilitates the standardization of assumptions across all sub-processes
• Anaplan provides full transparency of the calculations and source inputs
• Anaplan allows us to automate certain planning processes that would have been impossible when relying on the computational capabilities of an individual computer.

• Extracting Salesforce attachments in original file format! I do not know of a tool that can do this better, or more efficiently! This is a huge benefit to companies that would like to extract attachments from Salesforce for tasks like data migrations.
• Cross-object data extract within one file. You can pull data from related objects as long as there is a populated lookup from the object you are extracting, to another object (Child or Parent).
• UI is simple and requires very little to no training. Given the acquisition of Mulesoft by Salesforce, I would not be surprised if DataLoader.IO is rolled out as the new global data loading tool for Salesforce.

Incentivized

• Some end users don't spend the required amount of time to familiar themselves with Anaplan.
• Auditability, while good in theory, can be lacking and clunky when needed.
• Model building can become convoluted over time, leading to confusion over the specific use of line items.

• At the moment, I can't find a way to rename jobs. This would be useful to organize what was previously created hastily by techs in a rush.
• A preview of the job, especially upserts, would take a great deal of stress away from some of us (especially those who are not so confident in their ETL practice).
• A native vlookup equivalent may be a welcome addition.

Anaplan is a very strong multi-dimensional modeling tool that provides a calculation engine to empower a complex planning process. It is fairly easy to learn for those with experience in similar tools, or excel. It forces structure and auditability that spread sheets do not have, along with extensive security capabilities

It is easy to use and doesn't require a security token, so I enjoy using it. It also doesn't require any download or installation, which is sometimes a blocker to gettingthings done if the company has limits. also, the dataloader.io is easy for other people to pick up, so others can have visibility into the data jobs that have occurred

As a user it is a very simple tool, but at the same time with a very mature and powerful calculation engine. It is very easy to switch from excel or traditional tools with added capabilities of multi dimensionality and real time calculation engine to see quick insights needed to create plans and scenarios

Dataloader definitely skews towards a more technical userbase. Users should be adept at manipulating data in spreadsheets and decipher JSON formatted error messaging. Additionally, there is a good amount of time need to set up the environment to map to the pertinent fields we are trying to adjust. While I would not recommend the typical account manager to use Dataloader, a typical operations manager should have no issue.

Incentivized

There are very few outages. Maintenance is scheduled on two or three Saturdays per month, so as not to affect businesses. When there is an outage, users are kept informed of progress to restore the platform and typically this takes no more than an hour. Anaplan customer support is very responsive if we ever have questions about platform issues

Everything is calculated in memory in the cloud. It's nearly instantaneous updates when you make changes. The only time things get a little slow is when you have a massive model with very intricate calculations...but "slow" for Anaplan is not what I would call "slow" for something like Hyperion. We used to have Hyperion calcs that ran for 60 mins before you could use data. The equivalent would be 60 seconds in Anaplan.

Incentivized

Dataloader is made for updating, inserting, and deleting of contacts. For these operations this tool is excellent.

Incentivized

Support quality has dropped since Thoma Bravo has taken over. I think some serious re-focus needs to happen here -- part of the beauty of being in the Anaplan community was how involved you felt in it before. Before I didn't dread sending a support ticket, now I am starting to.

The utility itself is very self-explanatory and has enough information to guide you through the process. It has an intuitive experience for those familiar with data loading/exporting utilities. Outside of this, they have a Zendesk help center to log support requests and provide documentation to help guide you troubleshoot any issues that may be occurring.

Incentivized

In my opinion, in-person training is always the best if you have the option to do so. This allows real-time interactions with the instructions, whereas the online training I took required me to write-down questions, email them, and wait for responses. This slows down the process, as you can imagine. That said, in-person training is an extra cost and it likely isn't needed for everyone. I would suggest selecting a small number of people to take in-person training and then having them act as mentors to the rest of your team. That way, as the rest of the team takes the online training, they have a resource to help them in real time.

Anaplan training materials are clear, simple, easy to understand and to follow. Visuals are excellent. The vendor is good at updating training materials in a timely manner and encouraging users and administrators to keep coming back to Academy site for refresher courses or new feature courses. I really like their interactive diagrams

One key insight from implementing Anaplan is that success comes from focusing on designing the process, not just building the model. Anaplan is extremely flexible—there are very few planning scenarios it cannot support—but that flexibility means the project needs strong governance, clear ownership of requirements, and a well-defined data model. When those foundations are in place, implementations are fast, iterations are easy, and users can quickly see value.
In our projects, both Financial Planning and Integrated Business Planning models were adopted smoothly because we involved business users early, kept the model design intuitive, and leveraged Anaplan’s Excel-like syntax and user-friendly dashboards. The result was more efficient day-to-day work, reduced manual tasks, and increased collaboration across teams. In short: when you combine Anaplan’s flexibility with a structured implementation approach, adoption and value realization happen quickly.

Anaplan is more powerful than Pigment considering that it is an Enterprise class system and is able to manage bigger data sets. Anaplan allows for advanced scenario modeling and formula capabilities along with custom reporting functionalities. Anaplan has proven its capabilities and stability across various use cases and across bigger enterprises when compared to Pigment which is still in earlier phases of its development

I have used salesforce inspector also for operations like import and export of data from custom objects but it doesn't work well when you have data in huge numbers. Instead of using Salesforce Inspector, one should go for Dataloader.io if the number of records is huge to be dealt with.

Incentivized

We have managed to leverage Anaplan for financial planning and forecasting across the business. It is now used by almost every department, with more than 50 users (but I know of companies that have hundreds of users) and still the platform is quick and reliable. It is easy to make changes to divisions and departments or add users and apply different user settings - the core part of the model is not affected and end users can continue their work without any disruption

• Anaplan's implementation led to a significant reduction in planning cycle errors and bugs, streamlining processes and improving overall accuracy in data inputs
• Standardizing the planning process and enabling cross-functional collaboration through Anaplan enhanced our ability to adapt swiftly to changing business needs, resulting in improved agility in decision-making
• The platform's capabilities, especially in Demand Planning and Supply Chain, positively impacted our ROI by optimizing resource allocation and solving complex business problems efficiently across multiple functions

• HUGE time saving. When we need to clean or review data, we used to have to do it line by line. This can do the work within excel and make cleanup/management an afternoons work as opposed to a week.
• Rollback what you did/change/deleted is relatively simple if you remember to back up the data you are manipulating.

Incentivized