Anaplan vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Anaplan
Score 8.7 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Anaplan is a scenario planning and analysis platform designed to optimize decision-making in complex business environments so that enterprises can outpace their competition and the market. By building connections and collaboration across organizational silos, the Anaplan platform surfaces key insights.N/A
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a CRM providing sales, marketing, and service functionality. It is offered as SaaS and on-premise. Dynamics 365 is part of the larger Dynamics suite of business intelligence and ERP products.
$44
per month
Pricing
AnaplanMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AnaplanMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AnaplanMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Considered Both Products
Anaplan
Chose Anaplan
Anaplan system/structure is not a far departure from Microsoft Excel which many people are most familiar with - this allowed for an easy transition during our first implementation as well as onboarding new users. Anaplan presents itself in a somewhat familiar structure while …
Chose Anaplan
Anaplan has the advantage of multidimensionality and fast calculation engine which is lacking in most of the above. Scenario planning is easier using Anaplan. Anaplan is not an off the shelf tool like most softwares that have been prebuilt to address specific problems/ issues. …
Microsoft Dynamics 365

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AnaplanMicrosoft Dynamics 365
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
7.6
214 Ratings
1% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Pixel Perfect reports6.57 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.5214 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.96 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.1
8 Ratings
11% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Drill-down analysis9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.5
221 Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Publish to Web8.67 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.4219 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Versioning9.2192 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling7.98 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.1
8 Ratings
7% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)9.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization9.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Predictive Analytics6.43 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.3
224 Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Multi-User Support (named login)9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model9.6224 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control9.673 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
7.7
213 Ratings
2% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Responsive Design for Web Access8.4204 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Application7.7190 Ratings00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.0198 Ratings00 Ratings
Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting
Comparison of Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.0
322 Ratings
8% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Long-term financial planning9.3297 Ratings00 Ratings
Financial budgeting9.4301 Ratings00 Ratings
Forecasting9.3310 Ratings00 Ratings
Scenario modeling9.2312 Ratings00 Ratings
Management reporting7.9311 Ratings00 Ratings
Consolidation and Close
Comparison of Consolidation and Close features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
7.8
275 Ratings
2% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Financial data consolidation8.3255 Ratings00 Ratings
Journal entries and reports7.5211 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency management7.312 Ratings00 Ratings
Intercompany Eliminations7.39 Ratings00 Ratings
Minority Ownership7.38 Ratings00 Ratings
Local and consolidated reporting8.2244 Ratings00 Ratings
Detailed Audit Trails8.5256 Ratings00 Ratings
Financial Reporting and Compliance
Comparison of Financial Reporting and Compliance features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.1
293 Ratings
0% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Financial Statement Reporting8.9271 Ratings00 Ratings
Management Reporting8.2284 Ratings00 Ratings
Excel-based Reporting7.8262 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated board and financial reporting8.214 Ratings00 Ratings
XBRL support for regulatory filing7.31 Ratings00 Ratings
Analytics and Reporting
Comparison of Analytics and Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.1
313 Ratings
12% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Personalized dashboards8.7307 Ratings00 Ratings
Color-coded scorecards9.3291 Ratings00 Ratings
KPIs9.120 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost and profitability analysis9.3270 Ratings00 Ratings
Key Performance Indicator setting9.4281 Ratings00 Ratings
Benchmarking with external data9.114 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration
Comparison of Integration features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.5
319 Ratings
2% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Flat file integration9.3309 Ratings00 Ratings
Excel data integration8.2287 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources8.0269 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.0
70 Ratings
9% below category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings8.169 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings7.967 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings6.351 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings7.263 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings7.066 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings7.252 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings6.348 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings7.060 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings6.251 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
6.7
55 Ratings
11% below category average
Case management00 Ratings6.351 Ratings
Call center management00 Ratings7.145 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings6.749 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.5
67 Ratings
1% below category average
Lead management00 Ratings8.061 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings7.062 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.2
64 Ratings
8% above category average
Task management00 Ratings7.959 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings7.944 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.953 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.2
65 Ratings
5% below category average
Forecasting00 Ratings7.355 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings5.661 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings8.964 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.7
67 Ratings
2% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings8.165 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings8.060 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings7.148 Ratings
API for custom integration00 Ratings7.852 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
6.7
62 Ratings
22% below category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings7.256 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings6.257 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.5
37 Ratings
2% above category average
Social data00 Ratings8.036 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings7.037 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
6.6
56 Ratings
10% below category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings7.056 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings6.229 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.2
48 Ratings
2% below category average
Mobile access00 Ratings7.248 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AnaplanMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Small Businesses
IBM Planning Analytics
IBM Planning Analytics
Score 8.3 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Centage
Centage
Score 9.5 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Prophix
Prophix
Score 8.8 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AnaplanMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(336 ratings)
4.8
(90 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(35 ratings)
8.0
(20 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(63 ratings)
4.8
(20 ratings)
Availability
8.7
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.3
(27 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.9
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(6 ratings)
7.5
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(27 ratings)
9.2
(4 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
3.8
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.4
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
9.1
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AnaplanMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Likelihood to Recommend
Anaplan
Anaplan is a great tool for complex modeling of the future. When you are planning your actions for the future, have multiple, disparate datasets to interact with, have dozens if not hundreds of stakeholders who must contribute and need to be guided via a streamlined workflow engine, require complex logic that can grow with your org, require real-time reporting, and you need it all in less than 6 months.
Read full review
Microsoft
All told, if it hadn't been for the fact that we were testing it with both employees who knew CRM lingo and those who were new, we wouldn't have found such an issue. The program itself can be very useful for people who already manage CRMs, who know how to use them, who know how to run and manage employees on them, namely because of the "one-stop-shop" concept in data visibility. When it came down to it though, if you have high-turnover, then this product will devolve into only being used for it's base components. Down the middle, we found that the people who'd been in marketing for 4-5 years fell into the product easily because of the way it was written. Everyone before that, with novice experience, thought it was written like a textbook for a graduate class - little to no leeway if you don't happen to know one specific term
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Pros
Anaplan
  • Anaplan can scale as your business grows, for example adding new regions into to your geographical hierarchy.
  • Anaplan is flexible and can do anything you want it to, there are no tables pre-configured that you need to fix your business process into.
  • Reading formulas in Anaplan is straight forward with a quick learning curve.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Some useful out-of-the-box features, like mass uploads of Leads from trade shows or when qualifying a Lead, CRM automatically creates the Opportunity, Contact, and Account for you, etc.
  • Really powerful customizations through the user interface to improve user experience. Things like Business Rules, for example, if Field A = 1, then Field B = 2 and Field C = 2, if Field A = 2, then Field B and Field C don't apply, so automatically hide them.
  • Or other functionality that improves user experience, like Business Process Flows. These walk users step by step through our business process, helping them know when certain actions should take place, and at what point other data is now required. We've used this extensively with our Lead to Opportunity to Quote to Order process, helping users understand the business process each step of the way.
  • Customizations built on top of the platform now called model-driven PowerApps. You can have connections to "typical" data, like Accounts, Contacts, or Opportunities, for example, but then connect that data to custom entities, records that only apply to your specific business. This is all done through the user interface and allows you to customize and automate specific line-of-business applications for your specific needs.
  • Behind the scenes, D365 CE is built on SQL. So the data conforms to industry standards and makes it much easier to interact with. Your developers and IT team will thank you.
Read full review
Cons
Anaplan
  • Ability to decide if to apply the formula or a manual input on front end for each line item
  • Real Time Data Transfer across models. Currently Data is transferred using Processes across different models. Having a functionality to access data from any model in real time would be great
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 storage & license cost can prohibit some large deployments or even cost-sensitive small projects from using the platform (although I'm certain most deployments would realize a positive ROI if implemented correctly with process automation).
  • The cost and licensing document for Dynamics 365 is 61 pages and will take a rocket scientist to understand it. It's better to just have your Microsoft help estimate the cost if they are willing to help you that.
  • The documentation on how to first fully understand the Out of the Box default solution and settings is lacking or even non-existing. This has the potential to derail Dynamic 365 launches and implementations from the gitgo. Want to use an out of the box entity?.. well it's probably related to 5 other entities that require configuration and full understanding of it to successful implement. And you ask where is the laymen guide or instructions?... User groups and forums. In Summary, Microsoft can up its game in deployment training and supporting documentation.
  • Microsoft needs to incentivize more external platforms to build app connectors for easy integration, such as ZenDesk, Slack, Tableau, etc. Even the current connector apps such as Salesforce, MailChimp, Docusign are useless or don't work at all.
  • Several limitations inhibit successful Dynamics 365 deployments such as: limited number of Rollup field calculations (summarizing fields on child/related records), limited number rows that can exported to Excel via advanced find, Dynamics 365 files, log and database storage size limit is extremely small and will always require purchasing additional storage (for Online deployments).
  • New user buy-in or acceptance or system platform changes can be difficult if a solid change management plan isn't enacted.
  • Don't expect much help from Microsoft on implementation or solutions unless it's a technical flaw with the platform. Microsoft relies on their MVP partner network to consult for implementations at a hefty cost. Hiring a knowledgeable and savvy Dynamics 365 System Administrator can reduce the need for consultant support; of course, this is dependant upon many many variables.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Anaplan
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
Read full review
Microsoft
CRM has allowed us to keep all of our data in one place that is easy for all users within the company to view. I came into the company after they had been using CRM for about 4 years. They have all said that since we have used this it has helped us control work processes better, it has allowed us to be able to track things so much better, and has been something that has helped unite many processes that used to be all over the place. We are currently using CRM 4.0 and are planning on upgrading in the next 18 months to the 2011 version. Support for 4.0 is almost all but dried up. Understandably so. Some of the customization we have done, and a plugins we use, are now contained within the 2011 version so we are looking forward to that upgrade. We use an email marketing company as well, and they primarily support the 2011 version, but their product connects and is integrated within CRM. This is a great benefit as well so that all of our marketing information can be contained in one location.
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Usability
Anaplan
Anaplan's usability is very good. Users can customize reports and make adjustments with very little training. They can quickly plan and collaborate very easily. Making large adjustments or creating complex functionality may require more experience or training but a lot of tasks can be completed by users with very little experience
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Microsoft
The user-interface is very clunky, truncating data fields while wasting space on the screen. There are too many menus.
Getting bulk data into the system used Excel. This caused much "mojibake" (look it up in Wikipedia) by the poor handling of different character sets (UTF-8 and Windows 1252).
Getting data out of the system was extremely long-winded and unreliable. It seemed that Microsoft never wanted us to copy data out of the system.
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Reliability and Availability
Anaplan
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
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Anaplan
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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Anaplan
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.
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Microsoft
Our partner, Ledgeview Partners has been FANTASTIC to work with. They are always timely in their response and have taken time to understand our business and our specific needs. We've made a lot of advanced customizations and they have been a great help in making those updates.
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In-Person Training
Anaplan
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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Anaplan
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
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Anaplan
The platform allows a flexible implementation mechanic to be put in place, since the possibilities and functionalities are vast and there are very few things the tool cannot do well. The solutions for the financial planning and the integrated business planning we put in place were easily adopted by the end users and their day-to-day work was made easier.
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Microsoft
We used a data warehouse to house our data, and our IT team and implementation vendor worked diligently ahead of time to construct idea implementation plans. Out of millions of records- we had less than a dozen errors, which is remarkable. My major insight is simply having a group of completely devoted individuals working towards your goal who fully understand the desired outcome. Focused resources for implementation season are critical to success.
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Alternatives Considered
Anaplan
Compared to OneStream and Venna Anaplan offers a more modern look and feel of the platform. It is better situated and maintained in regards of platform updates as it's a full SaaS software there are never any issues with the system version as it's always automatically up to date with no backward compatibility issues. Due to the flexible nature of the modelling engine, it is also better suited to perform larger multi-department use cases, like IBP (Integrated Business Planning)
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Microsoft
Salesforce has more desirable functions than Microsoft Dynamics 365, at a competitive price. Its user interface is far more superior, it has more customization, easier customization, and out of the box it is more pleasing to the eye and to the end user. If the client doesn't have a deep-rooted connection with Microsoft I wouldn't leap to Dynamics 365.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Anaplan
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
On our purchase, I'd been interrogated about our usage. Our needs are met by Microsoft Dynamics 365, which is simple to use. With so much data and information available, we must ensure that it is presented correctly to managers. Due to a lack of use, we don't have to spend as much money on Salesforce.
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Scalability
Anaplan
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
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Anaplan
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
My company's preferred program right now is Microsoft Dynamics 365. We use it to keep track of customers and important sales metrics in a streamlined manner. Anyone familiar with CRMs will find the tool extremely useful. Considering that we have a good turnover, this product will be used for its basic segments. As a result, there are few chances of error with Microsoft dynamics because it is so easy to use. Many options for recording data on these leads are available. It meets our needs and pays off.
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Return on Investment
Anaplan
  • We've typically seen an average of 40% removal of time from processes using Anaplan an enabler
  • Though difficult to quantify, we consistently find our processes less error prone than in the past. Essentially, we've removed a previously "hidden cost" of risk due to poor data quality that was buried in our processes.
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Microsoft
  • It is hard to say, the reason why we are using Microsoft Dynamics CRM is because it is provided to us for free.
  • It could be worthwhile to investigate whether an alternative CRM (even though paid) can be used to boost the ROI
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ScreenShots

Anaplan Screenshots

Screenshot of Platform: The Anaplan platform is a unified cloud-based solution that connects people, data and plans to enable complex scenario modeling.Screenshot of OpEx Planning. This is where users review revenue-target-setting goals by brand, season, and capacity all on a visual dashboard.Screenshot of Supply Planning. This visualization breaks down costs across assembly production to project profitability and align an organization's supply chain to market opportunities.Screenshot of Territory and Quota Planning. This dashboard is used to track of sales goals and quotas across territories and industries to optimize sales performance.Screenshot of Headcount Planning. Here, users can align workforce plans with strategic plans, and see where the best qualified talent resides to fit an organization’s staffing needs.Screenshot of Marketing. This interface drives efficiency across planning, and is used to budget against planned activity.