Anaplan vs Prophix | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8.5 out of 10

Based on 213 reviews and ratings

Score 9.3 out of 10

Based on 139 reviews and ratings

Likelihood to Recommend

Anaplan is great for modeling processes that are ongoing, and remain relatively the same over time. In other words, if you don't have a solid grasp of your process, or you know there are significant changes that change the way you do things on a not infrequent basis, you may want to wait to build the model in Anaplan until things are more stable or you have a better understanding of the business requirements of what you are trying to build. Wholesale changes to an Anaplan model can be cumbersome and time consuming - though that is not unlike modeling on any other platform. It's also probably not worth your time to build a model in Anaplan if you're only going to use it once - in this case, if it's not too complicated, Excel is probably a better choice

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Chris Friederich

Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Cherwell SoftwareComputer Software, 201-500 employees

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Most of these comments deal with the limitations of OLAP (Prophix) databases as compared to SQL (Oracle/SAP) databases. OLAP does a great job in driving management to prioritize those metrics and data they need to run and measure their business. This education leads to a much better understanding of the data being provided. A transaction level database is better suited to detailed analysis, but management (in my experience) does a poor job at trying to manage individual transactions instead of understanding what the aggregated numbers are saying. Also, management can not plan at a highly detailed level because the business is moving too fast. That is where Prophix (OLAP) allows management to create a plan at the right level of detail which can be reported and managed.More well suited:

Multiple scenario reporting
Excel template generation
Finance ownership and management - takes some training but well worth the flexibility
Finance, Sales, Operations

Less well suited:

Highly detailed reporting outside of Detailed Planning Manager
Direct Excel - SSAS data retrieval
HR employee management
Transaction level detail analysis

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Andreas Loeffler

Financial Systems Analyst

Boyd Coffee CompanyFood & Beverages, 201-500 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Anaplan

7.2

Prophix

—

Customizable dashboards

7.2

—

Anaplan

8.0

Prophix

—

Publish to PDF

8.3

—

Report Versioning

8.3

—

Report Delivery Scheduling

7.3

—

Anaplan

6.9

Prophix

—

Responsive Design for Web Access

6.9

—

Anaplan

8.4

Prophix

8.7

Long-term financial planning

7.8

8.1

Financial budgeting

8.7

9.8

Forecasting

8.9

8.3

Scenario modeling

8.3

7.7

Management reporting

8.3

9.6

Anaplan

7.1

Prophix

7.8

Financial data consolidation

8.6

8.3

Journal entries and reports

7.3

7.6

Multi-currency management

6.2

8.2

Intercompany Eliminations

6.0

7.8

Minority Ownership

6.0

7.6

Local and consolidated reporting

8.1

8.5

Detailed Audit Trails

7.6

6.9

Anaplan

8.0

Prophix

8.0

Financial Statement Reporting

9.2

8.5

Management Reporting

8.8

8.4

Excel-based Reporting

5.3

8.2

Automated board and financial reporting

8.6

8.0

XBRL support for regulatory filing

—

6.7

Anaplan

7.0

Prophix

7.7

Personalized dashboards

6.6

7.8

Color-coded scorecards

7.1

7.2

KPIs

7.0

7.7

Cost and profitability analysis

7.0

8.0

Key Performance Indicator setting

6.9

7.7

Benchmarking with external data

7.1

7.6

Anaplan

8.3

Prophix

8.2

Flat file integration

8.8

8.5

Excel data integration

7.5

8.3

Direct links to 3rd-party data sources

8.7

7.9

Pros

Modeling is next level in Anaplan. With a background deep in Excel modeling and the frustrations that come along with it, Anaplan is a breath of fresh air and is actually fun to build and model in.
Dashboarding and synchronization. The synchronization feature in Anaplan is one of the greatest things ever. As its core Anaplan models are built around hierarchical lists and dimensions and using similar dimensions in dashboards allows you to synchronize to different views of the same data with simple clicks around a dashboard. It makes reporting and BI extremely user friendly and flexible.
Its fast. If you had the same exact model in Excel and Anaplan. That model in Excel would be like riding and old bike with under-inflated tires, while Anaplan would be like driving a Tesla in Ludicrous mode. The ability to have your entire business modeled on a single platform, potentially across multiple models, where when you make a change the entire model updates within seconds, is invaluable in making decisions.

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Chris Friederich

Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Cherwell SoftwareComputer Software, 201-500 employees

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Financial reporting and consolidations - flexible!
Planning and Forecasting - detail planning for headcount, capex, fixed assets, etc. and department mgrs. can input data.
Ad Hoc Analysis - ability to slice and dice data and drill down to transaction level.

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William Van Hulzen

Manager of Consolidations and Reporting

Schumacher Electric CorporationConsumer Goods, 1001-5000 employees

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Cons

Error handling can be annoying. A single formula error can lock up your model for 2-5 minutes while it reverts back to before you pressed enter, and while its improved a little in the year I've been using Anaplan, there are certain situations where I feel like it could be eliminated or made more efficient.
Time subsets would be really nice.

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Chris Friederich

Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Cherwell SoftwareComputer Software, 201-500 employees

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The only minor tweak in the software I would like to see is to have the ability to have multiple Ad-Hoc windows available.
The front-end could be updated from a visual standpoint to be more appealing but it has all the functionality needed to make it a slick tool.

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Brandon Russell

Financial Analysis Manager

The Tapco GroupBuilding Materials, 501-1000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Anaplan 8.2

Based on 3 answers

We rely on it heavily. The only way we wouldn't renew is if the price got significantly higher.

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Director of Sales Operations

Careerbuilder.comInternet, 1001-5000 employees

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Prophix 10.0

Based on 16 answers

Ease of use
Dimension hierarchy flexibility
Responsive and personalized customer support
Ad Hoc ability

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Senior Financial Analyst

InfogroupInformation Services, 1001-5000 employees

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Usability

Anaplan 8.2

Based on 2 answers

There is a dependency in this rating - in that I find Anaplan extremely easy to use, but I've spent the necessary time developing a strong understanding of the platform. Once you understand how to use it, the platform is flexible, easy to use, and fun to use.

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Chris Friederich

Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Cherwell SoftwareComputer Software, 201-500 employees

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Prophix 8.1

Based on 19 answers

I may lack the intuitive skills needed to be proficient with Prophix or it is an application with so much capability that it takes extended time and usage to master.

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Vice President Finance/Chief Financial Officer

K&B IndustriesOil & Energy, 201-500 employees

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Reliability and Availability

Anaplan 10.0

Based on 1 answer

In nearly 3 years, I have only had 1 issue of being unable to access my model for an unplanned maintenance. Even planned maintenance windows are handled during low traffic hours on the weekend.

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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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Prophix 8.8

Based on 11 answers

We have never had an issue with prophix availability

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Director of Finance and Administration

ServiceMaster of CanadaConsumer Services, 10,001+ employees

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Performance

Anaplan 9.0

Based on 1 answer

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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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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Prophix 7.3

Based on 11 answers

Prophix continues to improve upon the performance of its product with reports and processes running more efficiently with all new releases.

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Joel P. Goldstein

Corporate Controller

Crystal & CompanyInsurance, 201-500 employees

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Support

Anaplan 8.1

Based on 2 answers

I feel like the support team is a little lacking in product knowledge. Several times I have contacted them to get help, and ended up finding a solution to my own problem before the team could get back to me with anything useful. I have also submitted a few bugs, and never got updates to when they were fixed in later releases.

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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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Prophix 7.6

Based on 74 answers

Overall, support is meeting our needs. Our only setback with the support team came when we were building our initial suite of reports. We found our developer had what appeared to be inexperience with higher education financials.

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Senior Director for Information Services and Resources

Kentucky Wesleyan CollegeHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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In-Person Training

Anaplan 3.0

Based on 1 answer

The in-person training is simply not worth the cost. After a few weeks of playing in Anaplan, I went to the basic training and knew more than the person teaching it. a year down the road, I was the first person to complete the advance training, and again could have been teaching the class better than the person running the session. Spend some time on your own trying out different things and you will get all the understanding you need to be successful.

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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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Prophix 8.2

Based on 2 answers

Very knowledgeable techs

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Director of Finance and Administration

ServiceMaster of CanadaConsumer Services, 10,001+ employees

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Online Training

Anaplan 5.0

Based on 1 answer

I'm giving this a 5 simply for the anapedia outline of calculations. The online videos and trainings leave a lot to be desired, but having anapedia around to help you understand calculations has been helpful. The drawback to anapedia is the depth they go into for calculations, it is lackluster at times. Because of that, I have been working through a much more in-depth look at each calculation on my website for users to reference: http://www.anaplanguru.com/formulas/

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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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Prophix 8.2

Based on 3 answers

Very knowledgeable techs

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Director of Finance and Administration

ServiceMaster of CanadaConsumer Services, 10,001+ employees

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Implementation

Anaplan 6.7

Based on 12 answers

Implementation using Anaplan's internal customer success team left much to be desired. We've found much better success with outside consultants

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Christopher Pope

Manager

Seagate TechnologyComputer Hardware, 10,001+ employees

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Prophix 8.2

Based on 10 answers

Know your requirements. Make sure you are on the same page as your consultant with cost and expected return. Know how much training will be involved and plan for it both in time and $. The implementation will be the responsibility of management, don't expect the consultant to do everything!

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William Van Hulzen

Manager of Consolidations and Reporting

Schumacher Electric CorporationConsumer Goods, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Modeling and what I call the "brains" is much better in Anaplan. You can create several different model types that can all feed into a single budget or plan.What Anaplan really lacks is the ad-hoc ability that is in Hyperion. You can't identify your dimensions and find the data sitting in that spot, the data just isn't setup that way in Anaplan. This makes answering some detail questions more difficult than it would be in Hyperion. for that reason, we are using Anaplan for the modeling, and Hyperion for the data storage. It would be nice to be able to sunset Hyperion though....

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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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We did kick the tires on a few other solutions when we were looking for something "other than Excel". Prophix stood out from the crowd at that time - mainly because of the personal service to demonstrate that Prophix could do what we wanted it to do.

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Vice-President, Finance and Administration

PARTEQ InnovationsNon-Profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

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Scalability

Anaplan 7.0

Based on 1 answer

It's going to handle most of what you can throw at it. The problem lies in the sparsity of some datasets. When you have over 5ish dimensions of sparse data, the size of the model gets bloated for not much value. In several cases, I have had to adapt my model to account for sparsity in a way that minimized use of space, but also made interacting with the data more cumbersome.

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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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Prophix 7.6

Based on 8 answers

We are a medium sized company, but the structure of Prophix would seemingly adapt to whatever sized organization you have. It also can be applied in any area of an enterprise that needs performance management, whether it involves financial data or not. The potential for application within the enterprise is really only limited by you imagination.

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CFO

Tuacahn Center for the ArtsEntertainment, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Workforce Planning efficiency - so much easier than excel to maintain sensitive information planning
Long range plan lead time - the old excel model took weeks to update. The Anaplan model takes hours

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Manager, Financial Systems

Research NowMarket Research, 1001-5000 employees

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Streamlined financial reporting and analysis: Prophix saves us at least 4 full days of reporting every month.
Streamlined budget and planning: Prophix saves us about 8 days of work over the course of the budgeting cycle each year.
We have all of our financial data in one place.

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Michelle Ferris

Director of Finance

All Star DirectoriesMarketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees

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Screenshots

See All (6) Anaplan Screenshots

See All (4) Prophix Screenshots

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Optional

Additional Pricing Details

Request a personal demo: https://www.anaplan.com/request-demo/ Free trial for existing customers for any app in the App Hub: https://apphub.anaplan.com/

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Optional

Additional Pricing Details

—

Rating Summary

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