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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Planful

    Score8.4 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    Planful is a cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM) suite. It includes financial applications for modeling, planning, consolidation, reporting and analytics.N/A

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AThe SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.N/A
    Pricing
    PlanfulSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    PlanfulSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPricing is highly dependent on the complexity and scope of the implementation.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    PlanfulSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Considered Both Products
    Planful
    Chose Planful
    I haven't used any other EPM platform that offers similar capabilities of Planful, and the decision to proceed with the purchase of Planful occurred before I started with the company. We do use SAP BusinessObjects which is able to provide us access to much more granular detail …
    Incentivized
    Chose Planful
    Host Analytics was more robust than Adaptive Planning. Since it is built around Excel, our users did not have to learn a new "language" as they would have with Prophix and it is more nimble and easier to support than SAP.
    Incentivized
    SAP
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    101 Answers
    81%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    90 Answers
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    12 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    102 Answers
    81%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    60 Answers
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    84%
    Implementation went as expected
    67 Answers
    85%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    Features
    PlanfulSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    6.1
    64 Ratings
    21% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.8
    56 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports6.933 Ratings8.550 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards5.057 Ratings6.752 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates6.555 Ratings8.251 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    7.5
    104 Ratings
    3% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.1
    53 Ratings
    12% below category average
    Drill-down analysis8.4103 Ratings6.452 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities7.0104 Ratings6.551 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration7.197 Ratings7.352 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.335 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    7.4
    86 Ratings
    7% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.8
    53 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Publish to Web8.433 Ratings8.344 Ratings
    Publish to PDF6.477 Ratings8.251 Ratings
    Report Versioning6.555 Ratings7.646 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling8.566 Ratings8.052 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings6.931 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    6.1
    51 Ratings
    19% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    6.0
    48 Ratings
    28% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)5.040 Ratings5.846 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization6.42 Ratings6.143 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics6.044 Ratings6.042 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining7.33 Ratings6.16 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    8.9
    103 Ratings
    6% above category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.4
    53 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)8.496 Ratings7.953 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model8.894 Ratings7.251 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.595 Ratings7.450 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control8.855 Ratings7.27 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)9.778 Ratings7.234 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    2.3
    42 Ratings
    105% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    6.4
    38 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access2.540 Ratings5.637 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile2.230 Ratings5.534 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings5.332 Ratings
    Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting
    Comparison of Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    8.7
    156 Ratings
    8% above category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Long-term financial planning8.7139 Ratings00 Ratings
    Financial budgeting9.0155 Ratings00 Ratings
    Forecasting9.0146 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scenario modeling7.8131 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management reporting9.0149 Ratings00 Ratings
    Consolidation and Close
    Comparison of Consolidation and Close features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    8.0
    118 Ratings
    3% above category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Financial data consolidation9.3107 Ratings00 Ratings
    Journal entries and reports7.886 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-currency management7.470 Ratings00 Ratings
    Intercompany Eliminations7.673 Ratings00 Ratings
    Minority Ownership6.939 Ratings00 Ratings
    Local and consolidated reporting7.789 Ratings00 Ratings
    Detailed Audit Trails9.187 Ratings00 Ratings
    Financial Reporting and Compliance
    Comparison of Financial Reporting and Compliance features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    7.6
    152 Ratings
    7% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Financial Statement Reporting8.8133 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management Reporting8.8143 Ratings00 Ratings
    Excel-based Reporting7.0141 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automated board and financial reporting6.5114 Ratings00 Ratings
    XBRL support for regulatory filing7.13 Ratings00 Ratings
    Analytics and Reporting
    Comparison of Analytics and Reporting features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    5.9
    104 Ratings
    24% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Personalized dashboards5.191 Ratings00 Ratings
    Color-coded scorecards2.555 Ratings00 Ratings
    KPIs7.476 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cost and profitability analysis6.975 Ratings00 Ratings
    Key Performance Indicator setting6.963 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benchmarking with external data6.410 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration
    Comparison of Integration features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    8.9
    140 Ratings
    10% above category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Flat file integration9.5105 Ratings00 Ratings
    Excel data integration7.8130 Ratings00 Ratings
    Direct links to 3rd-party data sources9.596 Ratings00 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Planful and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Planful
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.9
    28 Ratings
    2% above category average
    REST API00 Ratings8.124 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.723 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings8.221 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings7.526 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.624 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.622 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    PlanfulSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Planning Analytics
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
    Score7.1 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    PlanfulSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (164 ratings)
    7.1
    (78 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.7
    (23 ratings)
    8.3
    (24 ratings)
    Usability
    8.2
    (21 ratings)
    6.6
    (21 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (22 ratings)
    8.6
    (16 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.3
    (9 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    CPA Rating
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (45 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (45 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.3
    (4 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.4
    (4 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    PlanfulSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Planful
    Planful is initially easy to setup and if a company is already using a mid layer to transform and standardise GL data, management reports can be set up in days, not weeks or months. Budgeting template setup does get some getting used to but the training provided by Planful is sufficient to get going and learn along the way. Building custom reports is straightforward and the interface is user-friendly, therefore the accounting team can get going without the need for technical specialists getting involved. Budget and forecasting is flexible and drivers of revenue and cost can be created in Planful and customised by Unit or Geography.
    Read full review
    SAP
    As mentioned earlier reporting was a big headache for us and the tools we used didn't support large data sets and visualization Performing analytics with such data sets was cumbersome and later post using this SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence we were able to correlate different data sets and prepare the dashboard pretty easier which were helpful and easier to understand.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Planful
    • It aggregates data from different sources well, allowing me to report on a wide variety of metrics that interrelate.
    • I can build detailed reports so that my monthly and weekly reporting is done more efficiently
    • I like the tools that I am using to create dedicated models for forecasting and budgeting purposes
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • This software is easy to initially learn, and very powerful in producing reusable reports.
    • It is much faster than my company's internal manual queries. The ability to build off of a saved query and share queries to other users is a great positive.
    • My favorite part is that you can run queries in the background and it does not interfere with your current work or slow your computer down.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Planful
    • Dashboarding could be more flexible and easier to use.
    • Dynamic Reporting has room for flexibility with nesting, dimension names showing up instead of “All,” and overall flexibility.
    • Make Analyze view in Spotlight more intuitive.
    • A high-level onboarding guide to understanding the different components of Planful, data flows, and tips & tricks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • The installation can be very complex and time-consuming, it requires a lot of planning and foresight as to what role the software will play in the organization.
    • The software has a relatively large learning curve that takes dedicated users months to get comfortable with, the UI is a bit intimidating for new users.
    • SAP could organize their help better, it can be difficult to find dependable solutions to issues via their website and support channels.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Planful
    Our new Comptroller understands the value of Planful, and we plan to utilize it further in the organization to enhance external reporting. Strangely enough, Planful had not previously been embraced by the former CFO, who argued that we were running two sets of books (of course, we were not). Fortunately, the before mentioned reconciliation of EBITDA to Net Income demonstrated that to the banks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    The institution has decided to move in a different direction, and will be using MSBI for reporting. I have been very happy with the Business Objects suite of tools, and will continue to use them heavily until we make the transition.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Planful
    The tool is extremely adaptable, and it enables very quick querying to give us opportunity to gain live insights into the business. Given its adaptability, we are also able to create scenario analyses very quickly in rapidly changing environments. The formatting also enables us to provide this information in a very consumable manner.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    From a server and client side perspective. the Business Intelligence Platform provides a foundation for all aspects of content development, distribution, analysis, collaboration and self service. Ease of use from targeted content delivery through controlled accessibility. Content exporting in the format of the users choice. Scheduling for internal or external delivery. Public and private folders for secure content access when requied. Web based for viewing on the users device of choice without the need to download additional applications.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Planful
    I only give a 9 rating rather than a 10 rating because it seems that every day around 2pm we see a slowdown in the use of Planful. I have requested our internal IT department verify that it is not an internal issue and have been assured it is the tool. We have not yet reached out to Planful to do extensive research to solve this issue.
    Read full review
    SAP
    When we implemented 3.1, we had a tough time managing the system: It took almost a year to stabilize.

    With 4.0, we want to roll out to more users, and are holding back because of fears about the performance issue
    Read full review
    Performance
    Planful
    Again, the system is very reliable and, for the most part, runs very quick and smooth. When running larger queries, it does take some time, and during budgeting season our users experienced slower loading times, but nothing that raises concerns outside of normal network issues. Occasionally, as with any software we use, it will crash and you have to restart, but that does not happen very often.
    Read full review
    SAP
    Overall, the tool (Web Intelligence 4.2) is fast and solid. One issue is a dependability on JAVA for a full feature report creation/edit capabilities (as opposed to limited HTML option). Second, planned end of JAVA support by major browsers (Chrome is already not supporting JAVA applet).
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Planful
    Sometimes we get great help when using Planful's support team and other times we don't. In particular, there is one person that often responds to our support tickets who is less than helpful, hence the reason for the 5 out of 10 rating. As a result, most of the time we reach out to our Planful consulting group as they provide faster and better support
    Read full review
    SAP
    SAP has released various versions of SAP BO BI. starting from 3.1 and going to 4.0,4.1,4.2 and latest being 4.3. SAP provides support to these new versions. As new versions keep on coming, support for the very old software goes out of scope from SAP. it is when the different organization plans to get their BO content migrated from a lower version to a newer version. The newer version had definitely added functionality and features which ease the work of users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Planful
    My team has attended training offered several times before/during the Planful Perform conference. This training has been extremely useful and we always learn something we didn't know prior to the training. The trainers are always very knowledgeable and more than willing to help each and every user after the training with specific questions regarding their environment. Planful also offers training and certifications on their training hub. I have completed a couple of the certifications. The courses are easy to follow along with and very informative. Additionally, Planful schedules webinars pretty regularly. They'll email their customers and allow you to register to participate live. They also record these sessions so you can refer back to them at a later date or if you are unable to attend at the time the webinar is offered, you can register anyway and get access to the recording. Their training has improved year over year!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    SAP authorized training is best, Please go ahead with it. Even lot of online training options/videos available for self learning
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Planful
    Planful provides a lot of online training support. There's so many options for training. Admin Learning Courses, User Learning Courses. Plus they have several webinars devoted to the tool and the new features they release. New Releases can be practiced in a Sandbox Environment prior to going live in Production
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    I haven't used it or got feedback from the end user.

    Content looks to be pretty detailed. Focused on SQL but not BW.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Planful
    After going through the initial implementation with Host Analytics and a re-implementation with Cervello (due to an ERP change, not due to a poor initial implementation), I've learned that you really must rely on your internal staff to bear most of the implementation burden. Use the vendor or partners for ideas and best-practice suggestions, and some of the easy-but-time-consuming work. Since you will ultimately be using and maintaining the application, you should be able to do most of it yourself.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    Hire specialists and experienced staff. Mix some beginners so that everyone is not a leader but a learner too. Plan well; architect well; break down implementation in small steps and move towards larger steps. Create a centralized and authorized SAP Business Objects implementation team.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Planful
    Prior to joining the company, we tried to implement Vena but were unsuccessful. There we're a few reasons it didn't work out, but a lot of it related to the implementation team they provided. In just the first week with Planful, we achieved more progress than we did in several months with Vena.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    We selected SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) based on price. It can stack up against others in terms of price and honestly, that's about it. Salesforce Commerce does a hell of a better job at handling it. However, in the space of Business Intelligence, SAP can do more, and that's why at the end we went with it
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Planful
    From our experience, Planful is only used in 2 overhead departments in our organization. We easily added another overhead department, but they decided against using Planful for their workforce and financial planning. Removing them from our environment was extremely easy.
    Incentivized
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    SAP
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform supports SOA Service Oriented Architecture. You can start/restart/enable/disable all the servers. You can seamless do load balancing and clustering. It supports all leading application and web server. Supports LDAP SSO integration. People who can work on excel with training they can work on SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence, dashboard, Lumira, Information design tool product suite. Tool is very user friendly and easy to learn and implement
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Planful
    • Has allowed users to view a real-time P&L in a way they weren't able to do with Qlik.
    • Budget to Actual analysis has become much more streamlined and actionable
    • Long-range plan process has been significantly streamlined and a lot of time has been cut out of the process.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • By generating and distributing reports in a timely manner, we were able to save millions of dollars for the company which otherwise would not have been visible.
    • Almost realtime dashboard, saved the company a huge amount by showing the outages and kept the company from buying a tool to do just that.
    • It showed the customers who were not paying the bills and were missing in the system due to some loophole. This was visible by doing reporting on the theft usage of electricity.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Planful Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Planful Planform DashboardScreenshot of Planful for FinanceScreenshot of Planful for MarketingScreenshot of ReportsScreenshot of a Capacity Planning TemplateScreenshot of Integrations