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Centage

Centage
Formerly Planning Maestro

Overview

What is Centage?

Centage (Planning Maestro) offers a way to plan, budget, forecast and report financial performance by enabling finance teams to see into the future, and test the impact of different scenarios, in order to make faster decisions with confidence. The software streamlines…

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Many users heavily rely on the Budget Maestro platform for its Analytics Maestro capabilities. With this feature, users can create custom …
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Popular Features

View all 31 features
  • Financial budgeting (11)
    9.8
    98%
  • Role-Based Security Model (10)
    9.2
    92%
  • Multi-User Support (named login) (10)
    9.1
    91%
  • Management reporting (11)
    8.6
    86%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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What is Centage?

Centage (Planning Maestro) offers a way to plan, budget, forecast and report financial performance by enabling finance teams to see into the future, and test the impact of different scenarios, in order to make faster decisions with confidence. The software streamlines the entire planning process,…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee required
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.centage.com/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

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Unavailable
What is Vena?

Vena Solutions provides a financial process automation solution to automate Corporate Performance Management, accounting and budgeting, Regulatory & Compliance, and other finance-related processes. It is scaled for medium to large-sized organizations.

What is SAP Analytics Cloud?

The SAP Analytics Cloud solution brings together analytics and planning with integration to SAP applications and access to heterogenous data sources. As the analytics and planning solution within SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Analytics Cloud supports trusted insights and integrated planning…

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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

4.6
Avg 8.1

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

7
Avg 8.3

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

7.4
Avg 8.2

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

8.1
Avg 7.7

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

9
Avg 8.7

Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting

These activities are designed to assist with both data-driven operational, short-term planning and strategic long term planning

8.8
Avg 8.3

Consolidation and Close

Consolidation of data from multiple entities with currency management, reporting and audit trails.

8.5
Avg 8.1

Financial Reporting and Compliance

Financial statements and regulatory filings

8.2
Avg 8.3

Analytics and Reporting

Dashboards and scorecards for KPI monitoring and benchmarking

7.7
Avg 8.0

Integration

Ability to integrate with external applications.

8
Avg 8.3
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Product Details

What is Centage?

Centage (Planning Maestro) offers a way to plan, budget, forecast and report financial performance by enabling finance teams to see into the future, and test the impact of different scenarios, in order to make faster decisions with confidence. The software streamlines the entire planning process, delivering sophisticated financial intelligence to empowers users to make faster, more informed decisions, so they can react quickly to market changes, take intelligent risks and capitalize on new opportunities.

Centage Features

Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting Features

  • Supported: Long-term financial planning
  • Supported: Financial budgeting
  • Supported: Forecasting
  • Supported: Scenario modeling
  • Supported: Management reporting

Consolidation and Close Features

  • Supported: Financial data consolidation
  • Supported: Local and consolidated reporting

Financial Reporting and Compliance Features

  • Supported: Financial Statement Reporting
  • Supported: Management Reporting
  • Supported: Excel-based Reporting
  • Supported: Automated board and financial reporting

Analytics and Reporting Features

  • Supported: Personalized dashboards
  • Supported: Cost and profitability analysis
  • Supported: Key Performance Indicator setting

Integration Features

  • Supported: Flat file integration
  • Supported: Excel data integration
  • Supported: Direct links to 3rd-party data sources

BI Standard Reporting Features

  • Supported: Customizable dashboards

Ad-hoc Reporting Features

  • Supported: Drill-down analysis
  • Supported: Formatting capabilities
  • Supported: Predictive modeling
  • Supported: Report sharing and collaboration

Report Output and Scheduling Features

  • Supported: Publish to Web
  • Supported: Publish to PDF
  • Supported: Report Versioning
  • Supported: Report Delivery Scheduling

Data Discovery and Visualization Features

  • Supported: Predictive Analytics

Access Control and Security Features

  • Supported: Multi-User Support (named login)
  • Supported: Role-Based Security Model
  • Supported: Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
  • Supported: Report-Level Access Control
  • Supported: Single Sign-On (SSO)

Centage Screenshots

Screenshot of

Centage Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Workday Adaptive Planning, Prophix, and Planful are common alternatives for Centage.

Reviewers rate Financial budgeting highest, with a score of 9.8.

The most common users of Centage are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(17)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Many users heavily rely on the Budget Maestro platform for its Analytics Maestro capabilities. With this feature, users can create custom dashboards that allow them to compare actuals against the budget. These visuals have been well-perceived across organizations, as they make it easy to cascade the results to multiple offices with just a simple click. Planning Maestro is also widely used as the primary budgeting system. It provides an efficient and robust platform for creating multiple budget versions, detailed budgeting with descriptions, data linking of expenses to revenues, personnel/salary budgeting, monthly budgeting, simplified reporting, different hierarchies, and work flow. This makes it a valuable tool for developing annual budgets and preparing monthly/quarterly financial statements for management and the Board of Directors. Additionally, many outsourced accounting and CFO staff recommend using Budget Maestro for organizations dealing with cash management and budgeting concerns, as it helps alleviate the fatigue of using Excel-based techniques. Before partnering with Planning Maestro, companies often faced issues when preparing staffing plans, especially when dealing with last-minute changes. Fortunately, Planning Maestro has been able to streamline this process and make it much more efficient. Lastly, the Analytics Maestro Excel add-in tool simplifies the creation of adhoc reports within Excel, allowing users to leverage all the great features of Excel for analysis purposes.

Value-adding platform: According to several users, the Analytics Maestro Platform has been found to add tremendous value to their business operations. They appreciate the newer cloud-based version that eliminates size constraints and allows for seamless usage.

Responsive customer support: Reviewers consistently praise the platform for its extremely supportive and timely customer support. The quick response from the implementation and ongoing support teams in addressing any issues or concerns is highly valued by users.

Detailed budgeting feature: Many users find the detailed budgeting feature of the platform particularly useful as it allows them to work with shared chart of accounts, providing names and descriptions for better organization and clarity in financial planning. The option to upload budgets using excel-based templates simplifies the budgeting process further.

Rollout Time: Some users have found the rollout of the cloud-based solution to be time-consuming, which impacted their productivity and ability to fully utilize the system's features.

Learning Curve: Reviewers mentioned that learning how to use the product to its fullest capabilities with the older version was a time-consuming process. They had to invest additional time and effort into training themselves or their teams on using the product effectively.

Delayed Refreshing: Users have expressed frustration with the delayed refreshing when changing dimensions or budgets in the system. This delay hinders their workflow and slows down their analysis process, leading to inefficiencies in their work.

Users commonly recommend the following:

  1. Analyze data and structure requirements before selecting a budgeting tool. It is important to thoroughly analyze the data and understand the organization's requirements before choosing a budgeting tool. This allows for a better fit between the tool and their needs.

  2. Utilize support during the setup process. Users advise taking advantage of the support provided by Budget Maestro during the setup process to avoid any potential mistakes. They appreciate the assistance in ensuring a smooth implementation.

  3. Consider using Centage or Budget Maestro for budgeting and forecasting needs. Users highly recommend Centage as one of the best budgeting tools for complementing data needs. They also praise Budget Maestro as a reliable budgeting and forecasting tool, citing its efficient implementation team and strong product for end users. Additionally, Budget Maestro is noted for its ability to combine multiple excel spreadsheets into one software solution.

Overall, users suggest thorough analysis of data needs, leveraging support during setup, and considering Centage or Budget Maestro for budgeting and forecasting requirements.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-5 of 5)
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Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our main use of the Centage tool has been around reporting actuals. We are a complex company with multiple subsidiaries, multiple currencies, multiple geographies and several verticals that cross-over each other.
Being able to report through analytics has shaved many hours off of our reporting cycle.
  • Reporting through Analytics Maestro cube
  • Budgets with segmentation (product class & departments)
  • Integrated with NetSuite
  • Integration with NetSuite was slow to set up
  • Would prefer to have transactional data in Centage from NetSuite, not just daily summaries
In a simpler environment with less subsidiaries and currencies, set-up would have been quick, it did take quite some time, but now works perfectly.
Centage works great with simplifying and streamlining actuals reporting (and with budget comparisons). Budgets also allow upload which is quick and easy once you figure out the format.
We have many many budget holder, it would be nice if Centage had different user level pricing (perhaps they do) as most of our users only touch budgets and only 1 or 2 need full access.

Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting (5)
82%
8.2
Long-term financial planning
80%
8.0
Financial budgeting
80%
8.0
Forecasting
80%
8.0
Scenario modeling
80%
8.0
Management reporting
90%
9.0
Consolidation and Close (2)
80%
8.0
Financial data consolidation
80%
8.0
Local and consolidated reporting
80%
8.0
Financial Reporting and Compliance (4)
87.5%
8.8
Financial Statement Reporting
80%
8.0
Management Reporting
90%
9.0
Excel-based Reporting
90%
9.0
Automated board and financial reporting
90%
9.0
Analytics and Reporting (3)
80%
8.0
Personalized dashboards
80%
8.0
Cost and profitability analysis
80%
8.0
Key Performance Indicator setting
80%
8.0
Integration (3)
83.33333333333334%
8.3
Flat file integration
90%
9.0
Excel data integration
90%
9.0
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
70%
7.0
BI Standard Reporting (1)
80%
8.0
Customizable dashboards
80%
8.0
Ad-hoc Reporting (3)
73.33333333333333%
7.3
Drill-down analysis
60%
6.0
Formatting capabilities
80%
8.0
Report sharing and collaboration
80%
8.0
Report Output and Scheduling (4)
N/A
N/A
Publish to Web
N/A
N/A
Publish to PDF
N/A
N/A
Report Versioning
N/A
N/A
Report Delivery Scheduling
N/A
N/A
Data Discovery and Visualization (1)
N/A
N/A
Predictive Analytics
N/A
N/A
Access Control and Security (5)
70%
7.0
Multi-User Support (named login)
80%
8.0
Role-Based Security Model
90%
9.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
90%
9.0
Report-Level Access Control
90%
9.0
Single Sign-On (SSO)
N/A
N/A
Mobile Capabilities
N/A
N/A
  • Reduction in closing time
  • Only updates data from NetSuite 1 or 2 times daily, should be more during close period.
  • Increased reporting due to ease of Analytics Maestro
  • Aide i balance sheet and cashflow forecasting
I used to use an older consolidating product call FRX or something like that, very manual where accounts were adding line the reporting lines one by one....

Centage is far superior, the ability to create custom Dimension hierarchies as improved our reporting 100 fold.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Centage's Planning Maestro to prepare our annual budgets. Centage allows us to import a lot of information rather than having to manually key it. Another great time-saving feature is the ability to build hierarchies to do budget "rollups" for various owners and managers.
  • Allow data importing
  • Department / company rollups
  • Comparison reporting across years and across budgets / actuals.
Centage is well suited for companies that manage a large volume of departments, cost centers, or entities.
Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting (5)
72%
7.2
Long-term financial planning
50%
5.0
Financial budgeting
100%
10.0
Forecasting
70%
7.0
Scenario modeling
70%
7.0
Management reporting
70%
7.0
Consolidation and Close (2)
100%
10.0
Financial data consolidation
100%
10.0
Local and consolidated reporting
100%
10.0
Financial Reporting and Compliance (4)
72.5%
7.3
Financial Statement Reporting
60%
6.0
Management Reporting
80%
8.0
Excel-based Reporting
80%
8.0
Automated board and financial reporting
70%
7.0
Analytics and Reporting (3)
70%
7.0
Personalized dashboards
70%
7.0
Cost and profitability analysis
70%
7.0
Key Performance Indicator setting
70%
7.0
Integration (3)
76.66666666666667%
7.7
Flat file integration
70%
7.0
Excel data integration
100%
10.0
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
60%
6.0
BI Standard Reporting (1)
70%
7.0
Customizable dashboards
70%
7.0
Ad-hoc Reporting (3)
63.33333333333333%
6.3
Drill-down analysis
70%
7.0
Formatting capabilities
60%
6.0
Report sharing and collaboration
60%
6.0
Report Output and Scheduling (4)
65%
6.5
Publish to Web
60%
6.0
Publish to PDF
60%
6.0
Report Versioning
60%
6.0
Report Delivery Scheduling
80%
8.0
Data Discovery and Visualization (1)
60%
6.0
Predictive Analytics
60%
6.0
Access Control and Security (5)
94%
9.4
Multi-User Support (named login)
100%
10.0
Role-Based Security Model
100%
10.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
100%
10.0
Report-Level Access Control
100%
10.0
Single Sign-On (SSO)
70%
7.0
Mobile Capabilities
N/A
N/A
  • The lack of actual vs budget reporting has cost of time and made reviewing budgets a bit difficult.
  • The product has saved us a tremendous amount of time when rolling up entity budgets by department, manager and owner.
I don't recall the names of other budget software. Centage was more user friendly and required less "programming" by our staff.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Datalogics uses Planning Maestro for its annual plan and any updates. Any company worth its salt knows that planning is >50% of success! Having a real time web-based tool makes the planning process easier. Centage was able to do a one-way integration with our older ERP Dynamics SL, loading our actuals into Planning Maestro. The implementation and support we receive from Centage is very good. We were able to get up and running in the expected the frame.
  • Planning personnel with all the related benefit expenses is very accurate and we are able to forecast increases as well.
  • Storing separate versions of the budget allows us to finalize for the year and have access to the data while we update the default plan with any changes.
  • I ilke the way you can add intelligence see the detail of calculations below th eline item.
  • I like writing Planning Maestro reports to see drill downs of any item and tie them to our ERP Budget
  • The Analytics Maestro reports are pretty confusing to create and update. I wish it worked as well as Management Reporter. I continue to load budget into Dynamics SL and run reports there at the GL account/subaccount level
  • I wish that vendors and customers were based structures that could be auto-updated from my ERP like GL accounts. I have to add them manually.
  • Having to manually update our cube seems unnecessary. Shouldn't the cube update itself whenever we make a change?
Any company that needs to do planning can benefit from Centage and Planning Maestro. It is suitable for cost sensitive companies. If you have an ERP without a good reporting tool, I wouldn't want to do all my financials in Analytics Maestro.
Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting (5)
90%
9.0
Long-term financial planning
100%
10.0
Financial budgeting
100%
10.0
Forecasting
100%
10.0
Scenario modeling
100%
10.0
Management reporting
50%
5.0
Consolidation and Close (2)
N/A
N/A
Financial data consolidation
N/A
N/A
Local and consolidated reporting
N/A
N/A
Financial Reporting and Compliance (4)
52.5%
5.3
Financial Statement Reporting
50%
5.0
Management Reporting
40%
4.0
Excel-based Reporting
70%
7.0
Automated board and financial reporting
50%
5.0
Analytics and Reporting
N/A
N/A
Integration (3)
20%
2.0
Flat file integration
N/A
N/A
Excel data integration
N/A
N/A
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
60%
6.0
BI Standard Reporting (1)
N/A
N/A
Customizable dashboards
N/A
N/A
Ad-hoc Reporting (3)
43.33333333333333%
4.3
Drill-down analysis
70%
7.0
Formatting capabilities
60%
6.0
Report sharing and collaboration
N/A
N/A
Report Output and Scheduling (4)
N/A
N/A
Publish to Web
N/A
N/A
Publish to PDF
N/A
N/A
Report Versioning
N/A
N/A
Report Delivery Scheduling
N/A
N/A
Data Discovery and Visualization (1)
100%
10.0
Predictive Analytics
100%
10.0
Access Control and Security (5)
100%
10.0
Multi-User Support (named login)
100%
10.0
Role-Based Security Model
100%
10.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
100%
10.0
Report-Level Access Control
100%
10.0
Single Sign-On (SSO)
100%
10.0
Mobile Capabilities
N/A
N/A
  • Without Centage we would not have a plan
I previously used Pillar FYPlan but it's not available any more. I think it was bought by Oracle.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Planning Maestro as our primary budgeting system. PM provides an efficient, relatively simple but robust, budgeting platform that allow us to have multiple budget versions, detailed budgeting with descriptions, data linking of expenses to revenues where applicable, personnel/salary budgeting, monthly budgeting (if preferred), simplified reporting, different hierararchies (data organization), work flow, etc for modest price. We could also use it for cash flow and balance sheet projections if we desired to do so.
  • Detailed budgeting even for shared chart of accounts with names and descriptions
  • Multiple budget versions, easy to copy versions
  • Easy navigation
  • Several layers of security rules
  • Uploading of budgets using excel based templates
  • Several options for filtering
  • Personnel or salary budgeting
  • Monthly budgeting
  • When changing dimensions (chart of accounts) or budgets, delay refreshing until line edits are completed
  • When refreshing data bases, add option to exclude static versions so they don't add processing time
Planning Maestro is well suited for many organizations that do not want to have a flexible, relatively simple but robust budgeting platform that allows for detailed budgeting, creation of multiple versions and scenarios, various ways to organize data (via hierarchies), different easy to learn ways to filter data, excel download and upload, and very responsive support staff, all at a reasonable cost for budgeting systems. It is less appropriate if the organization insists on an ERP system with built in (not just attached) budgeting system, that tends to be substantially more expensive.
Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting (5)
92%
9.2
Long-term financial planning
80%
8.0
Financial budgeting
100%
10.0
Forecasting
100%
10.0
Scenario modeling
100%
10.0
Management reporting
80%
8.0
Consolidation and Close (2)
90%
9.0
Financial data consolidation
90%
9.0
Local and consolidated reporting
90%
9.0
Financial Reporting and Compliance (4)
47.5%
4.8
Financial Statement Reporting
N/A
N/A
Management Reporting
90%
9.0
Excel-based Reporting
100%
10.0
Automated board and financial reporting
N/A
N/A
Analytics and Reporting (3)
33.333333333333336%
3.3
Personalized dashboards
N/A
N/A
Cost and profitability analysis
100%
10.0
Key Performance Indicator setting
N/A
N/A
Integration (3)
63.33333333333333%
6.3
Flat file integration
90%
9.0
Excel data integration
100%
10.0
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
N/A
N/A
BI Standard Reporting (1)
N/A
N/A
Customizable dashboards
N/A
N/A
Ad-hoc Reporting (3)
30%
3.0
Drill-down analysis
90%
9.0
Formatting capabilities
N/A
N/A
Report sharing and collaboration
N/A
N/A
Report Output and Scheduling (4)
25%
2.5
Publish to Web
N/A
N/A
Publish to PDF
N/A
N/A
Report Versioning
100%
10.0
Report Delivery Scheduling
N/A
N/A
Data Discovery and Visualization (1)
N/A
N/A
Predictive Analytics
N/A
N/A
Access Control and Security (5)
78%
7.8
Multi-User Support (named login)
100%
10.0
Role-Based Security Model
100%
10.0
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
100%
10.0
Report-Level Access Control
90%
9.0
Single Sign-On (SSO)
N/A
N/A
Mobile Capabilities
N/A
N/A
  • Budgeting system allows for budget transparency and single version budgets
  • Efficient budgeting system that does not take time to learn and use
  • Cost effective budgeting system for administrators and users
Planning Maestro stacks up well with other budgeting systems we evaluated about 10 years ago. Reasonable cost for what we need and we are grateful for timely and responsive support system.
Centage has a great ticketing system and response very quickly on all requests and questions.
Overall excellence and usability and responsive support for modest price
Eric Korpalski | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our company used the Budget Maestro platform since about 2014. Our team utilized the platform heavily for its Analytics Maestro capabilities being able to create custom dashboards for comparison points of actuals against the budget. The visuals we were able to produce were well perceived across our organization and the features made it possible to cascade the results to a high amount of offices with the simple click of a button.
  • Analytics Maestro Platform adds tremendous value.
  • Newer version offering is cloud based which adds value on size constraints.
  • Customer support has always been extremely supportive and timely on responses.
  • Took some time to roll out the cloud-based solution.
  • The older version (not cloud-based) we used took about an hour to refresh after data load.
  • The older version did take some time learning how to use the product to its fullest capabilities.
Personally, I was always very satisfied with the Budget Maestro product and platform. I used Hyperion Essbase in my prior company and felt Analytics Maestro had very similar capabilities and features which made learning the product very easy. The ongoing support has been tremendous and this is an area I find many competitors in the marketplace to have room for improvement.
Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting
N/A
N/A
Consolidation and Close
N/A
N/A
Financial Reporting and Compliance
N/A
N/A
Analytics and Reporting
N/A
N/A
Integration
N/A
N/A
BI Standard Reporting
N/A
N/A
Ad-hoc Reporting
N/A
N/A
Report Output and Scheduling
N/A
N/A
Data Discovery and Visualization
N/A
N/A
Access Control and Security
N/A
N/A
Mobile Capabilities
N/A
N/A
  • We were a very small company growing by acquisition so it worked well during these phases of our company growth.
  • The return for our cost was tremendous especially in comparison to peers in the market.
  • Analytics Maestro allowed us to grow without adding headcount by building efficient reports that can easily be mass-produced for all branches within our organization.
Our company evaluated 6 product offerings in the market place a year ago and felt Budget Maestro and Vena offered the largest return on our investment at their price points. We have always been very satisfied with the product and its customer service. Since we have grown over 600% over 4 years, many of the new layers of management used other products in prior careers and we are currently at a point where the entire organization may be transitioning to an ERP solution to manage all finance and accounting functions. I would always recommend Budget Maestro as a great budgeting and analytical tool for FP&A teams as we were able to accomplish a high amount of monthly reports with a small team over the years.
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