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Vena

Vena

Overview

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.

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Recent Reviews

Vena Solutions Review

10 out of 10
May 05, 2024
Incentivized
We currently use Vena for all our reporting and forecasting needs. We replaced our Excel forecasting template with a Vena template. We are …
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Easy to use....

10 out of 10
March 13, 2024
Incentivized
Vena is currently being used by the Finance department with a potential to extending usage further out to other teams in the organization. …
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Vena Review

9 out of 10
March 09, 2024
Incentivized
We adopted Vena for the preparation of our 2024 budget. Previously we were using Excel spreadsheets, but needed a more streamlined …
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Great FP&A tool

10 out of 10
January 05, 2024
Incentivized
Vena is a fantastic tool for any organization and the Vena implementation team is really helpful. I think its a money well invested for …
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Vena Review

6 out of 10
December 29, 2023
Incentivized
Vena is being used on a day to day business to support any ad-hoc requests from the finance/accounting side and constantly updating …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 48 features
  • Excel-based Reporting (194)
    9.4
    94%
  • Financial budgeting (202)
    9.2
    92%
  • Management reporting (199)
    8.8
    88%
  • Forecasting (193)
    8.6
    86%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons

Video Reviews

1 video

Vena Review: Proves To Be Financial Management Solution For Handling Multiple, Complex Accounts
03:21
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Pricing

View all pricing

Professional

N/A

Cloud

Complete

N/A

Cloud

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee optional
    Optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.venasolutions.com/resources…

Offerings

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

BI Standard Reporting

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

8.7
Avg 8.0

Ad-hoc Reporting

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

8.1
Avg 8.3

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

9
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 7.6

Access Control and Security

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

9.2
Avg 8.7

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

9.1
Avg 8.0

Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting

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

8.7
Avg 8.3

Consolidation and Close

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

8.4
Avg 8.0

Financial Reporting and Compliance

Financial statements and regulatory filings

8.5
Avg 8.2

Analytics and Reporting

Dashboards and scorecards for KPI monitoring and benchmarking

8.7
Avg 8.0

Integration

Ability to integrate with external applications.

9
Avg 8.3
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Product Details

What is Vena?

Vena is a Native Excel Complete Planning Platform used for budgeting and forecasting, for business leaders and finance and operations professionals.


Vena boasts users among more than 1,350 companies such as Nike, Coca-Cola Consolidated and the Kansas City Chiefs. In addition, Vena works with over 100 Partners.

Vena 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: Journal entries and reports
  • Supported: Multi-currency management
  • Supported: Intercompany Eliminations
  • Supported: Minority Ownership
  • Supported: Local and consolidated reporting
  • Supported: Detailed Audit Trails

Financial Reporting and Compliance Features

  • Supported: Financial Statement Reporting
  • Supported: Management Reporting
  • Supported: Excel-based Reporting
  • Supported: Automated board and financial reporting
  • Supported: XBRL support for regulatory filing

Analytics and Reporting Features

  • Supported: Personalized dashboards
  • Supported: Color-coded scorecards
  • Supported: KPIs
  • Supported: Cost and profitability analysis
  • Supported: Key Performance Indicator setting
  • Supported: Benchmarking with external data

Integration Features

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

BI Standard Reporting Features

  • Supported: Pixel Perfect reports
  • Supported: Customizable dashboards
  • Supported: Report Formatting Templates

Ad-hoc Reporting Features

  • Supported: Drill-down analysis
  • Supported: Formatting capabilities
  • Supported: Predictive modeling
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages
  • 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: Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
  • Supported: Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
  • Supported: Predictive Analytics
  • Supported: Support for Machine Learning models
  • Supported: Pattern Recognition and Data Mining
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages

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: Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Single Sign-On (SSO)

Mobile Capabilities Features

  • Supported: Responsive Design for Web Access
  • Supported: Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile

Vena Screenshots

Screenshot of Operation Expenses - Predictive AnalysisScreenshot of Allocations DashboardScreenshot of Vena Add InScreenshot of Power BI DashboardScreenshot of Revenue and Sales PlanningScreenshot of Corporate Dashboard - Workforce PlanningScreenshot of Operational Expenses - Drill through analysisScreenshot of Operational Expenses Planning - Input Excel templateScreenshot of Operational Expenses - Drill through analysisScreenshot of Operational Expenses Planning - Input Excel template

Vena Videos

Introduction to Vena Complete Planning
Introduction to Budgeting in Vena Complete Planning
Vena for SaaS - Financial Reporting and Reporting Made Simple
Vena for Banks and Credit Unions - Budget, Forecast and Plan With Confidence

Vena Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationYou don't need to download an app or change a setting to use Vena on your mobile device: just open your browser, go to Vena (vena.io), and log in as you normally do. The Contributor interface is fully responsive, so it can adjust to any size screen, regardless of the type of device you have.
Supported CountriesUnited States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Europe
Supported LanguagesVena supports any localization capabilities already native within Excel. Vena Cloud supports English, Spanish, and French. If a specific language is required please don’t hesitate to ask.

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

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

Reviewers rate Excel-based Reporting and Flat file integration highest, with a score of 9.4.

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

Vena Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)19%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)55%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)26%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(307)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(76-100 of 214)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Vena in our monthly and quarterly forecast process. Besides finance, operations, supply chain, commercial, and procurement all use the product to input their relevant data input into Vena their respective Vena templates which consolidate the data and give us the answer much more quickly and accurately. Previously, there were 13 excel spreadsheets linked, saved in different folders, and constantly changing that needed to be updated and consolidated. This was an 8-hour process. After Vena, the time saved allows for more accurate information, more validating, and more analysis instead of chasing down issues with linked spreadsheets.
  • Consolidates data
  • Audit trails
  • Scenario planning
  • Extremely flexible
  • Report writing can be clunky
  • Template changes are scary
  • Nothing really else needs improvement.
Vena saves time if your forecast, budgeting, or any other process is based on excel spreadsheets and workflows that have to be manually tracked, input, and consolidated. We saved 8 hours in each of our planning processes that are now utilized in the analysis of the why's instead of the what's.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Vena is currently being used only by Accounting & FP&A in Finance. We were struggling to quickly and accurately consolidate, report, and analyze financial results with multiple subsidiaries under different systems and charts of accounts. Vena allows us to quickly do all of that quickly and accurately and with minimal manual effort compared to Excel (without Vena).
  • Consolidation
  • Management Reporting
  • Budgeting
  • Forecasting
  • No obvious areas for improvement.
Well suited to transform your processes when it currently requires a lot of manual effort to consolidate and report results across different systems and charts of accounts.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Currently, our finance and executive teams primarily use Vena. Our IT department has designated individuals to help us navigate and utilize Vena in the most appropriate manner. Vena is most used to process month-end. Vena has drastically shortened the month-end process by automating the process with far fewer errors. The executives use Vena to get a better visualization of forecasting and profit data.
  • Visualization
  • Information import
  • Process streamlining
  • Multi-system consolidation
  • The run/load time on large complex workbooks can require long downtime.
  • The Vena upload is run specifically by our tech team and that also has a long processing time.
  • The Summit seminars offered by Vena are very helpful, the seminars can be hit or miss either heavy Vena process side or heavy Vena partner presentations.
Vena has shortened month-end processing time by half the time. We required a lot of long days of training for months to implement this process. The implementation and cross-training could benefit from more training materials for the primary user to share with new contributors. Typical integration times for other systems have been 6 months. I would say both for the good and bad, Vena has so many different processes to offer the integration time for our company on this system is still ongoing a year later.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I lead a consulting practice that implements Vena at companies of varying sizes and complexities across North America.
  • Complex modeling.
  • Audit trail and data lineage.
  • Budgeting and forecasting templates.
  • Reporting
  • Integration to BI (Power BI in particular).
  • Deploying on other cloud platforms.
The solution is sound, and the people we have worked with have been very results-focused.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Used across the whole organization for financial statements, forecasting & budgeting, and operational reports.
  • It's easy for a non-financial person to navigate as a contributor.
  • It integrates seamlessly with Excel.
  • Our CRM is very responsive and helpful.
  • Would like the ability to see data in the user interface.
  • Would like fewer clicks to open a file.
Vena is capable of rolling out a budget process and templates to a large number of people and organizing all of the data in one central location.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using Vena to automate BvA reporting, quicken monthly reporting, and assist with monthly forecasting. We are using it across the whole organization to drive buy-in from the operations and help them connect to the cost-saving initiatives. Vena allows us to manage processes with strong task management features as well as quickly revise user-facing templates with the excel interface.
  • Task Management features are easy to use and easy to track.
  • Excel interface allows very easy customization and easy to understand error warnings.
  • Vena's knowledge base library can have very high-level explanations of very technical issues, which can make it difficult to understand.
Vena's features are very well suited for collaborative planning. The easy-to-use excel interface is easy to update and easy to manage year-over-year or period-over-period. The task management and tracking features allow a holistic view from the administrator/manager perspective to make sure tasks are completed on time. Vena also has batch features so that you can easily upload and create repetitive tasks across many departments instead of individually updating each one.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Vena is being used as the primary financial budgeting tool by all departments. We have also integrated Vena with our core financials Sage Intacct for a single view for all financial data.
  • The Designer or Process Management tool is great.
  • Office 365 integration with GCC.
  • Support for Mac products.
Vena is well suited to augment your budget and planning if you are currently using Excel as the primary tool.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use Vena for only our extensively detailed global recurring revenue model in the finance dept. Our model has always been very detailed, one of which excel alone can no longer handle. We moved the model onto Vena platform and resolved the file size issue by storing the data used in the cloud instead of on the spreadsheet. Vena's capability to dynamically expand wherever there is need to made maintenance of the model, reports, and templates much easier.
  • Dynamic expansion and mapping.
  • Integrations with other tools.
  • Data and file storage in the cloud.
  • Versatile
  • Template automation encountering issues due to certain excel functions used.
  • Mac users often have issues.
  • There should be a built-in option to automatically overwrite actual periods with actual data in forecast scenarios.
  • Users must be proficient in Excel to use Vena to its full potential.
Current forecasting models using only Excel should move on to use a cloud-based forecasting platform. Vena should be considered if the core of the team using the software is Excel proficient. Expert services are recommended for engagement if forecasting model setup changes frequently. Not recommended for Mac users.
May 14, 2022

Top Notch Support

Steve Vosburg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We utilize Vena currently for the forecasting and budgeting process. We are looking to expand into month-end close procedures as well. Vena works very well for our purpose as it's in a tool we are very familiar with in excel.
  • Top Notch Support.
  • Quick Turnaround times to meet deadlines.
  • Familiar tool in using excel.
  • Single Sign On.
  • More connectors with lessor known ERPs.
This works very well with our current powerBI build. This updates regularly and without much lift.
May 14, 2022

Vena is great!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Modeling
  • Reporting
  • Analysis
  • Integration
  • Version history
  • More templates
Vena is being used by our company to tie all areas of the company together to achieve a complete budget function. It has also fostered a deeper relationship with our data, by allowing us to gain additional insights. Our sales team has been empowered to own more of the budget process, giving them more incentive to complete tasks on time and accurately.
May 14, 2022

Quick and easy

Judy Dam | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it for budgeting, financial statements, and reporting. Mostly Accounting but trying to get other departments involved such as payroll. Helps create reports quickly and get them to the end-user quickly.
  • Integrating different information.
  • Variable process - when you go from one period to the next all reports auto-adjust to the new period.
  • Easy to formatting your information.
  • The training videos are great, but sometimes asking questions one-on-one would be nice.
  • Provide best practice on creating reports with graphs and such.
Vena helps to create reports for any location very quickly. It helps at budget time when multiple users can update information for the budget year at the same time. During budgeting, for people to make changes to the system without uploading and downloading information. I just started using it myself so still learning.
May 14, 2022

Customer Review

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have currently implemented Vena for our finance team. It has greatly reduced the amount of manual work in spreadsheets and helped improve our finance reporting. The ability to expedite month-end reports has allowed us to send out reports in a more timely fashion, while at the same time exploring ways to create new reports that provide value add info for the users.
  • Report Building.
  • Compatibility
  • Easier to pull data.
Vena is well suited for building out static reports, especially when they are consistent month over month. It becomes a bit more difficult in a scenario where new GL accounts are consistently created and dynasticism is lost.
Noris Pasic | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Vena is used by every department in our budget planning and reporting cycles. It is also used for Financial Reporting (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, etc.). We have most recently added a Revenue Forecasting cube to our mix, and have had a very easy time getting both of our models talking to each other so that we can easily serve up the proper story to our end users.
  • Users enjoy a familiar interface for accessing reporting and budget planning: Excel
  • Integrations, ETL, and mappings are very intuitive and the UX is stellar
  • No additional cost for adding data cubes/models
  • Very flexible, customizable, and scalable
  • Filtering is very simple, and they allow you to import line level information so that drill-downs and cascades are simple to do
  • It has a native integration to PowerBI which is amazing to get your data visualization up and running in no time
  • Native Analytics
  • Expanded ETL Functions
  • More industry-specific tailored solutions and templates
Whenever you have a massive amount of data, whether centralized or disparate, you can bring it into Vena to organize, slice and dice, and report on. Financials, Headcount, Compensation, OPEX, you name it--they have a solution ready to be stood up within a week (how long it took in our experience to get us started).
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Annual budget cycle: across the entire organization.
  • Financial reporting on a period basis: deploying across sections of the organization.
  • Forecasting: across portions of the organization.
  • Consolidation and aggregation
  • Full audit trail: Who changed what number when and what was it before the change?
  • Version control: One master template deployed across numerous users.
  • Faster report creation.
  • Post implementation provides periodic review of templates for performance updates.
  • Monitor template performance for the time of data calls that drastically increase over time. Investigate and assist the customer with issues consuming your server and the customer's time.
  • Internet connectivity backbone can be problematic for users who are used to being on wifi and pick up and move elsewhere in the middle of templates.
Vena is great to deploy one version of data and is customized to individual users using a standard template. Financial results, collecting budget data, forecasts, and notes for variance analysis from operational managers. It has been a great tool for my company. We keep improving our products to the customers of financial reporting. Users love the functionality.
Nicolas LEFEVRE | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Vena Solutions provides a complete EPM solution for companies looking for a financial, reporting, operational tool that is integrated with Excel. With Vena Solutions, you can plan, produce reporting, share, and communicate with all departments within a single solution.
  • Excel embedded
  • Easy access via a website
  • Sharing with all departments
  • Predictive capacity
  • More data source connectors
  • Ability to input data at every level of the hierarchies
Vena Solutions is well suited to:
Financial planning
Forecast and rolling forecast
Financial Consolidation
Headcount planning
Salaries follow-up
Sales target
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Vena is being used by our accounting departments for budgeting and reporting needs. During the budget season, mill managers will use it to input their budget and the rest of the year accounting staff uses it for forecasting and for creating reports. Our current financial programs do not have a lot of report tools, so this has been very helpful to be able create/write useful tools.
  • Being able to create useful reporting tools.
  • Being able to restrict user permissions.
  • Ease of not having to learn a new program because everything is written in Excel.
  • To increase the speed of opening files, especially if using LIDS.
If you have a financial system that does not provide useful reporting tools, Vena is very well suited. If you can get the financial data out of your system, you can write basically any report you would want using Vena.
February 24, 2022

Vena is Great!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In our organization, Vena is a cross-functional tool used to consolidate multiple entities, report entity, and consolidated performance, and prepare entity and consolidated budgets and forecasts.
  • Consolidation of multiple entities on varying ERP platforms
  • Drives collaboration between functional/operational employees and finance employees
  • Vena is easy to use and user adoption is high due to Vena's direct interface with Microsoft Excel
  • Dashboard/KPI reporting capabilities within the Vena online experience
  • Expand the number of ERPs supported by direct integration
Vena is great for organizations with multiple entities and multiple ERP platforms. Vena is great for driving collaboration between the business/operation departments and the finance department.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Vena is currently an integral part of accounting and finance for our business. We utilize Vena for Account reconciliations, budgeting, report and forecast, planning, and analysis. In addition to the traditional uses, we have implemented data capture and flow-throughs for sales tax reporting, revenue balancing and entry, and various supplemental reporting. We have hooked in our Account payable system to provide a wider view when budget managers and auditors have questions on expenses.
  • Cloud based delivery of information and audit trail.
  • Data warehouse approach for gather and report.
  • Attribute to conform reporting for audit and outside parties.
  • Easy to train, use, and produce useful workbooks.
  • Refresher training for current customers.
  • Training courses when quarterly changes roll out.
I have been amazed by the various uses Vena can provide. If you can dream it up, Vena can deliver it! They work with you as a partner, not just another vendor. You are not just another customer for them.
February 23, 2022

Ven-tastic Experience

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Departmental- Camping Operations. Vena solves our financial planning, reporting, forecasting, and analysis needs. It has revolutionized the way we interact with finances and has driven management decision-making. Cannot imagine managing operations without it.
  • Forecasting
  • Analysis
  • Strategic Planning
  • Reporting
  • Data input/Interaction
  • Vena's support of Apple products needs improvement
  • Mobile device access and support
  • Depth of technical knowledgebase articles
Vena is well suited to medium to large-sized organizations with disparate users needing access to financial data. The system has fostered collaboration in our daily work. It has driven decision-making by providing timely, accurate information that is interactive. Price-wise, it may be difficult for small organizations to justify. Shines brightest where lots of users are needed.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We began utilizing Vena as the budgeting solution for our department in 2018. Within our department, we now utilize Vena for forecasting, reporting, calendar analysis, and capital project planning in addition to budgeting. While Vena is still mostly isolated to our department, leadership in other departments frequently uses the reporting packages we create within the tool. A huge business problem Vena addressed was further staff engagement in the budgeting process. What used to be completed by a Manager in a static Excel document with occasional commentary from their team is now a collaborative effort in which the team is completing their own budgets to feed roll-up reporting for the Manager. This has created greater ownership amongst our teams, centralized workflow, and increased the accuracy of our budgets.
  • It's extremely flexible - allowing us to build whatever we want to meet the needs of the end-user and leadership.
  • It overlays workflow - no more Excel files being passed back and forth between dozens of emails.
  • Data integration - easy to get your data into and out of Vena.
  • User experience for the Mac user - this is something they're actively addressing and are currently rolling out a solution for, though we haven't yet adopted the new solution.
  • There are a few detailed product enhancements I've recommended. They're typically pretty good about receiving and acting on user feedback, though!
  • Vena's Dashboarding feature is not very good at the moment, though I believe there are some new things coming in 2022.
The thing we love most about Vena is the flexibility. If it can be done in Excel, it can be done in Vena. It's incredibly easy to make updates and enhancements that are automatically deployed for all end users. If we're going to begin capturing a new data point on our event group template, a new column can be added and mapped for all 200 end users to begin work within minutes. It's fantastic! While Vena isn't likely to be THE solution for every process, we continue to find that the flexibility of the tool allows us to move outdated processes after outdated processes into the Vena ecosystem. We started with budgeting, but our use of Vena has extended into forecasting, reporting, capital project planning, and even some calendar analysis. Vena has been a great fit for our organization.
February 22, 2022

Vena Review

Andrea Croak, CPA, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Vena for our US Operation's internal PL reporting and financial planning processes. It helps us improve decision-making and automated our formerly manual processes. It also gives our contributor/BU owners access to more detailed information. We also use Vena for labor allocations which save us hours in our monthly financial close process.
  • Access to detailed information
  • Data mapping and transformations
  • Excel-friendly reports
  • Commentary features
  • Download time
  • Workflow notifications
Vena is well suited for forecasting and planning processes across a large organization. Vena would not be well suited for an organization that does not have a streamlined and consistent COA or organizational structure across units.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Vena is used by all budget owners, but primarily accounting and finance. Today Vena is being used as our consolidation system for GAAP financial reporting as well as the main source for budgeting. As an organization, we have multiple ERPs and Vena allows us a simple customizable tool to sit at the center and aggregate data so there is a single source of truth that is not in excel and has detailed logging capabilities to track changes whether it's in budget, consolidation, etc.
  • Vena's scoping and project management related to implementations is the best I've dealt with by a noticeable margin.
  • Vena is a customizable database that's easy to understand, build, and support, we don't utilize our IT department to use or support it.
  • Permissioning users are super flexible, if done properly users can only see what they need to see (so they don't get lost in the details).
  • The fact that excel is the main interface is underrated, when we force budget owners to use it, it's pretty seamless.
  • The export functionality requires writing queries, while they're not difficult it could be improved.
  • Data transformation errors out on the first error, so if you have multiple errors you could struggle to fix one, redoing, fixing another, redoing
  • Once you've used and iteratively updated your system/use case, the details (sources, destinations, integrations, etc) can be messy, would be nice to have a systematic way to delete things no longer used or transition to a "clean" data model somehow.
Vena is an excellent tool for taking similar but disparate data sources and combining/consolidating, an entry-level database user can quickly pick up on the processes to build a fairly robust and re-usable model that performs the transformations in a controlled way through the use of mapping tables, etc. Which makes it very auditable or easy to track down changes over time. Additionally, the Vena integrations are fairly intuitive to look through to understand how data is flowing if you're not the one who built the process (i.e. it's not a black box). Vena is not the best data visualization tool (haven't tried the Power BI connector).
February 21, 2022

Vena Budgeting Review

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Vena is used at our company to manage and facilitate our annual budget process. Department leaders across the organization use it to enter their budget information and Vena automatically consolidates the data entry at a high level. This process alone saves me hours of work each year. Additionally, department leaders can access a report that shows monthly budget vs actuals and allows for the drill-down capability to the GL detail level.
  • Consolidation of large data sets
  • Easily limits data access by user
  • The ability to change or modify templates quickly
  • The quality of their outsourcing partners varies
  • Tendency to sometimes overcomplicate the system set up
Vena makes distributing budgeting templates to budget owners a breeze and consolidation of completed templates is automatic. Additionally, any tweaks that need to be made can quickly be pushed out as well to all users. The days of emailing individual spreadsheets to owners and manually compiling the results are gone with Vena. Additionally, their customer service has been fantastic. They are always quick to respond to any issues we've had.
February 21, 2022

Vena - Would recommend

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Vena is used by our various department leaders for their input into the annual budget process both for people planning and operational expenses. The department leaders also review actual financial results on a monthly basis, including transaction-level detail. Further, the Finance team uses Vena for a detailed review of account activity.
  • Departmental budgeting roll up
  • Financial reportorting
  • Ease of use for non-accounting staff
  • Too many standard fields in Human Resources module not used by us
I really enjoy using Vena and am looking for more ways to utilize the additional features.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Vena is being used in a few ways. It is used for Annual Budget and Quarterly Forecasting. It is used for daily sales reporting by customer/product It is used for workforce planning It is used for Financial Statement consolidation and reporting. In all these areas it is the Finance team utilizing the tool and updating Vena while other senior leaders use it for view reports
  • Consolidation of multiple ERP financial data into one reporting tool
  • Robust and detailed Budgeting & Forecasting in a timely fashion
  • Quick reporting of Sales data
  • Better ability to add commentary and provide explanation to the numbers
Organizations that have multiple ERP systems or heavy consolidation requirements are well suited to Vena as you can build the rules and then consolidation just occurs as part of the report. Also, companies with either detailed budgets or ongoing forecasting requirements can benefit from Vena as the process is easy to manage and well-controlled. Less appropriate would be heavily detailed sales reporting as the cube format can limit the number of variables you can report on easily.
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