Great budget/forecasting but with a catch
May 19, 2017
Great budget/forecasting but with a catch
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Anaplan
Anaplan was initially implemented to help with our reporting, both internal and external. In addition, we implemented it in our budgeting and planning process as well. The goal was to automate and add security to the current reporting process. We also hoped to add more flexibility to our top level management.
- Budgeting - Anaplan offers a robust budgeting system to allow multiple users to be actively involved in the budget process and mainstreams the use of one workbook, opening it to various users
- Planning - Anaplan's forecasting ability is dynamic and allows the users to create multiple scenarios to see impact, as long as the product is set-up correctly
- The system is limited and often stalled if someone is building while others are reviewing or importing data. The "blue box" appears locking all users out for a brief moment due to someone building, which inhibits efficiency of the system.
- Anaplan's reporting is very informal and does not allow the flexibility of excel, unless exported to excel. Even when exported to excel, the formatting has to be reperformed if changing the hierarchy of the report or adding more data. More often than not, you will find that Anaplan users use other tools to create the report design and use Anaplan more for the middle man.
- The audit trail and checks to verify all data is being included is limited. During implementation when working with Anaplan, Anaplan did not understand the need for checks and it does not seem to be a common concern among those who work and consult for their platform. Ensuring 100% completeness is absolutely necessary to certify the reports being produced are accurate and correct. In addition, the audit trail feature was not detailed and there is no undo button, which increases the risk of mistakes happening and taking more time to correct.
- BI 360, BI, Tabu, Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management, Adaptive Suite and Bounce Exchange
Anaplan was selected because of it's web-based portal and the ability for our team to manage the tool with little reliance on our IT group.