Item: Anaplan
Rating: 9
Author: Bikash R Shil

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Anaplan in financial planning, workforce planning, and supply planning. Few of the implementations have been transformational in nature, wherein we could successfully eliminate multiple tools/technology and bring the complete planning process into Anaplan integrated with SAP (for actuals) and Power BI (for reporting). The highest number of users in one model had been approx. 900 users who were performing planning processes, reviewing KPIs, and extracting reports from all across the world. We also developed Data HUBs for Finance and Supply which helped to implement strong governance in master data management and standardization of master data across business functions and zones. We also extensively used Anaplan Connect API for our integrations with upstream and downstream systems.

Pros and Cons

Multi dimensionality, easy integration with other systems help to establish connected planning at [an] enterprise level
Complex business logic including many variables can be modeled and results can be reviewed almost in real-time
Easily auditable syntaxes make it easy for all users to review formulas to drill down an output/value to track underlying business rules
Highly flexible and Scalable to expand or roll out models to different geographies or to add new features
Fast evolving and ambitious product development that includes more and more features
Very strong in developing a model in driver based scenario/what-if analysis

Considering a collaborative platform, workflow features need to be more sophisticated to handle event-based triggers.
ALM governance is tedious in multiple developers set up, as it does not allow to migrate changes by each developer rather forces to migrate at a model level that includes all changes by all developers.
Reporting ability is still limited, many times dependency on other reporting tools is unavoidable.
Time referencing (e.g. default today's date) is not possible without engaging an integration interface.
NUX pages are rich in features but building pages for DEV/UAT and PROD are not straightforward.

Most Important Features

Multi-dimensionality and strong calculation engine to handle the complexity of business and data
Selective user access and user roles to access data in controlled manner
Flexibility to scale the model to include new business areas/functionality/ regions
Intuitive user interfaces for users to be able to navigate without any exhaustive training

Return on Investment

Elimination of 7 different tools and deploying Anaplan alone for them was a huge OPEX saving for our company.
Data HUB for master data centralized finance master data from all countries/zones and also helped to standardize the definitions of the same. It also allowed us to put proper governance in making any changes to the master data.
The connected planning setup done between finance, workforce and supply eliminated duplication of manuals efforts and also allowed to generate and update P&L statements almost in real-time. Executive reporting improved significantly that helped in better decision making.

Alternatives Considered

o9 Solutions and Microsoft Power BI

Anaplan was selected based on its flexibility to use in any kind of planning without any pre-configured setups. The quick turnaround of use cases into models and significantly less dependency on the technical team (hence less support OPEX) in the post-go-live stage were critical in deciding on the product. Anaplan's ambitious product road map was also considered to be a strong factor to adapt to growing demands from the business and to be future-ready.

Key Insights

Do you think Anaplan delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Anaplan's feature set?

Yes

Did Anaplan live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Anaplan go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Anaplan again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Power BI

Likelihood to Recommend

Any descriptive analysis that includes scenario analysis can be performed in the best possible way in Anaplan. To do drive-based planning, Anaplan will be best suited. To set up [a] connected planning environment across departments/functions with different levels of user access control features, Anaplan will be best preferred In any prescriptive analytics scenario. Anaplan is still at its very early stage and may not be the most preferred unless the model requires basic statistical models to deploy. Any use case that is purely for reporting which may include sending notifications based on certain events, Anaplan may not be able to provide a single solution.

Users and Roles

100 - The primary users are from Resource management (i.e. workforce planning ) teams from all business functions within the organization across line of businesses.

The other primary users are from financial management (finance controllers).

The data team from other integrated (with Anaplan) systems like GTO, OneCube, Azure database also use data from Anaplan

Support Headcount Required

9 - To support Anaplan one should have strong technical skill in Anaplan (preferably Anaplan certified modelers and solution architects) so that they can optimize solutions following best practices and establish strong governance for sustenance and maintenance. One should also have (or develop) strong understanding of business processes where Anaplan is implemented. One should keep upgrading himself/herself with latest product developments and also provide suggestions to Anaplan product team for any improvement/ features that would help businesses to plan more efficiently. Knowledge of ETL/ data integrations will also be very helpful in managing the overall integrated system.

Business Processes Supported

Workforce Demand planning (budgeting and forecasting)
Resource supply planning (supply smoothing)
Resource cost planning (financial planning)

Innovative Uses

Rule based demand allocations helped to auto allocate forecasted demand to delivery locations which reduced planning efforts by the users
Supply Smoothing logic based on anchor point and flexibility to adjust anchor points helped users to formulaically calculate and simulate supply values against forecasted demand based on different internal and external parameters
Introducing excel add in to generate reports helped users to download and use reports for management presentations or any further offline analysis
Automated scheduling of data imports and exports have reduced dependency on manual operations and ensured timely data availability

Future Planned Uses

Use of optimizer functionality to calculate demand allocations based on different variables and constraints
AI/ML based demand forecasting
Develop large granular multi-dimensional models for easy drill down by the users

Likelihood to Renew

Anaplan is already an established market leader in enterprise planning area. Its flexibility to build multi-dimensional models, real time scenario plannings are proven to be the best features and successfully implemented by global organizations.
Anaplan's ambitious product team is ensuring to roll out new features regularly based on customer/ partner feedback. e.g their new improved polaris environment has strong potential to build very large models without worrying about sparsity. The integration with other tools/technologies is being easier (e.g. cloudworks).

Hence, considering Anaplan as a platform that has proved to be successful tool in enterprise level planning, its focus on regular feature enhancements and future release roadmaps I believe this platform has potential to evolve further along with our business processes and requirements.

Powerful Solution for Collaborative Planning at an Enterprise Level

Overall Satisfaction with Anaplan