Scalable solution but requires time to implement / train users
Updated November 08, 2024

Scalable solution but requires time to implement / train users

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Anaplan

Prior to Anaplan, the firm has used Excel spreadsheets that had to be cleaned up regularly so that the users were even able to open them. After the data collection and build phase, we are currently in the time-consuming, yet rewarding process, of replacing spreadsheets with Anaplan models. Anaplan helped us with standardizing the forecasting and reporting approach to all asset classes. Thanks to all assets being already in the single standardized framework, we are able to run additional ad-hoc analytics required by the business as well as start expanding the model into additional areas.

Pros

  • Industry and use case agnostic.
  • Powerful engine.
  • User friendly audit trail and history.

Cons

  • Focus on expertise in use cases outside FP&A and Supply Chain.
  • Management reporting.
  • account managers deeper knowledge of their clients use cases & support
  • Powerful engine calculating across multiple dimensions.
  • Cloud solution that allows collaboration.
  • Audit trail.
  • APIs.
  • Process and data standardization across departments.
  • Global data forecast analysis.
  • Industry and scope agnostic - can add new models per business needs.
Anaplan is highly customaizable allowing each use case to be built exactly to fit it unique requirements and particular business process. It is also extremely scalable allowing to quickly add products / regions etc. to the existing model in seconds. Anaplan has ablity for users to drill down into values to figure out how they are calculated, though it might require some additional training from the admins.
Anaplan has already been used in the company for several years and Pigment has only been evaluated to see what other technologies have emerged on the market since.
Pigment is worth considering for business still not using any technology and seems easier to set up and run sensitivites. However, given the company's investment in Anaplan to date, the transition to a different platform would be to expensive and time consuming
The pricing of both Anaplan and Pigment is comparable.

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

Anaplan is best suited for sizable standardized cases (units, departments, products) that require collaboration among multiple people - e.g. budgeting or forecasting as well running ad-hoc stress analysis of the uncertain economic environment. Anaplan is not appropriate for organizations with unclear business processes, which have to be defined and agreed upon prior to the implementation start. Additionally, given that Anaplan's success within the organization depends greatly on the business users' involvement, the end-users have to be willing to commit time to implement and test the solution.

Anaplan Feature Ratings

6.8
Long-term financial planning
8
Financial budgeting
8
Forecasting
8
Scenario modeling
5
Management reporting
5
6.7
Financial data consolidation
5
Local and consolidated reporting
6
Detailed Audit Trails
9
6.0
Financial Statement Reporting
7
Management Reporting
5
Excel-based Reporting
6
7.0
Personalized dashboards
7
Cost and profitability analysis
7
Key Performance Indicator setting
7
7.0
Flat file integration
9
Excel data integration
5
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
7
Not Rated
Customizable dashboards
Not Rated
Ad-hoc Reporting ()
Not Rated
4.0
Publish to PDF
4
Report Versioning
Not Rated
Data Discovery and Visualization ()
Not Rated
7.0
Role-Based Security Model
9
Report-Level Access Control
5
5.0
Responsive Design for Web Access
5
Mobile Application
6
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
4

Using Anaplan

80 - Asset Management is using Anaplan for creating projections, calculating retunrs and valuations.
Portfolio Management is using Anaplan for rolling up asset level information and running fund level returns analysis.
Finance team is using Anaplan for actuals to budget and forecast comaprison.
Most models are connected in Anaplan allowing the different functions to access and review each other's reports.
4 - The resources are maintaning and implementing new use cases for the business.
The teams has a deep relationship with the business, understading in great detail each teams processes and how their interact across different functions.
Additionally, the team is well versed in data automation process - identificaiton of data sources, sourcing the data across various providers and systems as well as building APIs or working closely with the data warehouse team.
  • Asset Level Forecasting, Valaution and Performance Analysis
  • Fund Level Rollups and Performace Analysis
  • Corporate FP&A
  • Data integration with Anaplan using Power Automate
  • Model to Model connections
  • expand Anaplan usage for additonal departments
  • Anaplan data use as a source data for executing reporting
Most teams are happy to have replaced their process with Anaplan as it allows various data sources automation which saves their time as well as process standardization.
The usage of Anaplan has been already established in the company and change of the system would be to time-consuming and expensive whereas going back to Excel based models would be impossible given the increased size of data needed to be processed.

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