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Powerful CPM Tool
December 30, 2022

Powerful CPM Tool

Larissa Lowe | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Anaplan

Anaplan is used primarily in sales operations, and partially in sales finance. We use it for the following sales operations use cases: sales forecasts, pipeline generation forecasts, territory planning, book of business planning, capacity and quota planning, account classification, etc. Sales finance is using Anaplan to track and analyze bookings (in-quarter and history) in multiple currencies. We also use Anaplan for technical purposes in sales operations: master data alignment, cross-system data hygiene and reconciliation, sales teams maintenance.
  • Phenomenal performance of multidimensional data structures
  • Easy data modeling
  • Beautiful data presentation and visualization
  • Smooth user interaction on a single planning platform
  • Clunky interfaces with source systems (although improved with Cloudworks)
  • Slow data loads
  • No drill down to source systems
  • Predictive calculations based on historical trends and large data volumes
  • Dynamic live charts
  • Ability to detect and highlight data issues, thus facilitating data cleansing at the source
  • Credible predictive insights
  • Easily available historical data in one place
  • Reduced manual labor
DocuSign is one of the early Anaplan adopters, the tool was purchased way before I joined the company. So, I have little to say about the selection process. Based on my personal knowledge, Anaplan has:
- better performance on large data volumes without the need to write additional code (e.g. feeders) to optimize performance
- easier and less technical data modeling (simple text-based formulae, point-and-click formulae writing, easy-to-find references, subsidiary views, etc)
- good self-documentation features

Do you think Anaplan delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Anaplan's feature set?

Yes

Did Anaplan live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Anaplan go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Anaplan again?

Yes

Well-suited: aggregated forecasts based on predicted, precalculated potential outcomes, combined with management judgment at multiple levels, and the ability to come up with a collaborated consensus on a single transparent platform
Less suited: transactional and semi-transactional planning activities, such as account assignments, employee transfers, and promotions (especially in large volumes)

Anaplan Feature Ratings

9.4
Long-term financial planning
10
Financial budgeting
10
Forecasting
10
Scenario modeling
10
Management reporting
7
5.3
Financial data consolidation
5
Journal entries and reports
1
Local and consolidated reporting
7
Detailed Audit Trails
8
8.7
Financial Statement Reporting
9
Management Reporting
9
Excel-based Reporting
8
10.0
Personalized dashboards
10
Color-coded scorecards
10
Cost and profitability analysis
Not Rated
Key Performance Indicator setting
10
4.7
Flat file integration
5
Excel data integration
7
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
2
8.0
Customizable dashboards
8
Ad-hoc Reporting ()
Not Rated
7.5
Publish to PDF
7
Report Versioning
8
Data Discovery and Visualization ()
Not Rated
10.0
Role-Based Security Model
10
9.0
Responsive Design for Web Access
9
Mobile Application
9
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
9

Anaplan Training

  • Online Training
  • In-Person Training
  • No Training
The instructors are great, training materials are good and easy to follow. Students get real-life use case to implement during training
Anaplan training materials are clear, simple, easy to understand and to follow. Visuals are excellent. The vendor is good at updating training materials in a timely manner and encouraging users and administrators to keep coming back to Academy site for refresher courses or new feature courses. I really like their interactive diagrams
Yes. It is fairly intuitive to learn how to use, and how to build models

Anaplan Support

Support is responsive. They are comfortable digging into complex models and finding answers to less trivial questions.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
No. We have sufficient skills internally to resolve most issues.
Yes - Yes. Generally bugs occur after a system upgrade. They get resolved quickly.
Our implementation is old. Some models were built on features that became outdated over time. Anaplan support team provides good service resolving such issues. For example, early in Anaplan lifecycle it was possible to remove actuals version. Later actuals version became a default, without an option to remove. One of our early large high traffic model did not have actuals version, and it was not possible to rebuild it from scratch. Anaplan support team was very surprised when we reported it, but they quickly developed, tested and implemented custom code to insert actuals version back.