Host Analytics Review
Updated May 17, 2016
Host Analytics Review
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Planful (formerly Host Analytics)
Four years ago, we started out using Host Analytics as a tool to get our finance team out of Excel hell. We just had our forecasting team (4 individuals) using the system to prepare the annual budget and quarterly forecasts. It was also used to generate monthly variance reports. Since that time, others have seen the powerful reporting capabilities within the tool and have requested access. We now have 50 users in the system from across almost all departments in the organization. For us, we primarily use Host Analytics to disseminate financial information to management in a quick, efficient fashion and allow analysts within each department to create ad-hoc reports as needed.
- Strong reporting capabilities. We like to view our financials in several different ways, and the reporting module is intuitive to get almost any thing we are looking for rather quickly.
- The budget module allows you to document all of your assumptions, so there's no guesswork on what was used for a budget vs. a forecast.
- User security can be determined in several stages, so everyone can see what they are supposed to see and nothing more!
- The workflow in the budget module doesn't quite work for our organization, as there's no way to forward individual budget templates. The entire entity must be forwarded for approval, which includes allocation templates that don't need to be seen anyway.
- It has sped up our time to report
- Allows for more agile variance analysis
I used Prophix at a previous company, although more as a user than an administrator. Budget expense templates in Host Analytics can mirror what we used in Prophix. Better than that, though, we use "drivers" to move expenses based on revenue, headcount, etc., which I don't know that we could have in Prophix. The Workforce Planning module in Host Analytics is miles above what Prophix had at the time. We managed all personnel assumptions in an Access database and imported the expenses to Prophix. Workforce Planning is seamless in Host Analytics.
Planful Feature Ratings
Planful Features and Attributes
They are currently working with Dell to reduce the time it take our Boomi integration to load actuals.
Using Planful (formerly Host Analytics)
50 - Our 50 users are a mixture from all across the organization. Finance represents the larger user group, as many use it for ad-hoc reporting and variance analysis. Marketing is the next largest group as they are the first group outside of Finance to use the Budget capabilities - all field marketing managers input their program estimates in Host Analytics. Other groups include Sales Ops, Product Management, and our Services organization.
3 - Our budget and forecasting team provides all support to internal users. Since they use every facet of the product, they are able to train and troubleshoot most problems, which are typically how to configure internet settings when getting started and how to create their own reports. These individuals are analysts by day, so they naturally have problem solving skills.
- Robust reporting
- Organized forecasting
- Easy to maintain
- We have used statistical accounts to capture headcount by location and then used those accounts to determine allocations for our forecast.
- We use 6 different scenario substitution variables for different reporting purposes, and a time substitution variable to identify the budget year (for use when we are working on next year's budget).
- We use an attribute on our Account segment to identify GAAP vs Non-GAAP differences for internal reporting.
- We hope to use the Financial Package Publisher to create Board reports.
- We are looking to use the Cloud Schedule to automate sending out our variance reports each month.
- We hope to integrate Workforce Planning with Workday to streamline staff planning.
Evaluating Planful (formerly Host Analytics) and Competitors
Yes - Prior to Host Analytics, we were using Budget Maestro for staff planning and personnel related expenses. Everything else was done in Excel.
- Price
- Product Usability
We needed a tool that requires very little resources from IT. The only involvement IT has with the Host Analytics application is with regards to our Boomi integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX, which is just to monitor the connection in case it goes down. Everything else is managed by 3-4 people in Finance.
We were very focused on the budgeting aspect of the tool and we didn't spend as much time looking at the reporting capabilities. In the end, it worked out for us as we have been blown away with the improvements in reporting over the last four years.
Planful (formerly Host Analytics) Implementation
- Vendor implemented
- Professional services company
We have actually had two implementations. We used Host Analytics to implement the first time around and Cervello on the second implementation.
Change management was minimal - Change management was not a big issue for us as it was initially only used by a very small team.
- Going from Excel-based budgeting to using a system caused issues because we still weren't quite sure how our process needed to change. We were basically trying to do everything that we were doing in Excel, just in Host Analytics. That caused a few setbacks.
- As great as our partners were during the implementation, nothing could substitute the knowledge that we had of our company. We initially relied too heavily on partners to create reports for us and we had to go back to correct them ourselves.
- Overall, Host Analytics is a versatile tool, but you really need to understand how things work and what best practices are before hand. You can't just go in without a plan and implement the system ad-hoc. That will create a lot of re-work.
Planful (formerly Host Analytics) Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Good followup Kept well informed Immediate help available Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Problems left unsolved |
Yes - Having premium support allows allows us to have four admin users instead of two, which is helpful when considering people take vacations and are not always available. Having 4 admin (on a Host Analytics admin distribution list) means that if anyone has issues (such as getting locked out of the system), there is always someone to help out.
Using Planful (formerly Host Analytics)
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Reports are easy to learn - they work very similar to a pivot table in Excel
- Budget templates are easy to create and manipulate. They are very Excel-like, so it doesn't take long to train new users.
- Segment Hierarchies allow you too roll up accounts quickly and easily, which aides in report creation.
- Data Loads can be cumbersome as you must make sure the column settings have been adjusted for each forecast. For example, a budget will often have 12 columns of values and the next quarterly forecast will only have 9 columns of values.
- Setting up new users with unique security requirements can be difficult. It's much easier when you can mirror someone else's settings, however.
- Unused budget entities remain in the admin's view, which can cause a bit of clutter after multiple re-organizations.
Yes, but I don't use it