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A cloud based EPM solution your FP&A team can grow with!
Updated November 12, 2020

A cloud based EPM solution your FP&A team can grow with!

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

CPM Suite,Consolidation,Budgeting,Analytics,Decision Hub

Overall Satisfaction with Planful (formerly Host Analytics)

Host Analytics is being used by our organization to improve the month end/quarterly consolidation/close process. It is mainly being used by our accounting and finance departments and has helped us reduce the number of days it takes to close each month. The Host application allows us to store all of our data in one cloud-based database as opposed to a huge Excel workbook with many, many spreadsheets. Additionally, anyone in our organization can access the real-time data in Host from any location since all of the data is stored in the cloud.
  • The Host Analytics Cloud EPM Suite does a great job keeping all of our actual, forecast, and budget data together in one place. Loading new data into the application is fairly straight forward and allows us to quickly provide reports and analyses to our senior leadership team each month/quarter.
  • The Host Analytics Excel-Add In Tool is helpful for users who are more familiar with building and creating reports in Excel. While the reporting module in the core application is very easy to use and navigate, often times our team will utilize the Excel add-in tool to build more complex reports using the data from Host as we tend to have more experience with Excel based reporting.
  • Using Host has allowed us to drastically reduce the number of days it takes to close each month. We quickly load data via the data load rule, use the consolidations module to input any top side journal entries, and from there we are able to jump right into financial reporting.
  • The speed of the application has sometimes been a bit slow, particularly at year end. We've found that when we use Host in Chrome as opposed to IE, our speed improves, however Host currently has limited functionality when used in Chrome.
  • We would love to see a more user-friendly report wizard in the future.
  • Host has reduced the time it takes us to close from approximately a week and a half to approximately 2-3 days.
  • The Host Analytics Application is currently being supported solely by our Accounting and FP&A team with no support from the IT Department.
The Host Analytics Cloud EPM Suite would be well suited for an organization that is currently closing and consolidating in Excel each month. Additionally, it would be great for an organization that is growing quickly and acquiring new entities on a regular basis.

Planful Feature Ratings

7.0
Long-term financial planning
7
Financial budgeting
Not Rated
Forecasting
Not Rated
Scenario modeling
7
Management reporting
7
8.8
Financial data consolidation
10
Journal entries and reports
10
Multi-currency management
Not Rated
Intercompany Eliminations
5
Minority Ownership
Not Rated
Local and consolidated reporting
10
Detailed Audit Trails
Not Rated
9.5
Financial Statement Reporting
10
Management Reporting
10
Excel-based Reporting
10
Automated board and financial reporting
8
XBRL support for regulatory filing
Not Rated
Not Rated
Personalized dashboards
Not Rated
Color-coded scorecards
Not Rated
KPIs
Not Rated
Cost and profitability analysis
Not Rated
Key Performance Indicator setting
Not Rated
Benchmarking with external data
Not Rated
10.0
Flat file integration
10
Excel data integration
10
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
Not Rated
BI Standard Reporting ()
Not Rated
Ad-hoc Reporting ()
Not Rated
Report Output and Scheduling ()
Not Rated
Data Discovery and Visualization ()
Not Rated
Access Control and Security ()
Not Rated
Mobile Capabilities ()
Not Rated

Planful Features and Attributes

Sometimes we get great help when using Planful's support team and other times we don't. In particular, there is one person that often responds to our support tickets who is less than helpful, hence the reason for the 5 out of 10 rating. As a result, most of the time we reach out to our Planful consulting group as they provide faster and better support.

Do you think Planful delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Planful's feature set?

Yes

Did Planful live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Planful go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Planful again?

Yes

For the most part, the system is extremely usable. The consolidation and reporting modules are straight-forward and easy to use as long as everything is set-up properly during implementation. The one module that can be somewhat difficult to use is the Workforce Planning module of Structured Planning. Additionally, the reports that come from Workforce Planning aren't as robust as we need them to be.
We don't necessarily have access to real-time data using Planful. We have to consolidate our entity trial balances prior to accessing the monthly financials.
For the most part, Planful has eliminated the need for manual processes and manual adjustments to reports.
The only time we've received exceptional support for Planful was through an Implementation Consultant we worked with to get our Structured Planning module set-up and utilized. The actual Planful support team that responds to support tickets has been less than helpful for the most part.