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IBM Planning Analytics, it's in the name. Simple, and simply the best software for your business.
July 12, 2023

IBM Planning Analytics, it's in the name. Simple, and simply the best software for your business.

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

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Planning Analytics

I've used IBM Planning Analytics at Fortune 50 companies as well as relatively small startups. IBM Planning Analytics was able to provide solutions across functions including finance, supply chain planning, and customer service support. We were able to automate tasks that took multiple man hours and reduce the workload to a matter of minutes. With the system providing great value across so many different parts of the business, the ROI showed IBM Planning Analytics was almost a no-brainer to implement.
  • Consolidation of data into a single source of truth and record keeping
  • Easily show variance analysis across actuals to multiple different what-if scenarios
  • Give the ability to slice-and-dice data in ways that weren't easily accessible before, pivot-table on steroids in simple terms
  • IBM Planning Analytics was an upgrade from an older version of TM1 that is experiencing some growing pains, some functionality is harder to reach than it has been in the past
  • It is easy to learn as a surface user with created reports, but it does require some technical skills to make advanced calculations and reports if there is no reliable consultant available, much like Excel
  • Much higher degree of accuracy in forecasting with the use of predictive analysis from historical data
  • Dozens of man hours saved in routine processes that are now handled with minimal human interaction
  • One system that holds the "source of truth," consolidating multiple systems together that were only accessible individually before
As an FP&A analyst, what-if analysis is 97% of my job, basing what might happen from what did happen. IBM Planning Analytics has given me the ability to quickly create and compare multiple versions (low, high, maybe) and present to an executive team with a high degree of efficiency. The ability for multiple people to be able to view, comment, and edit if allowed, across multiple versions relieves us of the stress from emailing multiple files back and forth and making sure that no one is left out of the most current version. The data is viewable by everyone at the same time, even in a fully WFH environment.

Do you think IBM Planning Analytics delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM Planning Analytics's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM Planning Analytics live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of IBM Planning Analytics go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM Planning Analytics again?

Yes

IBM support has been very quick to respond and handle the very few issues we've had. We've had a third-party who partners with IBM to be our consulting team which has helped greatly reduce the need for us to contact IBM directly. I highly recommend researching and selecting a well-respected partner to help with an implementation as well as ongoing support as needed.
People with all different years of experience are diving in head-first to IBM Planning Analytics and picking it up very quickly. With some well-designed reports to start the team off, confidence and curiosity are increasing, and more questions are being asked. As teammates realize the edge that it gives them, they're learning more and are able to move around very well on their own.
IBM Planning Analytics has huge potential in almost any organization to streamline processes and pull multiple different data sources into a meaningful connection that can help tell the story of why, not just what. It's very good at consolidations; be that accounts on an P&L, months into a year, subsidiaries into a company structure, etc. It is not meant to be a standalone database of flat-data, it isn't necessarily a replacement for data warehouses. It's not an ERP. But it is very, very good at what it can do, and very flexible at how far it can be pushed. If you are an FP&A guru wanting to empower your team to bring your value to the next level, this is the program to do it with.

IBM Planning Analytics Feature Ratings

10.0
Long-term financial planning
10
Financial budgeting
10
Forecasting
10
Scenario modeling
10
Management reporting
10
9.3
Financial data consolidation
10
Journal entries and reports
6
Multi-currency management
10
Intercompany Eliminations
9
Minority Ownership
10
Local and consolidated reporting
10
Detailed Audit Trails
10
9.8
Financial Statement Reporting
10
Management Reporting
10
Excel-based Reporting
10
Automated board and financial reporting
10
XBRL support for regulatory filing
9
10.0
Personalized dashboards
10
Color-coded scorecards
10
KPIs
10
Cost and profitability analysis
10
Key Performance Indicator setting
10
Benchmarking with external data
10
10.0
Flat file integration
10
Excel data integration
10
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
10
8.3
Pixel Perfect reports
8
Customizable dashboards
8
Report Formatting Templates
9
9.8
Drill-down analysis
10
Formatting capabilities
10
Integration with R or other statistical packages
9
Report sharing and collaboration
10
10.0
Publish to Web
10
Publish to PDF
10
Report Versioning
10
Report Delivery Scheduling
10
9.8
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
9
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
10
Predictive Analytics
10
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining
10
10.0
Multi-User Support (named login)
10
Role-Based Security Model
10
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
10
Report-Level Access Control
10
Single Sign-On (SSO)
10
10.0
Responsive Design for Web Access
10
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
10

Evaluating IBM Planning Analytics and Competitors

  • Cloud Solutions
  • Scalability
  • Integration with Other Systems
  • Ease of Use
Cost and usability. It was cheaper than other options, and gave much greater dynamic capabilities than the other options did.
We had a very thorough process that included multiple demos, some of which included our own data samples. Multiple Q&A sessions and a six-person committee to decide.