Planful - Great for Budget Planning and Reporting
December 15, 2022

Planful - Great for Budget Planning and Reporting

Alexis Duntz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Structured Planning
  • Dynamic Planning
  • Reporting

Overall Satisfaction with Planful

I work for the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures here at the university and I use this tool as the budget administrator of the department. I am currently using the tool for structured planning of transfers and amounts for our department's various restricted accounts. I also use the tool to report on my department's fund usage (using the reports tab quite often) to keep the Dean's Office up to date on our numbers. I use the tool at least 5-6 times a year for big due dates. Planful makes this planning much simpler by having planning and reporting all in one place, connected.
  • Keeps up-to-date with real time edits and amounts when it comes to reporting
  • Very detailed options in the structured planning tab
  • Detailed reports that really help me see the numbers
  • Makes it easy to find help/tutorials when I am confused
  • Sometimes, too many options can make things confusing
  • I like the detail, but sometimes mix things up, especially when using the reports tab
  • Structured planning tab is the most confusing part
  • Saves time because everything is in one tool
  • Puts all the information in front of me and helps me plan transfers and budgets with ease
  • Helps me to better understand the details/analytics of budget planning and forecasting
I really only report our department's finances to my budget administrator in the Dean's Office. He is the one who looks over and approves my forecasting/reporting, then sends it over for final approval to what would be considered the university's finance department. My budget administrator does work with me when I have issues with budgeting and making certain numbers work.
I have benefitted because I have gained time back rather than having to use multiple tools at a time and make things confusing. It's nice to be able to flip back and forth and see my budget work change in the reports in real time without having to wait. It makes things quick and easy when deadlines come around.
Planful is nice for the reporting option. SAP Concur doesn't so much have an option where you can see physical reports. You can easily report on the tool and send reimbursement requests and such, but you have to use multiple tools if you use Concur and want to see any sort of account history and/or detailed report information.

Do you think Planful delivers good value for the price?

Yes

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?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Planful again?

Yes

It is well-suited for budget and transfer reporting to my higher-ups and the university. It is also well-suited for planning transfers and structuring these accounts in general. It is not well-suited for new employees who have no experience with the tool and really just requires extensive training for someone to really understand the tool and how it works. There are so many different options in the tool, it can be confusing for someone who is unfamiliar.

Planful Feature Ratings

Long-term financial planning
10
Financial budgeting
10
Forecasting
10
Scenario modeling
10
Management reporting
10
Financial data consolidation
10
Journal entries and reports
7
Multi-currency management
Not Rated
Intercompany Eliminations
Not Rated
Minority Ownership
Not Rated
Local and consolidated reporting
Not Rated
Detailed Audit Trails
9
Financial Statement Reporting
10
Management Reporting
10
Excel-based Reporting
9
Automated board and financial reporting
10
Personalized dashboards
10
Color-coded scorecards
Not Rated
KPIs
Not Rated
Cost and profitability analysis
10
Key Performance Indicator setting
Not Rated
Flat file integration
10
Excel data integration
10
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
10
Pixel Perfect reports
10
Customizable dashboards
5
Report Formatting Templates
10
Drill-down analysis
10
Formatting capabilities
10
Report sharing and collaboration
10
Publish to Web
Not Rated
Publish to PDF
10
Report Versioning
Not Rated
Report Delivery Scheduling
Not Rated
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
10
Predictive Analytics
10
Multi-User Support (named login)
10
Role-Based Security Model
Not Rated
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
Not Rated
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Not Rated
Responsive Design for Web Access
4
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
4