We use Anaplan for organizing and planning the data in a supply concept.
Anaplan model builder at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Effective data analyzing, highly stable, and excellent support
Pros and Cons
- "Anaplan is a three-dimensional cloud platform that is good for analyzing data, visualization, integration, terrific for visibility."
- "The solution could improve by better dashboards and while entering the form loss and project implementation the ability to use graphical shapes more effectively."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Anaplan is a three-dimensional cloud platform that is good for analyzing data, visualization, integration, terrific for visibility. Additionally, it is continually being updated and allows collaboration. When comparing it to Microsoft Excel, in Anaplan when you make a change to a sheet you do not need to make the same change to all the sheets as you do in Excel.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by better dashboards and while entering the form loss and project implementation the ability to use graphical shapes more effectively.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Anaplan for one and a half years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Anaplan is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good.
We have 15 model builders using this solution in my organization.
How are customer service and support?
Anaplan has an online community group and if we have any technical problems they can provide us support answers within 15 to 20 minutes. Their technical support is very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Microsoft Excel previously.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. it took us approximately 24 hours.
What about the implementation team?
There is maintenance being conducted every month by Anaplan.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are currently using a free workspace license for 90 days. We are satisfied with the price of the solution. There are additional costs if you want more storage, the default limit is 250 GB.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated other solutions and Anaplan is better than other competitors out there.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Anaplan a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Consultant
Is highly flexible and scalable, and can be tailored to the company's requirements
Pros and Cons
- "It's highly flexible. If you've got a complex environment with complex calculations, you can build that out. So that's a really good positive."
- "The negative is that the higher the flexibility, the higher is the complexity. That can act against you as a negative because it does require a model builder or a coder/developer."
What is our primary use case?
It can be used for FPNA, forecasting, and planning. It can also be used from a tax point of view and an allocation point of view.
What is most valuable?
It's highly flexible. If you've got a complex environment with complex calculations, you can build that out. So that's a really good positive.
Because of that flexibility and ability to build models in the way you want to build it, it means you can tailor it to the company's requirements. You can really tailor it, which is the big positive with Anaplan, and the fact that you can track what everybody does. There are more constraints within SAP and Oracle than in this kind of product.
It's like Excel but with a mix of VBA, and it's a bit more controlled. So you have, from a client's point of view, an internal/external audit trail. The audit trail logs absolutely everything you do. That's really useful when people build out these models for it because you want to know what people are doing. It's very difficult to do that in Excel. So it's like Excel, but a more controlled version of it. You are using formulas and you build it out with formulas.
Anaplan can be easily deployed and scaled.
What needs improvement?
The negative is that the higher the flexibility, the higher is the complexity. That can act against you as a negative because it does require a model builder or a coder/developer.
It's not something that can be easily learned. It's a full-time job for someone who's a kind of specialist. Once you've learned it, it's great, but it does take a few years to build that knowledge up.
Any integration or interfaces into it and out of it can be hard, depending on the client and the tools available.
As additional features wise, if it could be more intuitive, it might be helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
We're in the midst of implementing it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very easy to scale. It's not that hard. However, the cost can go up depending on the volume.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The client's previous software was less flexible, more clunky, and didn't give them what they wanted. Anaplan has been more flexible, more streamlined, and gives them what they want. If they want X, they get X, and they don't get Y instead.
How was the initial setup?
It can be deployed quite quickly. It would take about three to six months.
You can have both external support or internally trained support, and the maintenance can be either. The software itself, because it's cloud-based, will get automatically upgraded. It's software as a service.
What about the implementation team?
Staff wise, you would need a PM. Depending on the number of models being built, you will need one or two model builders. One model builder per model is probably the expectation. You need to have a subject matter expert and an architect involved. You will probably need four staff members at minimum for deployment.
You can have both external support or internally trained support. So the maintenance can be either, but the software itself, because it's cloud-based, will get automatically upgraded. It's software as a service.
What was our ROI?
It's going to give the clients what they want, so the return on investment will be pretty rapid. They could expect a return on investment within the first year.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated PCM.
What other advice do I have?
It's a good product, but you need to consider whether you need a center of excellence in-house. You need to consider process mapping, the standard operating procedures that you would produce with it, and the integrations or ETLs, and your interfaces, inwards and outwards. You need to be very clear about your business requirements and know exactly what you need, in terms of your inputs, the calculations you need to run it through, the outputs, and the end results that you would provide to the client, along with the master data/static data.
If you're not clear, then you can't implement it, and you'll just waste money with the developers, the model builders, and the consultants that you're dealing with. However, if you're clear about it and you can provide clear examples of what you need, then it works like a dream.
It takes a long time for a beginner to understand what's going on. You need to make sure that the developers that you use or the model builder you use puts copious notes on everything, especially at the back-end from a technical point of view.
Then at the front-end, with dashboards, you need to make sure that there are lots of good quality instructions, operating procedures, and process maps.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Anaplan at eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Anaplan
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Anaplan. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Anaplan Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
User-friendly, easy to set up, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "You don't need to have a programming language to use Anaplan."
- "It would be nice if the solution offered better extensions."
What is our primary use case?
My first project in Anaplan was about capacity planning for the factory's RCT and NCTC capacity planning. My second use case was about CapEx and OpEx planning for another client. Mainly it's finance and supply chain related activities.
How has it helped my organization?
In finance, mainly, earlier, we were using Excel spreadsheets. Every time their monthly cycle ends, the company needed to go back to the reporting. They would have to pull all the data from all the users and then publish all final reports. However, in Anaplan, everyone reports their numbers through the cloud and wherever the end-user or the planner wants to see the data collated, he can just simply open the Anaplan and then see the reports ready-made. It's much less work-intensive.
What is most valuable?
The modeling is very easy. It's almost an Excel-like model building. It is very easy to change the logic or business rules. You can do it anytime. It's not like you need a different team set up for the changes.
The solution is very user-friendly.
The initial setup is very easy.
The solution is scalable.
The solution has been very stable so far.
We have found that the product integrates well with SAP and they have ready-made connectors. In fact, it is easy to integrate with any other system. They have plug-and-play software which makes integrations easy with very little time consumption required.
You don't need to have a programming language to use Anaplan.
What needs improvement?
There is no demand planning, no dedicated demand planning where it can do statistical forecasting. They have engaged with a plan queue to do the statistical forecasting. However, if we compare it with SAP or others, they don't have an in-house forecasting tool or anything.
It would be nice if the solution offered better extensions. For example, in SEC Excel, they have one extra extension, which is really good in terms of performance. It would have been really great to have something similar, however, from what I have seen so far it is not up to the mark. Whenever you load the data in Excel and then send it back to Anaplan, it takes a lot of time. It's very hard to use it. Rather than using the available extension, people prefer to go back to Anaplan again.
Plastic dashboards were a little bit hard to create, however, it's my understanding that it's a bit better now.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for more than two years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I've never faced any issue where it had downtime or anything. It has never failed, at least for me.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. In previous projects, there were some changes that the business wanted to make, however, they were not able to do it in SAP or Cisco systems. They used append models to do those changes and send them back to SAP.
Considering the previous project, there were almost 300 to 400 users. There are finance project managers across the zones or the CapEx and OpEx controllers.
Our latest client does plan to increase usage. They've already forgotten all about trying to make Excel reporting work.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very good. I have also worked on SAP previously, and, if I had to compare SAP support and Anaplan support, Anaplan support is quite responsive. We're very satisfied with them overall.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I didn't use business performance management, however, I do use SAP, IBP, and APO. These are mainly ERP-related Software solutions.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not difficult or complex. It's very simple and straightforward.
Generally, the deployment takes four to five months to complete at least the basic agenda. Later you can keep on adding the functionalities once the users start filling the Anaplan, they go ahead and ask for more requirements.
The four to five-month deployment includes, for example, the process of customization and testing.
What about the implementation team?
We did not use an integrator. I'm in consulting, so we get the projects for the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know anything about the cost or the licensing. It's not an aspect of the solution I work on.
What other advice do I have?
We have partners and we do the implementation for clients.
I am using a SaaS version of the solution.
Generally, people rush to design the scope and just start building. I would say that new users should focus first on designing the process and scope. Once that is finalized, then move into the model building rather than pushing everything in one go.
During our training in Anaplan, there was one quote saying, "almost everything can be built in Anaplan". There were scenarios where I thought, okay fine, Anaplan can't build this logic, and yet, after a point, we were able to build that logic. It's pretty scalable.
I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The capacity projection helped to identify where the utilization is falling beyond a limit. I would like to see more flexible graphs.
What is most valuable?
- Multi-dimensional
- Easy to restructure
- Cloud compatible
How has it helped my organization?
The capacity projection of certain lines helped to identify where the utilization is falling beyond a limit. It helped certain category planners to plan for long term investments (shift patterns).
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more flexible graphs. That is, more varieties of graphs, more customization (like choosing colors, gradients, etc.) and more conditional formatting options (format sharply or gradient).
Anaplan gave us some limitations in terms of these aspects. There might be scope for experimenting around the formatting, if not the types, of graphs!
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the product for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Very rarely. The tool slows down around once every two months.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There were no scalability issues.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would give technical support a rating of 8/10.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used a different solution. I switched to expand my exposure to a budding tool in planning.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It might cost more compared to some decent tools in the market. But one should be mindful about the capabilities of Anaplan, which justify the cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I haven't done this, as it was already selected by my organization. However, I did some market research to see how other options are flourishing, and found Anaplan to be a worthwhile option.
What other advice do I have?
There are fewer experts in the Indian market, but there seems to be a lot of scope in global markets. Anaplan is a worthwhile investment for a top performing planning solution in any sector, Finance, Capacity, or Budgeting, etc.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Lead Solution Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
This product offers us easy integration with Salesforce and is felxible.
What is most valuable?
- Ease of integration with Salesforce (Sales Cloud).
- Flexibility - the ability to run several different sales forecasting models, but have those parts roll-up to a corporate model.
- Extremely customizable (add fields, add dashboards/components, etc.)
How has it helped my organization?
- It has supported a global process change to sales forecasting and created a single method for this.
- It has created a global standard in corporate dashboards that all regions agreed to run the business from.
- It has simplified the sales forecasting process.
- It has increased visibility at a corporate & global sales leadership level where previously it was not possible in MS Excel.
- It has helped speed up business and reduced the time it took to report on and view the sales forecast.
What needs improvement?
Anaplan needs to place more limits on builders/developers in some cases because we found that if we continued to customize a given sales forecast model it would degrade performance slightly as we continued to add dimensions to our forecasting model.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used the solution for more than two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For the most part Anaplan had reliable up-time and stability so this was not an issue.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Small changes could create massive amounts of data without the Anaplan Builder knowing that they did that. This could push us over space/storage limits quickly.
After going live in August 2015 we had to double storage capacity and rebuild the entire forecasting model six months after go-live in Spring 2016 due to a poor initial design that led to wasted storage and less optimal performance.
How are customer service and technical support?
Anaplan provided us with some great resources and Professional Services resources to get our initial sales forecasting model off the ground.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we used MS Excel. We switched because we needed global visibility, forecasting accuracy and a cloud/SaaS/online solution for our sales organization.
The organization & forecasting solution in Excel had gotten so complex, took too long to aggregate and was giving Sales Leadership false forecasts (based on bad data).
How was the initial setup?
Initially we thought it was straightforward, but it ended up being complex, but not because of Anaplan. The challenge was getting a Global Sales organization to agree on a single way to do sales forecasting. That took almost eight months to nail down. Once that was done, it only took six weeks to get the Anaplan sales forecating model setup and rolled out to our users.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Be mindful about storage limits initially. Also, make sure you decide how many Administrator licenses you need. If I recall, the Admin/Developer license costs ten times more than a standard user license so make sure you know how many of those you really need at your company to make cost effective decisions for your organization.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also looked at Salesforce (native forecasting solution), Adaptive Insights and an IBM solution.
What other advice do I have?
Get Anaplan Professional Services to start, make sure to pay for additional Anaplan training sessions and continue to invest in training for your organization. These skills are not easy to pick up so getting help to start your project is highly recommended.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Anaplan Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Provides beneficial forecast models, good dashboards, and highly stable
Pros and Cons
- "Anaplan provides 130 GB of cloud storage for organizations to use as part of their license."
- "The solution can improve by providing an easier form of integration to different platforms, such as receiving data from different Salesforce. There is a process to do it through the use of some APIs but it could be made much easier. This would be a large help to us."
What is our primary use case?
Anaplan can be used for many types of planning, such as finance, supply chain, sales, and workforce.
How has it helped my organization?
My organization has benefited from the solution providing us with very good forecasting models. Additionally, there is a tool where users can go through different dashboards, a feature called Dimension where you can use multiple dimensions, and the granularity is very good for us.
What is most valuable?
Anaplan provides 130 GB of cloud storage for organizations to use as part of their license.
It is easier to implement for the developer teams and client users who are using it. For example, if a client is using thousands of Excel documents, it becomes very easy for Anaplan to do all of the calculations and move things around inside.
The flexibility is very good, it is easy to make new changes to the deployments.
What needs improvement?
The solution can improve by providing an easier form of integration to different platforms, such as receiving data from different Salesforce. There is a process to do it through the use of APIs but it could be made much easier. This would be a large help to us.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Anaplan for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Anaplan has been scalable, there are a least 40 domains where this solution can be used, such as OPEX and financial planning
In my organization, we have approximately 10 clients using this solution.
We are extensively using this solution in the project we are currently involved in.
How are customer service and support?
We provide the implementation and the after the support of the solution.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is not difficult but I would put it in the easy to medium level of difficulty.
What about the implementation team?
The amount of technical staff required for the implementation and maintenance completely depends on the requirements of clients. There is some flexibility that comes after the first deployment, we can do enhancement for the same deployment instead of creating a new one.
We follow the Sprint method of implementation and it can take approximately two weeks. However, as previously mentioned the time is dependant on the client's requirements. For example, we are doing an update to enhance a previous implementation that will take approximately two months.
What was our ROI?
We are not the end-user to know if the clients are receiving a return on investment. However, I would conclude they have been receiving a good return on their investment because we are having an increasing number of clients and we are doing enhancements to previous deployments.
What other advice do I have?
I would strongly recommend this solution to others.
I rate Anaplan an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Digital Transformation Director - Finance at Metora
Great product for large organizations that want to do FP&A
Pros and Cons
- "Anaplan's strongest feature is that its GUI is very modern and user-friendly."
- "Anaplan could be improved with a stronger consolidation module."
What is our primary use case?
My main use of Anaplan is for financial planning and budgeting forecasts.
What is most valuable?
Anaplan's strongest feature is that its GUI is very modern and user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
Anaplan could be improved with a stronger consolidation module. In the next release, Anaplan should include out-of-the-box integration with software systems. Currently, they don't have a connector, so you have to work with an API or directly with a company to build connections, whereas their competitors already include native connectors.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Anaplan for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Anaplan is a bit pricier compared to its competitors - the license costs about $4,000 per user annually.
How are customer service and support?
Anaplan's technical support is very good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very easy, though it can vary based on users' needs. Depending on the scope of the user's requirements, it can take anywhere between two and twelve months to deploy everything.
What other advice do I have?
Anaplan is a great product for large organizations with multiple locations that want to do FP&A. I would give Anaplan a score of eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Manager Analytics at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It allows you to do “what-if” analysis and provides collaboration across the organization.
What is most valuable?
- Serves as a platform: You can design your solutions on top of it
- Allows you to do “what-if” analysis on the go
- Allows collaboration across the organization: This is most essential for security
How has it helped my organization?
We use Anaplan across multiple functional areas. I will elaborate a few features that have had the most impact on our organization:
- The forecasting/planning cycles: This used to take months to collaborate. It now only takes a week to finish and be worked upon.
- The commission payment systems: Have been automated in Anaplan. The commission payments are highly transparent and efficient now.
- The Bookings and Revenue Forecasting model: Allows us to predict the Salesforce requirements and to budget for them beforehand.
What needs improvement?
- A better presentation layer would certainly take it a notch higher.
- As compared to other BI tools, such as QlikView, the presentation layer is not as user-friendly.
- It still does a fairly good job on the look and feel of the dashboards. But this is the only area in which there is scope for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for more than four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There were no stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This product is super scalable and efficient.
How are customer service and technical support?
Mostly there is no need for any support. Anaplan is very supportive in case you need to contact the technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Being a business analyst, we use multiple tools.
We were the early adaptors of Anaplan. Because of the customizability that it offers and the ease of various “what-if” scenarios, you can build on this tool.
None of the other tools in the market offer that level of flexibility. Hence, it is pretty unique in that sense.
How was the initial setup?
There is no setup required. It is a cloud platform.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Go for a bigger deal initially. Once you start using it, you will certainly want more of it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We had evaluated Tableau and QlikView. Even though a lot of the other tools do a good job, only Anaplan allows flexibility and customizability to design solutions and do real-time “what-if” analysis.
What other advice do I have?
Have a core team dedicated only to Anaplan and you will realize the true potential of this tool.
The tool is very good and customizable.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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