Connected planning · Anaplan
Anaplan, modelled on how the business actually plans.
A planning model that does not match how the business operates gets worked around within two cycles. We build models people trust enough to use.
Anaplan is a modelling engine, not a template. What it produces depends entirely on how the model is built: the hierarchies, the calculation logic, the level of granularity and who is allowed to change what. Get that wrong and you have a fast, expensive spreadsheet with extra steps.
This page explains what Anaplan is for, what a build actually involves, and when we would tell you a simpler tool would serve you better. It is written for finance teams evaluating connected planning for the first time, not for existing Anaplan administrators.
From £5,000. A structured review of your planning process, not a sales call.
Start here
Does the problem sound like yours?
Most finance teams do not start by shopping for a planning platform. They start by noticing that budgeting season is dreaded rather than managed.
The plan lives in twenty linked workbooks
Version control is a naming convention. Nobody can say with confidence which file is the current one, or trace a number back to the assumption that drove it.
Forecasting is a monthly fire drill
Reforecasting means rebuilding formulas under time pressure rather than changing a driver and reviewing the output.
Finance and the business plan in different languages
Operational plans and the financial plan are reconciled by hand at the end, rather than built from the same driver logic throughout.
One person is the model
A single spreadsheet owner holds the planning process together. Their annual leave is a finance risk.
What we build
A model built around your drivers, not a demo template.
Anaplan is flexible enough to model almost anything, which is exactly why an implementation needs someone accountable for restraint as well as capability.
Model design
Hierarchies, list structures, and calculation logic built around the way the business actually reports and decides, not a generic best-practice template applied unchanged.
Integration with source systems
Actuals from the ledger and operational data from source systems, mapped and loaded on a schedule finance can rely on. See Finance Systems Integration.
Workflow and ownership
Who submits, who reviews, who approves, and what happens when a number is wrong, defined before go-live rather than discovered during the first live cycle.
Administration after go-live
A model is never finished. Someone needs to own structural changes, new drivers and periodic model health as the business changes around it.
Still worrying about
Questions finance directors ask us.
Is Anaplan a replacement for our ERP or general ledger?
No. Anaplan is a planning and modelling layer that sits above your transactional systems. Actuals are fed in from the ledger; the model does not post journals or replace statutory accounting.
How is this different from OneStream?
Different centre of gravity. OneStream is built outward from the ledger, strongest where consolidation, close and statutory reporting sit close to actuals. Anaplan is built for flexible, driver-based modelling across finance and operations. Some groups run both, connected. We are independent of both vendors and will tell you plainly which one, or which combination, fits your problem. See OneStream.
Can our own team build this instead?
Often, in part. Many teams can maintain a model well once it exists. Initial model architecture is where inexperienced builds tend to create structural problems that are expensive to unpick later, which is where we are usually brought in.
What does a build actually cost?
It depends on the number of planning processes in scope, the complexity of the hierarchies and the state of your source data. We do not publish a day-rate menu because the honest range is too wide to be useful. We scope and cost a build after a diagnostic, in writing, before any commitment.
Start with the diagnosis, not the platform.
A structured review of your planning process and an honest view of whether Anaplan is the right answer at all. From £5,000, and the output is yours whether or not you go further.