Anaplan Platform

- Flexibility - You can design and build a model from a blank sheet of paper to address the challenges specific to your business. - Computational capacity - The system has the capability to perform calculations many times faster than can be achieved within a single spreadsheet, opening up the possibility of modelling in a way that could not have been entertained previously. - Robustness - Anaplan includes a range of features that reduce the potential for common data integrity issues - Auditability of calculations - Anaplan includes the ability to trace any output number back through its calculation logic and back to the original input assumptions, including a history of who made what change when. - Standardisation of assumptions - All models can be linked to a common set of assumptions which ensures consistency (e.g. Inflation / FX assumptions). - Speed of adjusting all models to new assumptions - When an adjustment inevitably needs to made to a core assumption, all models can be updated in a matter of minutes compared to days in an excel-only world. - Standardisation and simplification of front end UX enables fast development - Time spent developing front end screens is greatly reduced through a simplified set of options combined with snap-to-grid functionality.

It's scalable, has good calculation speed, and is flexible.

Flexibility to model the platform for custom business use cases, seamless end user experience and pre-built in apps for common use cases are some of the key strengths of the platform. Anaplan is heavily invested in integrating AI/ML capabilities into the platform which provides us with an out of the box solution form modelling predictive use cases.

- Substantial training required for staff who will be designing / building new models. While it is possible to start building quickly, extensive training is necessary to ensure models are developed in a robust way with fewer issues down the road. - We had to design around sparsity using the Classic Engine - although this will be less of an issue for organisations joining Anaplan in the future as they can utilise the new Polaris Engine from the outset which handles sparsity. - Sometimes the front end UX options do not include the options you require but this is the flipside of the speed of development and new features are continuously being added.

It is quite a big project to get this implemented which takes time and several attempts to get things right. Model building is a qualification in its own right which takes time and practice to achieve. The software doesn't seem to be updated with new features too quickly - there are some quirks which haven't been addressed to date and workarounds need to be used whilst there is a potential to solve problems natively.

As the model grows bigger in size and if not architected properly, we notice performance degradation over a period of time.