IBM Planning Analytics Reviews & Pricing

by IBM | Founded 1911, Armonk, NY

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What is IBM Planning Analytics?

Industry Specialties: Serves all industries

IBM Planning Analytics is a multidimensional in-memory database for analytics and planning. Part of the IBM Analytics Suite and powered by TM1, it provides forecasting, budgeting and reporting at an enterprise scale through data compression. With all data connected to a central hub, it enables collaborative planning with workflow approvals and review protocols in place. Enterprises perform OLAP analysis faster through in-memory technology.

Integrating with Microsoft Excel, it gives businesses the ease and familiarity of working with spreadsheets with the power of an enterprise database. With automated time-series modeling, it enables self-service predictive analysis. The vendor offers a 30-day free trial.

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IBM Planning Analytics Pricing

Based on our most recent analysis, IBM Planning Analytics pricing starts at $825 (Monthly).

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Starting From: $825
Pricing Model: Monthly
Free Trial: Yes, Request for Free

Training Resources

IBM Planning Analytics is supported with the following types of training:

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars

Support

The following support services are available for IBM Planning Analytics:

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Phone
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FAQ
Forum
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Knowledge Base
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Product Information and Resellers

Product Information

BlueMonday

IBM Planning Analytics Benefits and Insights

Why use IBM Planning Analytics?

Key differentiators & advantages of IBM Planning Analytics

Maximize ROI: Save time for analysis of trends, business performance and results by creating project plans faster. Reallocate budget and resources by leveraging deep insights into business performance and market trends. Collaborate with others on a single, unified platform with total transparency and visibility into business data, available for all plans.
Boost Sales: Win more business opportunities – boost annual sales quotas and deal sizes through end-to-end sales workflows. Grow revenue and reduce time to insight with robust sales analytics. Track campaigns for performance monitoring in real time and deep dive into data for buying behavior and customer churn analysis.
Financial Planning and Analysis: Optimize the business’ performance through valuable financial insights. Ensure the business is on track by creating and managing plans, budgets and forecasts. Simplifies the budgeting process through real-time calculations with automatic application of business rules.
Optimize Supply Chain: Create more accurate demand forecasts, get a clearer view of the resources and budget required to fulfill projected demand and update production plans accordingly. View historical data and drill down into summaries for deep-dive analysis and add visuals to spot key KPI trends.
Workforce Planning: Increase the workforce’s efficiency by acquiring and retaining skilled employees at the right time. Effectively manage staff schedules, task assignment and performance tracking through workforce analytics and HR planning tools.
Deploy Anywhere: Access the same data from everywhere with the flexibility to deploy on-premise, in the cloud or as a combination of both.
Scalable: Build and change plans flexibly in real time to match business requirements. Scales with increasing data volumes, number of users and planning models, without impacting existing workflows and performance.

Industry Expertise

IBM Planning Analytics is an advanced solution tailored for businesses seeking to streamline their financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and analysis processes. Its industry expertise lies in its ability to cater to a wide range of sectors, including finance, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare, among others. This versatility makes it well-suited for organizations of various sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, that require robust, scalable planning tools to drive efficiency and support strategic decision-making across their operations.

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Based on an aggregate of IBM Planning Analytics reviews taken from the sources above, the following pros & cons have been curated by a SelectHub Market Analyst.

Pros

Flexible Modeling: Users praise the software's ability to handle complex planning scenarios with ease, such as building detailed driver-based models for budgeting and forecasting.
Improved Collaboration: The platform facilitates better communication and data sharing among teams, streamlining the budgeting and forecasting process.
Powerful Reporting and Analytics: Users appreciate the robust reporting features, allowing them to generate insightful reports and dashboards for data visualization and analysis.

Cons

Steep Learning Curve: Users have reported that IBM Planning Analytics can be difficult to learn, especially for those without prior experience with similar tools. Its interface and terminology can feel overwhelming initially.
Limited Reporting Capabilities: Some users have expressed frustration with the reporting functionality within Planning Analytics, finding it less intuitive and flexible compared to dedicated reporting tools. They desire more advanced formatting and customization options for presenting financial data.
Performance Issues: Users have occasionally encountered performance issues, particularly when dealing with large datasets or complex calculations. This can slow down budgeting and forecasting processes, impacting overall productivity.

Researcher's Summary:

User reviews from the past year suggest IBM Planning Analytics is a powerful tool for businesses seeking to streamline their financial planning and analysis processes. Users praise its robust features, particularly its budgeting, forecasting, and reporting capabilities. One standout feature is its ability to handle complex "what-if" scenarios, allowing businesses to model different outcomes based on various factors, which is crucial for making informed decisions in a volatile market.

However, users also point out some drawbacks. The learning curve can be steep, especially for those unfamiliar with similar software. Some users find the interface less intuitive than competitors like Anaplan or Cube, and the pricing can be a significant investment for smaller businesses. Despite these weaknesses, users generally agree that IBM Planning Analytics offers a comprehensive solution for businesses needing advanced planning and analysis capabilities. Its ability to integrate with other IBM products and handle large datasets makes it particularly well-suited for larger enterprises with complex financial operations.

Key Features

Architecture: Leverage a three-tier client-server architecture that includes a database, application server and front end, with data stored centrally in the OLAP server.
- TM1: Employs an efficient data compression algorithm to enable faster planning and analytics. Create business models by combining multiple data sources with manual input for effective decision-making.
Workspace: Create and access all plans and forecasts through its web-based interface. Grant role-based access to team members down to cell-level granularity. Collaborate on plans through chats and cell comments in the workspace.
- Data Visualizations: Choose from a rich library of visualizations to apply that includes bullet charts, waterfall charts, treemaps, word clouds and more. Input data intuitively to specific slots through drag-and-drop actions, and customize fonts and styles for personalized branding.
- Books and Views: Access related data in the form of web sheets, scorecards, videos and embedded web pages from a single interface. Leverage defined selections of a data cube — views — for analysis and data exploration, and export as an Excel worksheet.
Performance Tracking: Compare targets with actual results, and with actual performance over time. Quickly find the desired metrics and create visually compelling scorecards such as impact diagrams, strategy maps and custom diagrams. Add existing scorecards to books and analyze data over different periods, metrics and dimensions.
Data Modeling: Autonomously build a financial model by converting business requirements into cubes, dimensions, hierarchies and calculations. Transform and load data easily into a financial model, without the need to code.
Sandbox Environments: Work in a sandbox to manipulate data as needed in real time without impacting actual data. Compare different scenarios and test assumptions to see the impact of potential decisions.
Microsoft Excel Integration: Go beyond what spreadsheets can do – perform multi-dimensional analysis and big data exploration within the Excel interface, retaining its full functionality and formatting. Find answers to business questions by creating reports from Cognos TM1 through interactive drag-and-drop actions.
AI-Based Automation: Speed up planning cycles and get more reliable results. Create plans, forecasts and budgets through automated model creation, natural language processing and cognitive analytics.
On-Demand Module: Generate dynamic dashboards from existing Excel spreadsheets through autonomous data exploration. Move from annual planning to rolling forecasts based on real-time information by identifying variances in plans caused by external data.

Limitations

At the time of this review, these are the limitations according to user feedback:

Customer support responses can get delayed.
The learning curve can be steep.

Suite Support

Sign up for Enterprise Support for access to fixes and product updates, collaboration with support professionals and phone support. Get faster access to personalized support and planning expertise by subscribing to the Preferred Care plan.

Email: Not specified.

Phone: (800) 426-7378.

Training: In addition to self-paced and instructor-led learning modules offered by the vendor, third-party websites also offer paid courses for the product. Other resources on the vendor’s website include product documentation in multiple languages, online self-help support and expert community access.

Tickets: Submit a support request by logging in to an IBM account.

Value-Added Benefits

How BlueMonday adds value to Infor Planning Analytics

Addresses Issues: Leverage unique capabilities to craft and merge cost-friendly, problem-solving platforms with business objectives.
Focuses on the Details: Review business necessities and match needs with ideal solutions.
Delivers Longevity: Allocates effective customer and tech support after the implementation process.
Contributes to Implementation Scope: Establishes solution scopes from costs to risks and implementation.
Analyzes Needs: Utilizes pre-determined requirements for in-depth software specifications.

Industry Expertise

BlueMonday serves manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality, financial services, pharmaceutical, life sciences, consumer packaged goods and energy industries.

Support and Services

Advice: Discusses customer needs and takes them into account for custom solutions.

Consulting: Examines client objectives, and converts specifications into solutions.

Engineering: Call +1 (650) 766-9655 in the U.S. or +27 (011) 792-0818 in South Africa.

Implementation: Offers significant implementation strategies for faster go-live times by performing ideal tests, specific support services for internal or client use and proper end-of-system operations.