Planful vs Board

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Our analysts compared Planful vs Board based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Accounting Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Planful Software Tool
Board Software Tool

Product Basics

Formerly Host Analytics, Planful is a financial planning and analysis cloud platform. It accelerates end-to-end FP&A. Suitable for midsize to large-scale businesses, it helps by centralizing data and managing financial and operational processes.

It helps users plan and manage reviews, approvals and submissions and generates workflow status reports to check the performance of every department. It helps analyze asset performance by using financial budgeting and forecasting techniques with its capital planning feature. It is a scalable solution that allows companies to check the effect of projects on the overall bottom line.
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Board Intelligent Planning Platform is a business planning tool that gives companies of all sizes resources to empower themselves and develop better, future-proof practices. It’s especially useful to businesses that have financial, supply chain, sales and operations, and merchandise and retail planning needs.

The software utilizes the Microsoft Azure cloud to give users access from any connected device and uses a low-code customization environment so even the least experienced programmer can optimize its workflow for whatever their company requires.

Pros
  • Easy to use interface
  • Collaborative planning
  • Data visualization tools
  • Flexible reporting options
  • Scalable for future growth
Cons
  • Limited free plan features
  • Can be expensive for large teams
  • Learning curve for advanced features
  • May not integrate with all software
  • Limited customization options
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$1,250 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$10,000 Quote-Based
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
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Linux
Android
Chromebook
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Linux
Android
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Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Conduct Ad hoc Analysis: Simplify complex ad hoc analysis by quickly creating financial and operational models while simultaneously checking the impact of these models on the bottom line. 
  • Close Books Faster: Decrease the time it takes to close books by automating data collection, aggregation and validation. Make data secure and compliant with standards and protocols.  
  • Improve Collaboration: Collaborate in a more efficient manner with current data and real-time insights. Get the power to make quick and accurate decisions with more confidence.  
  • Get Insights: Make well-informed decisions by gaining insights from across an organization to drive long-term value and growth. Automate manual processes to gain more time for strategic planning processes, analyzing and collaborating rather than worrying about spreadsheets.  
  • Automate Manual Processes: Save time and reduce errors by automating manual financial processes. Ensure that all financial processes are done with minimum manual effort and run more efficiently.  
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  • No Experience Required: Users of any skill level can get into Board and immediately start optimizing their business planning with a comprehensive set of tools for business intelligence, performance management and predictive analytics. 
  • All-in-One Platform: Board provides the resources to handle everything from flat-file data to ERP, with a user-friendly interface that serves expert and beginner users alike. 
  • Adaptable Use Cases: Financial planning and analytics, accounting reporting and consolidation, supply chain planning and management, and merchandise and retail planning can all be handled and optimized using Board’s robust set of corporate and departmental modules. 
  • Customizability: Board gives businesses the ability to not only handle processes out of the box, but also to create custom workflows and modules for their specific needs. 
  • Self-Service Analytics: Gain insights into business performance, forecast trends and develop better strategies without sophisticated IT knowledge or assistance. 
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  • Modern Tools: Combine the need for structured and dynamic planning to empower organizations to make well-informed decisions in a quick and strategic manner.  
  • Financial Consolidation: Accelerate month-end closing cycles with financial consolidation. Enhance financial planning and reporting by leveraging data from a single source of truth. Get pre-built consolidation functionality for currency conversion and reporting, currency translation adjustment calculations and posting. Implement functional, administrative and setup changes without the need for IT experts. Boost teams’ agility when reacting to changes in organization, strategy, regulation and accounting protocol. Ensure trusted and consistent global reporting by automatically mapping financial data. Keep tabs from start to end on balances, and analyze financial data across consolidation activities.  
  • Structured Planning: Save time and reduce errors by automating labor-intensive financial planning activities. Avoid costly and disruptive customization fees, save time and reduce risk of error with predefined planning and reporting templates. Automate integration from any ERP, CRM or HCM. Create a single source of financial truth by automatically collecting, aggregating and validating financial data. Ensure consistency and accuracy by creating and modifying structured financial reports and elevating financial conversations. 
  • Dynamic Planning: Analyze, plan and make confident decisions with dynamic planning. Build custom-tailored financial models. Leverage customization across processes, functions and use cases. Configure planning experiences and give users the flexibility to plan for anything. Connect data sources from separate systems in one unified, cloud-based platform. Boost financial decision making with a single source of truth. Get insights and make course corrections with real-time data refreshing. Inculcate companywide collaboration culture by providing the right data at the right level to the right person.  
  • Integration: Automate data integration to reduce manual intervention and easily transform data with over 200 pre-built connectors. Adjust to automatic data processing with a growing integration platform. Check status and activity of deployed integrations from a centralized place. Ensure data integration process flows are repeatable, automated and secure, and provide audit trails required by internal and external auditors. Understand changes in data with multiple validation points across integration workflows. 
  • Reporting: Leverage reporting formats and delivery options to meet financial, management and ad hoc needs. Ensure data accuracy and transparency with self-service reporting and automated report distribution. Automate collection and aggregation of financial and business data into a single cloud-based platform. Ensure everyone is working with current and accurate information derived from a single source of truth. Boost financial IQ with self-service reporting capabilities. Create a more agile environment with impactful financial decision making. 
  • Annual Operating Plan: Build collaborative financial plans that align with business objectives. Turn annual plans into quarterly or monthly rolling forecasts, and check models for different scenarios to determine how to realign and adjust strategies.  
  • Workforce Planning: Plan accordingly for workforces by connecting HR, finance and operational data together. Create a headcount plan that can be adjusted to changing marketing requirements. Gain insight to build winning strategies and utilize employees as strategic assets. Boost financial IQ to understand and influence impacts on the financial health of workforce costs.  
  • Cash Flow Forecasting: Assess the impact of decisions by gaining complete control and visibility over finances. Reallocate cash by identifying trends and understanding levers. Mitigate cash flow risk by adjusting investment opportunities.  
  • Scenario Analysis: Analyze every option by planning across multiple case scenarios and assessing key drivers. Bring agility by optimizing current period results. Gain the flexibility to discover deeper insights across a broad range of models. Align executives and business partners with data-driven decisions. Check the impact of plan changes from every level with immediate results. 
  • Rolling Forecasts: Adjust to sudden changes, keep forecasts current and business agile with continually rolling planning periods. Automatically keep tabs on the impact of actuals on forecasted trends. Improve risk analysis by quickly identifying opportunities and risks as business landscapes evolve. Align rolling forecasts by collaborating across different departments. Gain real-time insights to redirect resources and priorities and align them with business objectives.  
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  • Adaptable Platform: Board Intelligent Planning Platform can be deployed in a variety of ways depending on specific business needs, and utilizes a proprietary in-memory technology and HTML5 web platform to remain fast and usable regardless of how it’s deployed. 
    • Granular Security: A multi-layer security system provides full control over who has access to what information on a cell-by-cell basis.
    • Metadata Gateway: The software translates data sources into simple, easy-to-read views and imports data into its own format automatically.
  • Powerful Analytics: Board provides automatic and manual analytics features for users of all experience levels to make sense of data and inform future decisions. 
    • Drag-and-Drop Analysis: Build robust analyses from company financial data by simply dragging and dropping information into a visual environment, with built-in machine learning capabilities to handle the more difficult, technical side of analysis. 
    • Multidirectional Drilldown: Create drill paths in any direction, between reports or back to source systems for the most in-depth analysis possible. 
  • Robust Planning: Enter data and use it to determine future plans with Board’s complete set of ERP tools. 
    • Simplified Metrics: Users can create Excel-like formulas to define specific custom metrics and apply them to any of the software's databases. 
    • Real-time Adjustments: Change data metrics and models without affecting user operations. This gives businesses maximum control over planning and forecasting as events unfold. 
  • Business Modeling: Define workflows and onboard employees to ensure maximum organizational efficiency. 
    • Customized Rules: Create and customize boundaries and guidelines for their workflows. Users can also set criteria to help generate more precise predictions. 
    • Adaptive Aggregation: Flexible data aggregation can be performed at any time, automatically adapting data and metrics to new dimensions. 
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Product Ranking

#116

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Accounting Software

#17

among all
Accounting Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 82 reviews
Great User Sentiment 804 reviews
86%
of users recommend this product

Planful has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 82 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

89%
of users recommend this product

Board has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 804 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

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4.8 (2)
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4.4 (279)
4.29 (41)
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4.3 (41)
4.5 (134)
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4.6 (157)
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4.3 (232)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Streamlined Financial Close: Planful helps automate routine tasks like data consolidation and report generation, which can significantly reduce the time it takes to close the books each month. This efficiency is often praised by users in fast-paced environments.
Improved Forecasting Accuracy: The platform's forecasting tools leverage historical data and predictive analytics to generate more accurate forecasts. Users appreciate this feature as it allows for better-informed decision-making and resource allocation.
Enhanced Collaboration: Planful provides a centralized platform for finance teams to collaborate on budgeting, forecasting, and reporting. This feature improves communication and transparency within the department, leading to more cohesive financial strategies.
Customizable Reporting: Users frequently highlight the ability to create custom reports tailored to their specific needs. This flexibility allows finance teams to analyze data from multiple angles and gain deeper insights into their financial performance.
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Collaborative Planning: Users praise Board's real-time collaboration features, enabling teams to work together seamlessly on plans and share updates instantly, boosting efficiency and alignment.
Flexible & Scalable: Many appreciate Board's adaptability to various planning needs, accommodating diverse data sets, departments, and future growth, making it a future-proof solution.
Data Visualization & Insights: Users value Board's robust data visualization tools, transforming complex data into clear dashboards and reports, aiding in informed decision-making and identifying trends.
Automation & Streamlining: Real user experiences highlight Board's ability to automate repetitive tasks and workflows, freeing up time for strategic work and analysis, improving overall planning efficiency.
Mobile Accessibility: Appreciations are shared for Board's mobile app, allowing users to access plans and data on the go, enhancing flexibility and real-time decision support.
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Steep Learning Curve: Many users find Planful's interface to be complex and unintuitive, requiring significant time investment to learn the system's intricacies. The abundance of features can be overwhelming for new users, leading to frustration and a slow adoption rate within organizations.
Customization Challenges: While Planful offers customization options, implementing them often requires advanced technical skills or reliance on the vendor's professional services, which can be costly. This limitation can hinder organizations with unique workflows or reporting needs from fully tailoring the software to their specific requirements.
Reporting Limitations: Some users report that generating specific or ad-hoc reports can be cumbersome in Planful. The system's pre-built reports may not always cater to every organization's needs, and creating custom reports may require technical expertise or additional support.
Performance Issues: A segment of users has mentioned experiencing slow loading times and occasional system lags, particularly when working with large datasets or complex reports. This can impact productivity and user satisfaction, especially for organizations with high data volumes or demanding reporting requirements.
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Complex Calculations: Limited transparency in formula calculations, hindering troubleshooting and advanced analysis.
Macro Restrictions: Restricted macro functionalities might constrain automation and specialized workflows.
Navigation Challenges: Unintuitive interface layout and navigation, leading to user frustration and inefficiency.
Mobile Limitations: Limited mobile app functionalities compared to desktop version, restricting accessibility.
Restricted Dashboard Design: Limited design freedom for dashboards, impacting user preferences and visual clarity.
Scalability Concerns: Performance issues reported with large datasets, potentially hindering scalability for growing companies.
Opaque Pricing Structure: Lack of clear pricing information and complex licensing tiers, making cost estimation difficult.
Limited Support Availability: Reported challenges with timely and comprehensive support responses.
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Planful has garnered a reputation for its robust financial reporting and analysis capabilities, particularly excelling in budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation. Users appreciate the software's ability to handle complex financial models and its flexibility in generating custom reports. The platform's intuitive interface and user-friendly design have also been praised, making it accessible to both finance professionals and non-financial users. However, some users have noted that the initial setup and implementation process can be time-consuming and may require significant support from Planful's team. Additionally, while Planful offers a wide range of features, some users have expressed a desire for more advanced functionality in areas such as workforce planning and project accounting. Compared to competitors like Adaptive Insights and Vena Solutions, Planful stands out for its comprehensive financial consolidation capabilities and its ability to handle large volumes of data. Its reporting and analytics tools are also considered to be more user-friendly and customizable. However, Adaptive Insights may be a better choice for organizations seeking a more cloud-based solution with stronger integrations with other business applications. Vena Solutions, on the other hand, may be more suitable for companies with complex financial modeling needs due to its Excel-based interface. Overall, Planful is best suited for mid-sized to large enterprises with complex financial reporting and analysis requirements. Its strengths lie in its budgeting, forecasting, consolidation, and reporting capabilities, making it an ideal choice for organizations looking to streamline their financial processes and gain deeper insights into their financial performance. However, companies with limited IT resources or those seeking a more cloud-based solution may want to consider alternative options.

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Board, an Intelligent Planning software, garners mixed reviews from users. While praised for its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options, some find its cost and scalability a concern. Let's delve deeper. Users appreciate Board's intuitiveness, making it accessible even to non-technical folks. Its flexibility allows tailoring the platform to specific needs, a boon for organizations with intricate planning processes or unique data demands. Additionally, Board seamlessly integrates with various data sources, simplifying information consolidation for insightful analysis. However, cost can be a barrier, particularly for smaller businesses, as Board can be pricier than competitors. Scalability concerns arise, with some users reporting performance issues when handling massive datasets. While powerful for basic planning, Board might lack the advanced features offered by competitors for highly technical users or complex scenarios. Board sets itself apart by emphasizing visually engaging and interactive reports and dashboards, aiding communication with stakeholders. Its robust mobile app empowers users to access and manage plans on the go, promoting flexibility and remote work. Ultimately, Board's strengths and weaknesses hold varying importance depending on your needs. Budget, data volume, desired features, and user requirements should be carefully considered when comparing Board to other Intelligent Planning software options. Remember, this is just a general overview, and thorough research tailored to your specific context is crucial before making a decision.

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