Anaplan is an enterprise planning platform that lets you execute “what if” scenario models and other forecasts. It is a cloud-based platform that offers a comprehensive business planning and performance management solution. It is designed to help organizations across various industries streamline their planning processes, make data-driven decisions, and optimize performance.
Speculated Product focus areas of Anaplan
The upcoming Product features are rumoured to be developed with the focus on these specific areas in mind:
Management Reporting
The reporting process for management shall be simplified with several new features like:
NLQ- Natural Language Query
Under this feature, users can potentially use the “Ask Anaplan” use case that will soon be integrated into the mobile application to drill down on pertinent questions and produce suggestions on that else they should be looking at using in-house intelligence. This capability will reduce the friction in accessing important functionalities.
Geospatial Mapping
Anaplan is expected to include powerful geospatial mapping capabilities for efficient territory planning. With this feature, users shall be able to visualize data on maps, making it easier to understand geographical patterns and optimize territory assignments.
Additionally, the software shall support conditional formatting, allowing users to apply dynamic styling to data based on specific conditions or rules. This combination of geospatial mapping and conditional formatting can empower businesses to make data-driven decisions, leading to more effective territory planning and enhanced overall performance.
Workflows on Mobile
Anaplan on mobile now offers many convenient features to enhance user productivity and accessibility. Here are some of the key features available:
1. Notifications and Tasks Users receive real-time notifications about important updates, tasks, and deadlines related to their planning and projects. This ensures that they stay informed and can take immediate action on time-sensitive matters.
2. Approvals: Mobile users can review and approve various planning processes, such as budget approvals or project milestones, directly from their mobile devices. This feature streamlines the approval workflow, even when users are on the go.
3. Reporting: Access to comprehensive reports and analytics is available on the mobile app. Users can view critical business insights, review performance metrics, and monitor key indicators from anywhere, facilitating data-driven decision-making on the fly.
4. Personalized Pinned Cards on the Homepage: Users can customize their homepage by pinning cards that display the most relevant and frequently accessed information. This personalized approach ensures that users have quick access to the data that matters most to them.
5. Widgets: Anaplan on mobile will offer a wide range of widgets that users can add to their dashboard. These widgets provide at-a-glance views of important data and KPIs (key performance indicators), giving users a comprehensive overview of their planning and performance metrics.
With these features, Anaplan's mobile app empowers users to stay connected, collaborate effectively, and make informed decisions while on the move, ensuring smooth and efficient planning and management of their business processes.
Calc Engine and DMS Separation
To understand the separation (by Logic) of Calc engines from the data management layer, we must understand the two engines that Anaplan has, one recently introduced by the name of Polaris, a sparse Calc engine. It is a part of the Hyperblock Family and separating its capabilities from the classic engine is crucial.
Data Management
Let us work on large data sets that have sparse datasets in a single, scalable environment, and modify what-if scenarios.
10 million trillion cells- this is how capable this new Calc engine is.
Polaris is unique as it is specifically designed for sparse calculations which means that it will perform calculations and simulations on models where most cells are NOT populated.
Each cell that contains data in Polaris uses
24 bytes of memory for numeric cells
only cells that contain data consume memory
Whereas on the other hand In the Classic engine, data is stored as an array and is dense.
Each cell in the Classic engine.
8 bytes of memory
Irrespective of whether it contains data or not.
Rule of thumb for efficiency gains
the Classic engine >33% of cells contain data > Polaris is more memory efficient
Now that we have understood these nuances, let us look at what changes Anaplan will be implementing soon.
As the slide shows, they have separated the layers of Calc engine and DMS layer, this is done for efficiency gains and to better manage the data in a seamless way.
Data Management
The data-platform relationship has undergone a fundamental transformation with the addition of a secondary data layer. This enhancement enables the utilization of Syndicated data to enhance prediction capabilities significantly. The incorporation of embedded schemas shall further accelerate the implementation process, reducing the required time by 50%.
It is speculated to be released in three phases- base DMS- Smart DMS- and DMS Apps (To be confirmed in upcoming events/platform newsletters).
These are Setups for a smoother and easy-to-digest transition.
Cloudworks / Salesforce Integration
It now enhances the innovative integration solution designed for cloud-native environments, enabling effortless data transfer between Anaplan and Salesforce.
Polestar Launches Bidirectional Data Connector for Anaplan “Wormhole.”
Automate your workflow by leveraging the connectivity of Anaplan and our expertise to bring seamless integration capabilities with Anaplan.
With our Integration plug-and-play tool you can have:
Workflow Management
Ensures transparency and accountability through robust audit trails and progress reporting features. The platform supports hierarchical task flows, allowing for efficient task management within a structured framework. Users can handle complex workflows with non-linear flows using branching options. Also enables task scheduling and team-based delegation, facilitating efficient planning and collaboration.
Workflow management Ensures transparency and accountability through robust audit trails and progress reporting features. The platform supports hierarchical task flows, allowing for efficient task management within a structured framework. Users can handle complex workflows with non-linear flows using branching options. Also enables task scheduling and team-based delegation, facilitating efficient planning and collaboration.
Plan IQ- Time Series Forecasting Engine
The time series forecasting engine utilizes the MVLR (Multi-Variate Linear Regression) method and integrates Anaplan Prophet, a powerful statistical forecasting algorithm. Remarkably, it is Anaplan’s first native ML (Machine Learning) engine, enabling seamless integration with Amazon Forecast, Google Vortex AI (Artificial Intelligence), and Cloudworks. This integration capability empowers users with even more accurate predictions and extends the platform's forecasting potential.
Supercharged Visualization and Applications Division Acquistion
Anaplan has introduced a range of powerful visualizations to facilitate faster decision-making for businesses. By leveraging these visual tools, users can easily zero in on key data and spot trends, leading to more rapid and informed decision-making processes.
The KPI card conditional formatting feature allows users to highlight critical KPIs based on specified rules, quickly identifying areas that require a change in strategy or immediate attention.
The ability to set the color of bars or milestones on charts helps track late milestones, over-budget projects, or under-resourced projects, giving decision-makers a clear picture of project status and potential areas of concern.
Users can also manually change the color series on sparklines, ensuring a consistent color palette across all charts on Boards, promoting visual coherence and clarity in data representation.
Furthermore, the drag-and-drop functionality on Gantt charts allows users to update dates within the model effortlessly, enabling them to explore new "what-if" scenarios and make more informed decisions based on dynamic changes.
With these advanced visualizations, Anaplan empowers businesses to gain deeper insights from their data, identify critical patterns and trends, and make swift, well-informed decisions that positively impact their operations and bottom line.
