Anaplan
Planning
In a nutshell
Anaplan is a cloud-based platform for enterprise planning, forecasting, and performance management. The solution helps companies integrate financial planning, sales planning, supply chain planning, workforce planning, and other planning processes into a single platform.
The focus is on the concept of “Connected Planning.” In this approach, different planning processes are not viewed in isolation but are linked together through shared data, models, and scenarios.
Why is Anaplan important?
Many companies today still plan in organizational silos. Finance prepares budgets, Sales plans sales volumes, Supply Chain works with its own forecasts, and HR develops staffing plans. Coordinating these individual plans is often cumbersome, error-prone, and time-consuming.
Anaplan addresses precisely this problem. The platform was developed to bring together different planning processes on a common foundation. As a result, changes in one area can be immediately reflected in other areas. For example, if planned sales increase, the impact on revenue, capacity, staffing needs, or liquidity can be analyzed directly.
This approach becomes particularly relevant in times of high uncertainty. Today, companies must be able to respond much more quickly to market changes and evaluate various scenarios. Traditional annual budgeting processes are often no longer sufficient for this.
Anaplan therefore supports modern approaches such as:
- Rolling Forecasts
- Scenario Planning
- Integrated Business Planning
- xP&A (Extended Planning & Analytics)
- Supply Chain Planning
- Financial Planning and FP&A
As a result, planning is increasingly becoming a continuous management process rather than a once-a-year exercise.
How does celver AG provide support?
For more than 25 years, celver AG has focused on integrated business management. In doing so, we always approach planning independently of specific vendors or technologies.
When companies reassess their planning landscape, they often ask themselves which platform will best support their processes in the long term. In many projects, solutions such as Board, SAP Analytics Cloud, and Anaplan are compared with one another.
However, the real challenge rarely lies in the choice of software itself. Rather, the decisive factor is which planning processes should be supported in the future and what the target vision is for corporate management, forecasting, and xP&A.
Typical questions from our customers include:
- How can financial planning and operational planning be better integrated?
- Which platform best supports our target processes?
- How can forecasting be accelerated?
- How can we achieve integrated management across finance, sales, and the supply chain?
- And what role do modern approaches such as AI, scenario planning, and xP&A play?
celver AG provides support both in developing the technical vision and in evaluating suitable planning platforms.
Related Terms
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Frequently Asked Questions
Connected Planning refers to the integration of different planning processes based on a shared database. This allows changes made in one area to be immediately incorporated into other plans.
Anaplan is typically used for financial planning, sales planning, supply chain planning, workforce planning, and integrated enterprise planning.
No. In addition to FP&A, the platform supports numerous other planning processes and is often used as a company-wide planning platform.
While Excel often consists of many individual files, Anaplan uses a single, shared planning model. This simplifies reconciliation and significantly speeds up scenario analysis.
Both platforms address integrated enterprise planning and xP&A. Their specific suitability depends on the business requirements, the existing system landscape, and the company's target processes.
Yes. Many companies use Anaplan for demand planning, supply planning, S&OP, and other supply chain processes.
Like many modern planning platforms, Anaplan is increasingly integrating AI and forecasting capabilities to improve forecasts and support planning processes.
Typical triggers include long budget cycles, a lack of transparency regarding planning relationships, heavy reliance on Excel, or the desire for integrated corporate management.
