Successful Anaplan for FP&A Projects – Top 5 priorities

Introduction

Successful Anaplan for FP&A projects prioritise the following;

1.       Processes - Well understood processes which are represented in the project by subject matter experts and process owners.

2.       Data - Data that is of a reasonable quality meaning that it is accessible, structured and free of errors.

3.       People – Strong leaders, managers and technical people that can gain buy-in, maintain momentum and overcome bureaucratic and organisation bottlenecks.

4.       FP&A experts - Functional FP&A modelling experts who understand the needs of the team first hand and can bridge the competency gap between the as-is and the to-be vision.

5.       Anaplan experts - Anaplan technical experts skilled in translating FP&A processes into workable and well-designed Anaplan models while also being able to leverage existing and new Anaplan functionality to maximise return on investment.

Processes

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A place understand process as the number one priority.

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A prioritise processes.

Well understood processes are at the core of a successful Anaplan for FP&A implementation. As a result successful projects will place the understanding of these processes as the top priority.

Anaplan is used to model processes by taking external data and user generated inputs, combined with functions, formulas and calculations to create valuable outputs and reports. As an essential information source for strategic decision making they then lead to action as organisational leadership responds to external forces, corrects trajectories and steers the organisation back on track. They may also be used to mitigate unforeseen risks or exploit and maximise unexpected opportunities.   

Successful Anaplan for FP&A projects will ensure that subject matter experts and process owners are integral members of the project team and are provided the capacity to fully integrate with the project where and when required. This involves providing them with dedicated time to work full time in the project, to be free from their business as usual responsibilities and to be afforded the headspace to get fully under the skin of the processes they are required to own.

Successful Anaplan for FP&A projects map out the ‘as-is’ processes to expose and understand dependencies, bottlenecks and redundancies.  They then create ‘to-be’ process maps as a defining blueprint for the subsequent Anaplan model design. The scope and design is defined in these ‘to-be’ maps, mid project surprises are therefore minimised and the risk of scope creep significantly reduced.  

Data

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A place good quality data as the number two priority.

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A prioritise data. Developing and maintaining good quality data is a top priority as Anaplan models require external data to be able to successfully model an FP&A process. Good quality data is accessible, structured and free of errors or duplication.  

Cost of sales, product prices and unit volumes can be used to successfully model sales activity, revenues and margins. Usage metrics can be leveraged to accurately model activity based costs such as energy and fuel consumption or travel and subsistence costs.

The Anaplan model is likely to be present within a mix of technologies used to extract insights and value from organisational data. These range from organisational ERP systems, data warehouses and adjacent function specific tools. The Anaplan model exists within an ecosystem or stack of technologies, interconnected and dependent on each other. It is the data that flows between these systems and good quality data acts as a lubricate within this wider system ensuring that disparate systems are able to communicate effectively with each, pass data through the system or process efficiently and finally contribute to an output which is valuable for decision making.  

Poor quality data, that which is inconsistent, unstructured and littered with errors is like sand or grit in the system. It slows the system down, stops the parts moving smoothly and may ultimately bring the whole process to a halt.  

Successful Anaplan projects place a high priority on good quality data as it lubricates the process. Data is moved from one subs system to the other and when combined with functions, formulas and user inputs generates value in the form of outputs.

People

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A place people as the number three priority.

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A prioritise people. Successful projects require leaders that are bought into the vision of Anaplan and the value it can bring to the organisation. They champion the benefits of collaborative, integrated planning and bring to life a vision of the organisation in which Anaplan plays a pivotal role. Leaders also recruit their managers and subordinates in this vision.

Strong leaders throughout the organisation help lower barriers to progress and development by working on removing bottlenecks and decision pinch points that can exist in hierarchal bureaucracies.

Model administrators and in-house development teams must be open to gaining new knowledge and skills along with being at ease with the changing role of finance in a more connected and digital working world. From understanding the intricacies of common Anaplan functions, the nature of multi-dimensional planning and the shift away from transactional, analytical roles to those focused on business partnering and strategic advisory can be daunting. The magnitude of the shift and its impact on the people charged with making it happen can be significant.

Successful Anaplan for FP&A projects bring their people with them. However, it is not only those involved in the design, development and deployment of the Anaplan platform that are brought fully onboard but also end users whose working life may never be the same.

FP&A expertise

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A place using FP&A experts as the number four priority.

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A prioritise using FP&A functional experts. Projects that deliver the greatest return on investment leverage strong FP&A expertise to intuitively understand, anticipate and translate FP&A processes into well designed, agile and responsive Anaplan models.

The knowledge of and access to a common set of professional standards, language and culture that comes from having a common professional background and training cultivates a degree of trust that is challenging to replicate. This trust comes from knowing that everyone in the core project team has completed the same path, suffered the same challenges and enjoyed the same rewards that come with pursuing a professional qualification. They have fought in the trenches of professional exams, lived to tell the tale and have the stories and battle wounds to prove it. This commonality creates a bond of professional comradeship that makes all the difference between project success and failure.  

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A recognise that it is especially important that any third party support or consultancy brought in to design, delivery and deploy the Anaplan model is able to share in this comradeship, integrate seamlessly into the team and intuitively ‘get’ what the FP&A model needs to deliver. Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A use consultants that walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

Anaplan expertise

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A place using Anaplan experts as the number five priority.

Successful Anaplan projects for FP&A prioritise using Anaplan platform experts. Projects that deliver against the promise of Anaplan use design, delivery and development consultants that have an intimate knowledge and intuitive understanding of Anaplan.

Anaplan is not Excel and it should never be used to replicate an Excel model. A true Anaplan expert is acutely aware of the distinction and will be able to take data, along with a defined process and objective to design, develop and deploy an Anaplan model which fully leverages the features and functionality of the platform.

An experienced and qualified Anaplan expert will have seen multiple examples of how many FP&A process have translated into intuitive, agile and responsive Anaplan models. Deep technical expertise ensures that while many aspects of the processes may be common those which are unique can be effectively integrated seamlessly and intuitively.

However, while a seasoned Anaplan experts may be able to rely on significant prior knowledge and experience as a cloud native platform Anaplan is constantly being updated with new features and functionality. Dedicated Anaplan experts will always be ahead of the development curve and therefore always up to date with new releases. They will be immediately aware, knowledgeable and skilled in being able to translate these new pieces of functionality into working models and able to fully adapt, exploit and extract maximum value from them.

Successful Anaplan for FP&A projects gain maximum value from Anaplan by leveraging the expertise of dedicate Anaplan consultants. The time to value is shorter, the breadth of functionality utilised is wider and the integration of valuable new functionality.

Summary

Successful Anaplan for FP&A projects make processes, data, people, FP&A expertise and Anaplan expertise their top priorities. Whether through internal and external resource they are acutely aware that to ensure maximum return on their technology investment they must priorities these five key factors.