Anaplan vs. SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Anaplan
Score 8.7 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Anaplan is a scenario planning and analysis platform designed to optimize decision-making in complex business environments so that enterprises can outpace their competition and the market. By building connections and collaboration across organizational silos, the Anaplan platform surfaces key insights.N/A
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
The SAP BPC software is designed to help users plan and achieve a faster, more accurate close. The SAP BPC software aims to help users spend more time growing their business and less time closing books. The vendor’s value proposition is that their software delivers planning, budgeting, forecasting, and financial consolidation capabilities in a single application. This, in turn, enables them to easily adjust plans and forecasts, speed up budget and closing cycles, and ensure compliance with…N/A
Pricing
AnaplanSAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AnaplanSAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AnaplanSAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Considered Both Products
Anaplan
Chose Anaplan
Anaplan offers faster performance. The modelling tool is user oriented.
Chose Anaplan
Scalability, Performance and UX is key from above two tools versus Anaplan.
Chose Anaplan
Ease of use, intuitive design, business user friendly, quick implementation time
Chose Anaplan

  • Better end user interface
Chose Anaplan
Anaplan has the advantage of multidimensionality and fast calculation engine which is lacking in most of the above. Scenario planning is easier using Anaplan. Anaplan is not an off the shelf tool like most softwares that have been prebuilt to address specific problems/ issues. …
Chose Anaplan
Anaplan provides the capability to do enhanced scenario modelling almost realtime and has wide range of integration options available to integrate the application with a wide variety of third-party systems. Anaplan UX is very intuitive which drives greater end user adoption. …
Chose Anaplan
Easy to implement Easy functions and scripting easy access to any plan more structured learning experience ( self-learning especially, good certification program ( also free unlike SAP ) Handling data inbox sizes is better in SAP No issues of size or data sparsity SAP is …
Chose Anaplan
Anaplan is cheaper, more flexible, and easier to develop than BPC. In particular, the ability to plan different parts of the business at different levels of granularity (e.g. planning fixed staff costs at the company level, travel & expenses at the regional level and executive …
Chose Anaplan
I was an admin also in SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation). But, I can say that it's somehow hard to implement. It is not as flexible as Anaplan. I am using Anaplan for years already. This is a game-changer i.e. for Finance people. We were able to easily implement it …
Chose Anaplan
Planful offers a great solution, however, they have significantly underperformed on their annual growth rate. The solution has a lot to offer, however, it is split across two solutions and is not True connected planning.
OneStream is growing on a fast trajectory and has an …
Chose Anaplan
I have used SAP BPC and SAC. With relation to BPC, it is more user friendly and easier to maintain. For SAC, it similar but varies when it comes to utilizing the data and setting up for charts
Chose Anaplan
I've used other products in the past, but I came into this company knowing I would be using Anaplan specifically. Thus far I am still fine with that decision.
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Chose SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Anaplan UI is much better than SAP BPC. Anaplan is user-friendly and upgrades are handled automatically as it is in the cloud.
Chose SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
SAP SAC ranks higher then SAP BPC due to its cloud offering nature. Anaplan has its own merits due to handling the complex planning scenarios.
Chose SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
SAP BPC was decided to be implemented into our company due to the added value compared to other competitors who offer the same systems. Although SAP BPC has room for improvement, the ease of use was the deciding factor that resulted in the company picking it. Organization, …
Features
AnaplanSAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
7.4
214 Ratings
3% below category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
-
Ratings
Pixel Perfect reports6.47 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.0214 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.96 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.1
8 Ratings
11% above category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
-
Ratings
Drill-down analysis9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.4
221 Ratings
2% above category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
-
Ratings
Publish to Web8.67 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.0219 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Versioning9.2192 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling7.98 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.2
8 Ratings
8% above category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
-
Ratings
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)9.17 Ratings00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization9.17 Ratings00 Ratings
Predictive Analytics6.43 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.3
224 Ratings
6% above category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
-
Ratings
Multi-User Support (named login)9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model9.8224 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control9.773 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)9.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
7.5
213 Ratings
5% below category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
-
Ratings
Responsive Design for Web Access8.3204 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Application7.4190 Ratings00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.8198 Ratings00 Ratings
Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting
Comparison of Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.0
322 Ratings
8% above category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
7.8
37 Ratings
6% below category average
Long-term financial planning9.2297 Ratings8.032 Ratings
Financial budgeting9.4301 Ratings8.033 Ratings
Forecasting9.3310 Ratings8.036 Ratings
Scenario modeling9.2312 Ratings7.032 Ratings
Management reporting7.8311 Ratings7.936 Ratings
Consolidation and Close
Comparison of Consolidation and Close features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
7.7
275 Ratings
3% below category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
7.9
36 Ratings
1% below category average
Financial data consolidation8.1255 Ratings8.033 Ratings
Journal entries and reports7.5211 Ratings7.828 Ratings
Multi-currency management7.312 Ratings8.325 Ratings
Intercompany Eliminations7.39 Ratings7.828 Ratings
Minority Ownership7.38 Ratings7.020 Ratings
Local and consolidated reporting7.9244 Ratings8.030 Ratings
Detailed Audit Trails9.0256 Ratings8.227 Ratings
Financial Reporting and Compliance
Comparison of Financial Reporting and Compliance features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.0
293 Ratings
1% below category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
8.0
36 Ratings
1% below category average
Financial Statement Reporting9.0271 Ratings8.032 Ratings
Management Reporting8.0284 Ratings8.036 Ratings
Excel-based Reporting7.8262 Ratings8.035 Ratings
Automated board and financial reporting8.214 Ratings8.027 Ratings
XBRL support for regulatory filing7.31 Ratings00 Ratings
Analytics and Reporting
Comparison of Analytics and Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
9.2
313 Ratings
13% above category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
8.6
32 Ratings
7% above category average
Personalized dashboards8.6307 Ratings9.021 Ratings
Color-coded scorecards9.4291 Ratings9.019 Ratings
KPIs9.120 Ratings8.930 Ratings
Cost and profitability analysis9.3270 Ratings9.026 Ratings
Key Performance Indicator setting9.5281 Ratings9.023 Ratings
Benchmarking with external data9.114 Ratings7.018 Ratings
Integration
Comparison of Integration features of Product A and Product B
Anaplan
8.3
319 Ratings
1% below category average
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
7.0
35 Ratings
18% below category average
Flat file integration9.0309 Ratings7.032 Ratings
Excel data integration8.0287 Ratings8.034 Ratings
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources7.7269 Ratings6.022 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AnaplanSAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Centage
Centage
Score 9.4 out of 10
Centage
Centage
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
OneStream
OneStream
Score 8.8 out of 10
OneStream
OneStream
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AnaplanSAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(336 ratings)
8.0
(37 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(35 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(64 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(7 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(7 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
4.2
(27 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(6 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
8.3
(7 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(27 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(5 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(3 ratings)
7.6
(36 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(7 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(4 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.9
(4 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
AnaplanSAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)
Likelihood to Recommend
Anaplan
Anaplan is best suited for strategic planning initiatives in industries like CPG, Manufacturing, FS, Pharma. It can handle multiple use cases for each function in the company like Supply chain, Finance, Sales and more. It is one of the best tools I have seen in scenario modelling. It is not suitable for very detailed level planning, essentially execution level eg. Production scheduling.
Read full review
SAP
SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) overall is a good package and has helped improve our reporting a lot whilst also making it more efficient due to the reliability of data input / output. There are limitations like graphs being so limited in functionality and reports failing when too much data being processed however i would recommend to others.
Read full review
Pros
Anaplan
  • Anaplan can scale as your business grows, for example adding new regions into to your geographical hierarchy.
  • Anaplan is flexible and can do anything you want it to, there are no tables pre-configured that you need to fix your business process into.
  • Reading formulas in Anaplan is straight forward with a quick learning curve.
Read full review
SAP
  • SAP BPC is real time data. You can send information into the system and see it reflected in your reports immediately. Other systems may require a manual push into a reporting system.
  • SAP BPC is a shared reporting tool, so multiple users can be working in a model/environment at the same time, real time. This is especially helpful if your workbooks incorporated multiple processes requiring multiple users to get into the same model.
  • SAP BPC is a powerful tool designed to help all facets of the company, from cash flow to capital expenditures to headcount management to financial planning to consolidation.
Read full review
Cons
Anaplan
  • Ability to decide if to apply the formula or a manual input on front end for each line item
  • Real Time Data Transfer across models. Currently Data is transferred using Processes across different models. Having a functionality to access data from any model in real time would be great
Read full review
SAP
  • SAP should focus on delivering one single product for planning, consolidation and budgeting needs rather than providing a large list of options to choose from.
  • The product is not very user-friendly compared to other cloud competitors. There is a heavy dependency on IT teams.
  • SAP BPC should come up a pure cloud option.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Anaplan
Anaplan is a very strong multi-dimensional modeling tool that provides a calculation engine to empower a complex planning process. It is fairly easy to learn for those with experience in similar tools, or excel. It forces structure and auditability that spread sheets do not have, along with extensive security capabilities
Read full review
SAP
No answers on this topic
Usability
Anaplan
Anaplan is interesting because it is at the same time easy to use and difficult to use. An end user can navigate a well-constructed app, being pointed in the right direction every time they feel a slight bit of confusion, and find everything they need in what feels like a straight line. Similarly, a model builder (developer of sorts) can have the exact same experience, but the journey is longer and more complicated. End users have great experiences with Anaplan, but sometimes model builders have a frustrating one. That is not to say model building is hard (because it truly is not), but things change, and when things change in complex systems, the effort required simply to investigate where a model builder needs to make an adjustment may frustrate them but also frustrate their non-technical bosses. However, the reality is that with complicated businesses, complicated business problems, come complicated solutions. It is actually a testament to Anaplan's capabilities that it has taken on the biggest problems at the biggest companies. It may be daunting to adjust it in those environments, but at least you know it did meet the needs there, which is more than most tools can say.
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SAP
Unlike other SAP traditional products, SAP BPC was meant to be simple and familiar to financial users
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Anaplan
There are very few outages. Maintenance is scheduled on two or three Saturdays per month, so as not to affect businesses. When there is an outage, users are kept informed of progress to restore the platform and typically this takes no more than an hour. Anaplan customer support is very responsive if we ever have questions about platform issues
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Performance
Anaplan
Everything is calculated in memory in the cloud. It's nearly instantaneous updates when you make changes. The only time things get a little slow is when you have a massive model with very intricate calculations...but "slow" for Anaplan is not what I would call "slow" for something like Hyperion. We used to have Hyperion calcs that ran for 60 mins before you could use data. The equivalent would be 60 seconds in Anaplan.
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Anaplan
Support quality has dropped since Thoma Bravo has taken over. I think some serious re-focus needs to happen here -- part of the beauty of being in the Anaplan community was how involved you felt in it before. Before I didn't dread sending a support ticket, now I am starting to.
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SAP
We need a big support team with various skillset like BPC, ABAP, BW, HANA, FICO etc
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In-Person Training
Anaplan
In my opinion, in-person training is always the best if you have the option to do so. This allows real-time interactions with the instructions, whereas the online training I took required me to write-down questions, email them, and wait for responses. This slows down the process, as you can imagine. That said, in-person training is an extra cost and it likely isn't needed for everyone. I would suggest selecting a small number of people to take in-person training and then having them act as mentors to the rest of your team. That way, as the rest of the team takes the online training, they have a resource to help them in real time.
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SAP
SAP BPC training content and trainers are very good. The training is structured and provides a very good understanding of the product features and functionalities. I attended 6 separate training sessions of week-long or more. I had very good experience in all the sessions. The training is organized very well.
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Online Training
Anaplan
Anaplan training materials are clear, simple, easy to understand and to follow. Visuals are excellent. The vendor is good at updating training materials in a timely manner and encouraging users and administrators to keep coming back to Academy site for refresher courses or new feature courses. I really like their interactive diagrams
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SAP
SAP Training contents are very good, informative and exhaustive.
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Implementation Rating
Anaplan
The platform allows a flexible implementation mechanic to be put in place, since the possibilities and functionalities are vast and there are very few things the tool cannot do well. The solutions for the financial planning and the integrated business planning we put in place were easily adopted by the end users and their day-to-day work was made easier.
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SAP
The implementation was carried out in two phases spread over a period of 4 years with 2 upgrades in between. We also had multiple upgrades to HANA.
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Alternatives Considered
Anaplan
Anaplan and these other tools are very similar. I cannot say that I selected Anaplan over them as I have worked with and been involved with setting up a number of tools for clients. They all have their advantages and Anaplan is a very strong tool in the cloud planning space
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SAP
With Hyperion we struggled as it didn’t have integrated planning and consolidation, whereas BPC does have it. BPC is easier for reporting as it is Excel-based. Also BPC has prepackaged business process flows that helped a lot. Hyperion on the other hand has a faster response time for user queries or report generation.
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Scalability
Anaplan
The platform is highly flexible and can be deployed across multiple departments and locations, supporting growth and varying business needs effectively. Its cloud-based architecture allows for scaling model size and user access as required. However, there can be some challenges with performance and model complexity as the scale increases significantly, which slightly limits its scalability in very large or highly complex environments.
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Anaplan
  • Anaplan's implementation led to a significant reduction in planning cycle errors and bugs, streamlining processes and improving overall accuracy in data inputs
  • Standardizing the planning process and enabling cross-functional collaboration through Anaplan enhanced our ability to adapt swiftly to changing business needs, resulting in improved agility in decision-making
  • The platform's capabilities, especially in Demand Planning and Supply Chain, positively impacted our ROI by optimizing resource allocation and solving complex business problems efficiently across multiple functions
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SAP
  • When originally implemented (as the predecessor product Outlooksoft) BPC took ASU from trying to budget and forecast for a 2B enterprise out of spreadsheets and into a far more consolidated tool. It has saved us considerable time over the years and paid for itself several times over.
  • BPC also allows us to present our budget in multiple different views to support management, board and departmental reporting.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Anaplan Screenshots

Screenshot of a preview of the Anaplan login page.Screenshot of a preview of an Anaplan home page.Screenshot of a preview of an Anaplan board.

SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) Screenshots

Screenshot of SAP BPC Home ScreenScreenshot of SAP BPC Web ClientScreenshot of SAP BPC DashboardScreenshot of SAP BPC Web Report