About this Constellation ShortList™
Cloud-based planning platforms help companies with budgeting and forecasting, strategic and operational planning, workforce planning and optimization, and financial reporting. The category emerged in the ’80s and ’90s as on-premises “performance management” software aimed at large enterprises. Cloud-based planning platforms are rapidly replacing these legacy systems, as well as manual, spreadsheet-based approaches, and they are scaling up to handle enterprise deployments.
This category refers to cloud-based planning platforms that support budgeting and frequent planning, forecasting, and analysis across financial and operational areas. These platforms also support or integrate with tools for financial reporting. The cloud makes it possible to quickly deploy, configure and change these systems to support a broad base of users both within and beyond finance departments. Planning platforms bring vital what-if analysis capabilities for dealing with rapid growth, fast-changing business conditions and the development of new products/business models.
The list of vendors included on this list remains unchanged from the Q1 2020 update. Previously listed Adaptive Insights, a Workday Company, changed its name to Workday Adaptive Planning in mid-2020.
Threshold Criteria
Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:
- Rapid cloud deployment and configuration
- Agile planning and forecasting capabilities
- Flexible modeling and “what-if” scenario planning capabilities
- Support for operational planning in areas such as sales and human resources
- Rich data analysis and reporting tools
- Modern, intuitive interfaces easing frequent planning, forecasting and analysis
The Constellation ShortList™
Constellation evaluates more than a dozen solutions categorized in this market. The Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share and internal research.
- Anaplan
- Oracle
- Planful (formerly Host Analytics)
- Workday Adaptive Planning
Frequency of Evaluation
Each Constellation ShortList will be updated at least once per year. There could be an update after six months, should the analyst deem it necessary.
Evaluation Services
Constellation clients may work with the analyst and research team to conduct a more thorough discussion of this Constellation ShortList. Constellation can also provide guidance in vendor selection and contract negotiation.