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You Have Been Removed From the Talent Builder Program
Dear Rahul,
Our records show you have not completed any courses in the last 30 days of the Talent Builder program.
Your account has been removed from the program due to inactivity, and your access to an Anaplan workspace through this program has been revoked.
Please, DO NOT CONTACT Anaplan support teams as they do not manage this program.
For interest in re-applying to the program, there will be a 30-day wait period for inactive users who have been removed. Any re-application submitted within the 30 day wait period will be declined.
Thank you,
The Anaplan Academy Operations Team
I recently received this email from the Anaplan. I did use the Anaplan model workspace and saved my version yesterday (24th September 2023). Please help me to get me access to workspace so that I can pursue my progress to earn Anaplan Model Certification.
Thanks,
Rahul Shah
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Essential Anaplan topics
The best way to hone your expertise is practical experience. We recommend one or more years of hands-on experience using Anaplan to uncover all you can do with the platform. Training can also help you advance your technical skills and learn best practices for working with Anaplan.In addition to our required training, the following materials can help you get a well-rounded understanding of the platform. Learn how you can grow your knowledge in the areas below:
Center of Excellence Topics
Data Hubs
* Data Hubs: Purpose and Peak Performance
Governance & Structure
* Building a Center of Excellence
* Introduction to Centers of Excellence
* Selecting Center of Excellence Governance Structures
* Center of Excellence Roles and Responsibilities
* Why Do I Need a Center of Excellence?
Data Integration Topics
Importing and Exporting Data
* Data Related Training Classes
* Get Started with Imports
* Export from Anaplan
* Overview of Private and Default Files
* Import Data Sources
Integration Platform and Connectors
* Data Integration
* Anaplan Connect
* Guide to Data Integration using Anaplan REST API
* Anaplan API Guide and Reference
* Tableau Connector for Anaplan
* Excel Add-in Version 4.0
* Third-party Data Integration
* Anaplan Connector Guide for Dell Boomi
* Anaplan HyperConnect Powered by Informatica
Model Building Topics
Model Building Best Practices
* Best Practices for Module Design
* Formula Optimization in Anaplan Knowledge
* Time Range Application
* Reduce Calculations for Better Performance
* PLANS–This Is How We Model Shared Best Practice
* Add Notes
Formulas and Functions
* Calculation Functions
* YEARTODATE Function
* Formula Structure for Performance
* SELECT Function
* RANK Function
Dynamic Cell Access
* Dynamic Cell Access
* Dynamic Cell OR Selective Access
* Dynamic Cell Access Learning App
Selective Access
* Selective Access (Anapedia)
* Selective Access (Academy)
Time Ranges
* Time Ranges
* Introduction to Time Ranges
* Time Ranges–The Basics
Dashboard Filtering
* Filter (Anapedia)
* Filter Best Practice
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)
* ALM Overview
* Revision Tag Best Practices
* Save Incomplete Changes when Synchronizing in ALM
* Production Lists Overview
* Structural Information Reference
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Managing a distributed Center of Excellence
Author: Kevin Cho is a Certified Master Anaplanner and Anaplan Team Lead at Atlassian.
Managing an Anaplan implementation used by a geographically dispersed team can be challenging. There are the standard challenges of remote working — fewer direct and spontaneous interactions, isolation and lack of team bonding — alongside Center of Excellence (CoE)-specific challenges, like schedule conflicts for CoE meetings and role clarity across different geographies. All of which can all impact how a Center of Excellence functions, in turn producing a poor experience for your users.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way — even a small Center of Excellence can support a team around the globe by integrating your CoE composition and rituals with existing team structures and processes, and leveraging different tools to make the coordination efforts seamless and more efficient.
Team representation
It may seem obvious, but having strong representation within the Center of Excellence across each location ensures a balanced voice in project prioritization, risk management, and general cohesiveness of the platform.
This also extends to the support that you can provide to the everyday users of Anaplan. It is a much better experience having a support resource available in a local time zone, compared to having to wait for a support team to come online during their normal working hours. Conversely, this can vastly improve the work-life balance of your team, especially during critical planning and reporting periods, where round-the-clock support may be required.
Communication and collaboration
One of the main challenges that comes with managing a geographically dispersed CoE is effective communication and collaboration, especially with larger teams running projects in parallel. Alignment across a CoE is normally addressed through the regularly scheduled checkpoints ranging from daily stand-ups with project teams, weekly change management meetings, to quarterly steering committees. With geographically dispersed teams, this can get surprisingly difficult to schedule as time zone differences can very quickly add up!
To address this, focus instead on regular asynchronous communication (emphasis on the regular!):
* Prioritization meetings can instead turn into living documents, where stakeholders can provide input in their own time, easily delegating and sharing information across their team members who may not be necessarily invited to a synchronous prioritization meeting.
* Updates from daily stand-ups can be provided through posts on a common chat thread, summarizing yesterday’s achievements, blockers, and the upcoming day’s focus. Similar to a live stand-up, emphasize succinct updates — those interested in delving more into the detail can then reach out directly.* However, be sure to not disregard the team building benefits of a daily sync!
This can be accomplished by leveraging the right tools:
* For live document tracking and editing, check out Confluence or Google Docs. Both are great options in providing the option for concurrent editing.
* For chat, tools which support asynchronous collaboration are key. Slack and Microsoft Teams both offer the ability to create channels and threads, where users can localize conversations and stay engaged whilst not requiring live interaction.* Bots that can organize certain rituals (e.g. daily stand-ups, fortnightly kudos/thanks) are also a great way to incorporate them with less manual burden.
* For task management, tools like Trello and Jira can help model builders and testers stay organized and on track, by providing regular status updates on tasks through the tool itself.
Save the meetings for when synchronicity matters — for example, in intensive training sessions, and design and process workshops. This is especially useful in ensuring Executive Sponsors remain engaged with the CoE. Keeping them in the loop without a heavy time commitment will help in keeping them on your side.
A success story (and continuing)
Even prior to the pandemic, the Atlassian team has been working in a distributed manner, with teams located across Australia, the Philippines and the US — this has become more ingrained in our philosophy with the official adoption of a geographically flexible workforce (TEAM Anywhere). In turn, this has shaped how our Center of Excellence has been structured, and how we engage with our stakeholders. By utilizing the tools and techniques listed above, we’ve successfully grown our Anaplan implementation and user base, whilst still maintaining a lean team.
What tips would you add regarding best practices on managing a distributed team? Leave a comment!
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CoE Connect - Newsletter September 2023
Welcome to the September edition of CoE Connect, your source for news and insights from the Center of Excellence Program! We aim to both inform and motivate, and we're always eager to hear your feedback or suggestions for what's to come. Thank you for being an essential member of our CoE community — let's continue to grow and help out our fellow CoE Leaders!
* We have two upcoming events! * Your Business Powered By Anaplan AI: September 27 at 10:30 am EDT (virtual event)
* Anaplan Community Event in Denver: Hosted by Spaulding Ridge on September 28 at 2 pm
* Join in on our new Community Q&A Challenge! This month, Community members are answering the question, “As an Anaplan model builder, what steps do you take to ensure that changes you make to an existing module don't create unexpected results in the module you made changes to and in other modules?” Check out the incredible advice from people so far and join in with your own expertise! This is a great resource to share with your team!
* Our latest podcast episode features CoE Leader Stacey Gibbens! In this episode, you’ll hear about Stacey’s introduction to Anaplan, how her career evolved over the years, her thoughts on the Certified Master Anaplanner program, and more.
September's spotlight interview is with Michael Downer! Michael works as the Head of Process and CoE Lead at HSBC in London. Get to know Michael and hear about his perspective on running a CoE, his past experiences, and lessons he has learned.
Q: Hi Michael! Please share with us your career path within the Anaplan ecosystem from first experiences to today.
Michael: I have worked in business forecasting and planning for over 20 years and have a wealth of experience working in larger organizations, helping create and maintain accurate forecasting processes. I started working with Anaplan in 2016 with a previous employer where we built a global resource forecasting model. Over the course of a few months, I learned the basics of Anaplan (I am still learning something new in Anaplan every day!).
In 2018 I was contacted by HSBC to help build/support their planning function within their risk operations area. Here I built out a risk inventory planning solution using Anaplan. The successful deployment of this solution exposed a whole new audience in the bank to Anaplan and better ways of planning. During a random townhall where leaders were talking about AOP planning and its process, I suggested Anaplan might well be a great solution to oversee this process. I was given the task of building out a proof of concept in Anaplan that would do what I had suggested. The following day I presented a rough proof of concept, which was immediately adopted as the new AOP process. At this point we caught the eyes of the senior leadership within the Global Operations teams who asked us to design and oversee a planning solution that would enable the global operations teams worldwide to plan resource levels in a synergized way. This led to the setup of my current Anaplan CoE team within HSBC. We ended up building out a multi-model resource ecosystem that eventually was deemed best in class in the bank and we are now in the midst of a bank wide roll out meaning we will soon be planning resources using Anaplan for over 250k full-time equivalent (FTE).
Q: What are some of the most valuable skills you have learned along that journey?
Michael: Anaplan is a very powerful tool and it’s easy to say “yes, that can be done!” (as most requests can somehow be achieved!). Where I think (as a solutions team) we add value is to be the cog between Anaplan and the business, and always ask the question whether it should be done and whether what the business wants is, a) possible, but also b) logical/practical. Having that logical problem-solving mindset is essential.
Q: What are some of the specific opportunities that being a CoE leader brought to you?
Michael: We started as a team looking after 8k FTE and are now accommodating plans across the bank for over 250k FTE. This has exposed me to many new areas in the bank and massively exposed my network within a massive org structure. This has also allowed me to get involved in processes that are outside of my natural skillset and allowed me to learn much more about processes that teams use within the bank. Learning and applying processes to look after and protect the Anaplan deployment within a CoE have probably been my greatest learning.
Q: As a CoE Leader, in your opinion, what are some of the benefits to having a CoE within an organization?
Michael: The bank’s org structure is gigantic and one of the benefits of introducing Anaplan was that we are now moving towards a bank-wide approach for planning resources. Previously we had countless different approaches to planning with many teams doing similar work but getting there via different paths. Within our new Anaplan world, we have this new shiny solution but without a CoE this could potential quickly grow out of hand if its managed in a decentralized structure. There is a constant danger; people will start inventing new solutions that have already been solved for elsewhere. Having a good CoE and a good relationship with your Anaplan contacts is essential to making sure that new areas within the bank don’t re-invent an existing process and re-create the siloes we have broken down.
Q: How has your journey been leading an Anaplan CoE?
Michael: It’s been very challenging as we set up Anaplan, the new ways of working and the CoE at the same time. This led to many challenges but also allowed us to set up the CoE as close to what we think is best practice (for the bank). Where we spend most time today maintaining key stakeholder relationships that enable us to understand when people are struggling with existing processes. That allows us to keep deployed solutions relevant and adopted. Having engaged stakeholders is also essential for the continued development of new solutions.
Q: In your opinion, do you need to be an Anaplan technical expert to be a CoE leader?
Michael: No, but at HSBC it helps as our CoE is relatively small considering the size of deployment. Our view is that a CoE is the cog that connects how HSBC works with how we can/should build out processes in Anaplan and then build them using best practice. As a team leader, I want my team to solve issues in a creative way but this can sometimes come with risks as our ecosystem is very large.
Q: As a CoE leader how do you prioritize between new projects, enhancements, and bug fixes?
Michael: We separate these duties between different team members. We also apply a backlog for all new projects and enhancements that gets reviewed monthly by a bank-wide user group who help prioritize these requests. And lastly, we track all issues (bug fixes) in an Anaplan model. This model allows users to self-raise an issue they have with any Anaplan dashboard/model (from within any dashboard). My team can then handle those requests and maintain an audit log of all changes (and document these in the revision tags). This helps us gage/forecast the number of changes we expect on any given month. This is also a useful tool to see what type of issues are being raised and indicate what area of our models we should be focusing on.
Q: As a CoE leader, how do you manage your talent mix? How you hire Anaplan talent (do you hire externally, or you upskill talent from within the organization)? What are the benefits of the approach you have taken?
Michael: We have a good mix of in-house trained Anaplan resources and Anaplan skilled hires, so we have seen both sides of this approach. The good thing about this is that it allows for the external candidates to learn the bank’s processes faster but also allows the internal employees to receive coaching from Anaplan skilled team members. All if this needs to be underpinned by training, and the training courses by Anaplan are a must for my team members.
Q: As a CoE leader how do you manage your stakeholders?
Michael: With a good CoE, it is important to know who your stakeholders are. Once you have a strong network of participants (users, IT, compliance, finance etc.), understanding their needs is very important and having regular contact time with them is vital. This allows everyone to understand what’s happening and avoid bottlenecks in decision around the models use and adoption.
Q: As a CoE Leader, what are some benefits to having that connection with Anaplan Business Partners and Customer Success?
Michael: They provide great support with process and function of the Anaplan platform. I have found working with our business partner has also allowed better understanding of what other users are doing with the platform and how they are using it to affect change. I believe a good relationship with the Anaplan business partner is vital to get the most out of the platform (and to keep getting it).
Q: What are some of the resources within the Anaplan Community that you as a CoE leader saw as being the most valuable?
Michael: The most valuable resource is the business partner as they can help direct you to the right area. We also Anaplan use user groups, Anapedia, and attend regular Anaplan events to see what new and what functionality is out there. Staying ahead of what functionality is being added is vital to us as it helps is direct the attention of our stakeholders and what they want to achieve by using the platform.
Q: What are some resources that you wish existed within the Anaplan Community?
Michael: When I think about how we have the moved the needle of change the most is when we have spoken to other users and seen what they have done. It’s always eye opening to see how other people fix the same issues as we’ve had. If I could pick one area I would say — have some kind of way for people to show and tell about their great implementations so others could learn from this (without necessarily seeing every line item of how they have done it).
Q: In your opinion, what is the value of being an active member of the Anaplan Community/ecosystem?
Michael: In general, I believe that knowing how something works is never good enough. I want myself and my team to be able to solve for issues and requests both creatively and efficiently. That kind of knowledge only comes from seeing and feeling how others have solved issues. I believe the forum is a great aid here, as without it, it could be very hard to solve some more complex questions.
Thank you Michael, for sharing your CoE journey with us! HSBC is lucky to have you!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter and look forward to engaging and helping you achieve your Connected Planning vision. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment.
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CoE Connect - Newsletter August 2023
Welcome to the August edition of CoE Connect, your monthly destination for news and insights from the Center of Excellence Program! We aim for this newsletter to both inform and motivate, and we're always eager to hear your feedback or suggestions for what's to come. Thank you for being an essential member of our CoE community — let's continue to grow and help out our fellow CoE Leaders!
CoE Spotlight: Introducing Rachel Larue, Anaplan Solutions Architect at Dexcom and a leader of their Center of Excellence. Read more about Rachel's career journey in the CoE Spotlight section of this newsletter.
* Interested in learning more about sustainability? Mark your calendar for a virtual event on Sustainability Planning: An Exploration of Use Cases on August 29. There is growing demand for companies to operate more sustainably, and it is important for all professionals to be familiar with what sustainability means as ideally, sustainability is a key part of all business functions and decision making. Building off the Anaplan Community ESG Group’s first session, we will explore a set of potential Sustainable Planning Use Cases that may or may not be implemented in Anaplan. This will serve as an open forum to brainstorm key logistical elements, functionality, and challenges to each, taking a first step into what the use cases could look like. Learn more and RSVP here.
* Certified Master Anaplanner and CoE Leader Philipp Erkinger shares his lessons learned from implementing Polaris as one of the early-adopting customers. Read Philipp's article here.
We recently had the chance to chat with Rachel Larue, an Anaplan Center of Excellence (CoE) Lead. As a CoE leader, Rachel ensures optimal use of Anaplan's ecosystem, facilitating the Connected Planning vision through deep knowledge and strategic partnerships. Read more about Rachel's experiences and achievements below!
Q: Hi Rachel! Please introduce yourself, your current role, and where you're based!
Rachel: Hello! I’ve recently transitioned into a new role with the San Diego-based medical device manufacturer, Dexcom. I’m fully remote in the Denver area, functioning heavily as a Solution Architect for this stretch of our roadmap, and I will assist through deployment to build out/reinforce our new CoE. I’m enjoying leaning back into the technical side of things, but also appreciate the balance of strategic thinking when I’m wearing my CoE Leader hat.
Q: Can you share more about your career path and how you became the CoE leader/part of the CoE team?
Rachel: To step back and speak to my Anaplan career more broadly, I became a model builder in late 2018 when I joined DaVita’s CoE. There I grew steadily through a Sr. Builder Role, then Solution Architect + co-lead of our CoE. As I progressed through my builder path, with no formal project managers I filled more of that role project to project. I managed my personal portfolio and stakeholders, and with a proven track record there the transition into SA/CoE Lead was a much smaller gap to bridge. I think leaning into the micro-level project and stakeholder management is the best way to test the waters as a builder, and highly recommend leveraging this in your organization if possible.
Q: In your opinion, what are some of the benefits of having a CoE within an organization?
Rachel: If you have ANY use case growth on your roadmap, not simply live model maintenance, you’re going to need SOME form of CoE. No two are the same, but a CoE communicates a single source of truth for all things Anaplan in your organization. End users, super users, model owners, internal AND Anaplan help desk support will all have a default contact for any issues or inquiries. Even if you plan to have a heavily federated (de-centralized) builder team, you want at least one CENTRAL technical expert to advise and mentor other builders.
To put all of that more simply, some of the main benefits are a Central Authority for overseeing projects, builders, documentation and best practices—as well as talent sourcing. Allowing all to be federated, you will start to have models and documents that vary too much for an end user to easily navigate in any universal way throughout your Anaplan ecosystem—and your builders won’t have it easy, either.
Q: How do you manage your talent mix as a CoE leader? Do you hire externally or up-skill talent from within the organization? What are the benefits of your approach?
Rachel: This is a hot and ever-evolving topic even in the last few years. My tenure has mostly included up-skilling talent from inside the org, or identifying external candidates that may take to Anaplan well. Both have meant little to no Anaplan expertise coming in, but I’ve seen math and engineering backgrounds jump to advanced building methods in less than nine months. I think this decision should be driven most by your CoE structure and strategy, as well as your roadmap. I’d recommend a start date 3-6 months ahead of any project you want to staff a builder on heavily, and use those months for the Jr. Builder to support standard maintenance and simpler bug fixes, plus shadowing your other builders. Anaplan experience requires much less lead time, but consider the breadth of your use cases and how niche your organization is, and be sure to pad the start date accordingly. The main benefit of training internally is customizing training content and being able to show live examples that relate to the universal Anaplan training. Additionally, you’re getting to set expectations for how your CoE functions and utilizes different roles — which can very greatly across organizations as mentioned above. No two CoEs are the same, right?
Q: What are some of the benefits of having a connection with Anaplan Business Partners and Customer Success as a CoE leader?
Rachel: Your Anaplan team are your eyes and ears on the inside. CoE Leaders should leverage their time to hear about upcoming releases before they’re posted on community, especially those 6+ months out. Additionally, this is a great place to share anything getting you stuck — technical or business. I’ve had great experiences voicing my challenges, and getting partnered with another customer will to network and help me through it, or an internal Anaplan employee to advise me and get us past our technical limitations. Never hesitate to leverage this relationship to keep your CoE going —or even to get some extra thought partners around how to just get started.
Q: What resources within the Anaplan Community do you find most valuable as a CoE leader?
Rachel: The User Groups are the best asset I have come across. Some have hosted free-form or scripted live video forums, or even local meetups. These have allowed me to find common ground with other community members, and have given me much wider insight to how and where Anaplan is being used today. I think the community is a place to share ideas and roadblocks, and challenge ourselves to consider new puzzles or new solutions to our previous problems, and feed it all back into the community. With a small talent pool, we only benefit when knowledge is shared more widely.
Thank you Rachel, for sharing your CoE journey with us! Rachel was also profiled in a Community blog video interview last year — check it out!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter and look forward to engaging and helping you achieve your Connected Planning vision. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment.
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CoE Connect - Newsletter July 2023
Welcome to the July edition of CoE Connect, your monthly destination for news and insights from the Center of Excellence Program! We aim for this newsletter to enlighten and motivate, and we're always eager to hear your feedback or suggestions for what's to come. We're grateful to have you as an essential member of our CoE community—let's keep fostering our bond and advancing together!
CoE Spotlight: Introducing Guillaume Chaffaut - Connected Planning Solution Architect at Cartier and a leader of Center of Excellence. Read more about Guillaume’s fascinating journey in the CoE spotlight section of this newsletter.
Mark Your Calendar for an Exciting Event in Chicago on August 16, 2pm! Join us for a fun and informative afternoon with your fellow Anaplaners from Chicagoland to explore several important topics within the Anaplan community today. Stay for the happy hour immediately following and the chance to network with local thought leaders, Anaplan model builders/architects, and an industry leading partner that will impact your personal and business goals. RSVP here.
Dive deep into the world of Anaplan models with our Certified Master Anaplanner and CoE Leader, Stacey Gibbens.Perfect for those new to Anaplan or taking on a new model, Stacey's comprehensive guide will assist you in unveiling your models' functionality, executing effective optimization strategies, and using the current functionality as a springboard for innovative solutions that will captivate your customers. Stay tuned for more insights that can revolutionize your understanding of Anaplan models.
In a recent interview I got a chance to explore Guillaume Chaffaut’s journey as an Anaplan Center of Excellence (CoE) Lead. As a CoE leader, Guillaume ensures optimal use of Anaplan's ecosystem, facilitating the connected planning vision through deep internal knowledge and strategic partnerships. Join us as we uncover Guillaume's experiences and draw invaluable insights from his achievements.
Mariam: Hello, Guillaume! Could you please introduce yourself, your current role, and where you're based?
Guillaume: Hello Mariam! Currently, I'm working as a Solution Architect for Cartier based in Fribourg, Switzerland. I serve as the primary technical point of contact for all matters related to Anaplan within the organization.
Mariam: That's quite a critical role, Guillaume. As you've journeyed with Anaplan, what have been some of the most valuable skills you've learned?
Guillaume: Well, one skill that stands out to me is listening. It's paramount to understand business requirements properly before proposing any technical solution. Moreover, to craft a beneficial user experience, it's vital to master the business team's logic, ensuring their daily work flows smoothly.
Mariam: Listening is indeed an invaluable skill. Now, moving to organizational structure, could you explain some benefits of having a CoE within an organization?
Guillaume: Certainly. Over the past few years, our number of use cases have grown significantly, necessitating additional projects. As a response, we built a team that would technically own the majority of the models and provide advice to other model builders. This CoE has an in-depth understanding of Anaplan's ecosystem within Cartier, enabling us to implement a connected planning vision across all projects. We do leverage external implementation partners to scale.
Mariam: So, do you believe a CoE leader needs to be an Anaplan technical expert?
Guillaume: A CoE leader doesn't necessarily need to be an Anaplan expert but a solid overall technical understanding and functional knowledge are a must. Part of the leader's role involves socializing "Anaplan" with teams unfamiliar with it, so it's crucial to quickly understand their business requirements and potential technical limitations.
Mariam: That makes sense. And how do you prioritize between new projects, enhancements, and bug fixes?
Guillaume: When setting priorities, we look at two main indicators: criticality and return on investment. Fixing critical bugs, particularly in business-critical models, is paramount. New projects and enhancements, although important, aren't usually as critical. We prioritize these by looking at their potential beneficial impact on the company.
Mariam: A clear and structured approach, indeed. Thank you Guillaume, for joining us today and sharing your CoE journey with us.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter and look forward to engaging and helping you achieve your Connected Planning vision. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at mariam.azeez@anaplan.com.
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Building a Center of Excellence
Overview
Standing up a Center of Excellence is complex. There are many decisions to be made. Here are some of the materials to help get a basic understanding of building a CoE that are part of our CoE Success Accelerator Workshop.
What is a Success Accelerator Workshop?
Anaplan offers targeted workshops, Success Accelerators, which will enable you with the skills and tools you need to succeed with speed. Anaplan product experts will help you build a prescriptive plan tailored to your specific needs and we will run the first mile together, so you feel confident executing against the plan.
The Success Accelerator workshop is comprised of three phases; Learn, Strategize, and Plan. At the end of the workshop you will have a deep understanding of the components that are required to set up and run your internal Anaplan capability. For more information on pricing and scheduling please contact your Customer Success Business Partner.
On-Demand Modules
Reviewing these modules (plus the workbook) on your own will give you a good feel for the CoE building process. As you review these items please keep in mind this is not an end-to-end training program, but is more of an introduction to the elements and topics you will need to consider when building a CoE.
We recommend progressing through in the following order:
On-demand: Governance and Ownership (8:00)
On-demand: Establishing a Governing Body (2:47)
Workbook: Sections 1 & 2
On-demand: Maintenance and Enhancements (5:30)
On-demand: New Model Requests (3:54)
Workbook: Sections 3 & 4
On-demand: Roles and Team Structure (12:36)
Workbook: Sections 5 & 6
Read community article: Topics > Importing and Exporting Data > Shared Best Practices > Building a Data Hub
Workbook: Sections 7 & 8
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Announcing the 2023 Center of Excellence Leader of the Year!
Congratulations to Anaplan’s 2023 Center of Excellence Leader of the Year, Anne-Charlotte Vidal, Head of Anaplan Center of Excellence at Moët Hennessy!
Anne-Charlotte has been an integral part of the Center of Excellence journey since its inception. Her leadership and vision have steered the Transversal CoE team, spanning EMEA, US, and APAC, towards remarkable growth. Under her guidance and the sponsorship by leader Sidney Grunberg (IT Director, Finance HR Legal), the user base expanded from 400 to 1100, and the number of use cases doubled to a total of eleven large business cases. Anne-Charlotte's relentless focus on strong ROI and her ability to define the value of projects from the outset has significantly contributed to the success of Anaplan's expansion into finance, supply, marketing, and wine-making operations with worldwide deployments. Her exceptional knack — with the help and investment of the entire team — identifying unique use cases that add value to the organization, coupled with her commitment to cross-functional alignment and expansion, has made a lasting impact. Her talent for selling the value of Anaplan internally and leading a self-sufficient, cross-functional, and effectively governed CoE has been nothing short of remarkable. Anne-Charlotte's willingness to share her story with other customers in the Anaplan ecosystem showcases her collaborative spirit and dedication to the community.
This is one of the most prestigious awards in the Anaplan talent ecosystem, and it celebrates the outstanding accomplishments and dedication of our top Anaplan professionals. We are proud to acknowledge that Anne stood out among the best of the best in a highly competitive process, showcasing her exceptional abilities and unwavering dedication.
“Since she joined Moët Hennessy Center of Excellence four years ago, Anne-Charlotte has greatly participated in the constant improvement, creation of value, and the support of the growth of Moët Hennessy. Through her application, both within this “Maison” [brand] and in governance with the LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) group, she has been able to provide a framework and structure its organization in different areas: a self-sufficient team, gathering business and IT experts, governance, and managing a community of users. All this with the strong involvement of her management and her team. In the LVMH group, if another "Maison" wishes to create a CoE, I put them in direct contact with Anne-Charlotte, as she is one of the leaders in our CoE roundtable with other customers.”
Adrien Teffaine, Senior Customer Success Business Partner at Anaplan
We asked Anne-Charlotte to share more about her experience and role! Here’s what she had to say:
What are some of the most valuable skills you have learned along your journey to becoming a CoE Leader?
Anne: Some of the most valuable skills I learned are: curiosity about Anaplan technology, organization and management, leadership, teamwork, the ability to work in a matrix organization (breaking down silos), communication, and legal and compliance.
As a CoE Leader, in your opinion, what are some of the benefits to having a CoE within an organization?
Anne: Benefits include design authority in term of Anaplan architecture, Anaplan model building and integration, internal community management from sponsors to users, internal expertise and tech watch (POC; new features early access programs; …), and application delivery and run management.
What are some of the specific opportunities that being a CoE leader has brought to you?
Anne: The opportunities being a CoE Leader has brought me includes meeting new people at Anaplan (Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Product Officer, and Product Managers) and in many other companies to get feedbacks and benchmarks (other LVMH Maisons and other industries).
What's one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to develop a CoE?
Anne: It takes a lot of energy to connect people — do not hesitate to break down silos!
What are some of the resources within the Anaplan Community that you have found the most valuable?
Anne: The resources I’ve found valuable are posts related to new releases and also to formula usages.
Lightning round: your favorite movie or show, food, and book.
Anne:
Movie: French movies with French actors like Pierre Niney and Romain Duris (Boîte Noire, L’arnacoeur)
Foods: Hamburgers, Indian food, and dark chocolate
Book: Thrillers with the French author Franck Thilliez
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Anne-Charlotte was recognized this week at the Anaplan Community Experience (ACE) event in San Diego. A huge congratulations and thank you to Anne-Charlotte!
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True Connected planning : Formulas between models
As an anaplan coe and model builder, i d like to increase models interoperability and achieve the true connected planning ambition.
To achieve that i need the ability to call into formulas line items from other models.
This cannot be achieved currently and every model builder who practise import actions (who doesnt ?) To "connect models" know that they are unstable, archaic and a source of continuous incidents and headaches to maintain.
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Bulk Copy for Production Lists
Need ability to be able to create a bulk copy action for the production lists.
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CoE Connect - Newsletter June 2023
Welcome to the June edition of CoE Connect, your monthly destination for news and insights from the Center of Excellence Program! We aim for this newsletter to enlighten and motivate, and we're always eager to hear your feedback or suggestions for what's to come. We're grateful to have you as an essential member of our CoE community—let's keep fostering our bond and advancing together!
CoE Spotlight: Introducing Will Lederer, Product Director at Okta, an Anaplan Solutions Architect, and leader of the Center of Excellence. He has worked in the planning software space for over 20 years, with more than 10 years of experience using Anaplan. He has been involved with Anaplan as both a customer and consultant, and has been a part of numerous implementations, re-implementations, integrations, enhancements, and more! Will says, "At heart, I’m still a developer and like nothing more than diving into a model to solve a problem!" Don't miss this inspiring story, as it offers valuable insights into building a successful CoE and leveraging Anaplan's capabilities.
* Exciting News from the Anaplan Community! Join us in celebrating the extraordinary achievement of Anne-Charlotte Vidal, Head of Anaplan Center of Excellence at Moët Hennessy, our winner for the 2023 Center of Excellence Leader of the Year award! This is one of the most prestigious awards in the Anaplan talent ecosystem, and it celebrates the outstanding accomplishments and dedication of our top Anaplan professionals. We are proud to acknowledge that Anne-Charlotte stood out among the best of the best in a highly competitive process, showcasing her exceptional abilities and unwavering dedication. To learn more about Anne-Charlotte's Anaplan Journey click here
* In June 2023, ACE (Anaplan Community Experience) brought together our diverse Anaplan community for an energizing three-day event in San Diego. In partnership with Anaplan Connect, there were engaging keynotes, insightful breakout sessions, and many networking opportunities - and guess what? ACE breakout sessions are now accessible for you to view. To access the recordings click here
In this engaging interview, we had the privilege of delving into the inspiring journey of Will Lederer, a seasoned Anaplan CoE Lead at Okta. He shared candid insights into Okta's Anaplan journey, how the need for a Centre of Excellence (CoE) came into being, and the key steps taken to evolve it over time.
Mariam: Tell us about yourself? Your current role - where you are based.
Will:I am Business Technology Product Director at Okta. I am based in Maryland, US.
Mariam: You've been on quite a journey with Anaplan. Could you share some insights on how Okta started their Anaplan journey?
Will: Absolutely! Okta's journey began back in 2012 with around 40-50 FP&A users. Initially, the use case was typical budgeting and forecasting for monthly and quarterly close. We manually updated actual balance sheets, income statements, headcounts, and revenue. Sales Ops capacity planning was later added to support GTM directly. But the major use cases were in financials and workforce and expense planning.
Mariam: Interesting. How has Anaplan evolved at Okta since then?
Will: As Okta grew and went public, reporting requirements became more "demanding." We transitioned towards automation and integration, eliminating many manual processes and syncing with upstream data sources, particularly regarding workforce. We expanded the hub data model and added use cases, including GTM planning, revenue planning, budget planning, and consolidation models for reporting. Our models now conform to Anaplan best practices, all interconnected and aligning with the data source. We experienced tremendous growth during the pandemic, and with the Auth0 acquisition, we added 40% to our company and more than doubled our FP&A team to around 1000 licenses.
Mariam: That's quite an expansion! At what point did Okta realize the need for a CoE and how was it established?
Will: At first, we had two model builders maintaining the current model and transitioning to the 2.0 version. We partnered with Anaplan Professional Services and third-party partners for the build. During the implementation phase, I joined as a Solutions Architect, and we realized the need for a CoE to ensure we consistently hit the mark every period while adapting to business changes. This was the beginning of moving from development and implementation to operations.
Mariam: And how has the CoE evolved at Okta since its establishment?
Will: When I joined, we were a team of three. We frequently met to manage production fixes, requests for enhancements, and gaps in original use cases. We added Anaplan Professional Services for net new builds and established a liaison position within FP&A. This liaison is also a model builder, does much of the provisioning and administration, and is part of our core CoE. We also added a Solution Architect and another model builder to match our CoE capacity with the demand.
Mariam: Could you tell us a bit about how you enable end-users and manage adoption?
Will: Depending on the enhancement, we work directly with the requestor or the liaison. The user requirements are discovered, the solution is decided, we peer review the solution then test in a sandbox ,conduct UAT and launch it. We use a 'Train the trainer' approach, we go over it with the appropriate business person which in our case is mostly someone from FP&A team, who then communicates it to the whole group.
Mariam: Your CoE seems to have a big focus on scalability. How do you manage this?
Will: Anticipating business requirements is key. With the Auth0 acquisition, we had to rapidly scale. We moved heavy utilization to Hypermodels and Hypercare. One of the challenges is balancing business and IT priorities, but we align on tech or finance priorities and implement enhancements that add the most value.
Mariam: What do you consider as the biggest strength of your CoE?
Will: I'd say our biggest strength is our team. Communication, trust, and partnership are crucial in what we do.
Mariam: How has the fact that your CoE reports to IT helped your CoE?
Will: We're quicker to adopt new features of Anaplan, establish procedures, and maintain rigor in development, testing, and implementation. It also helps in things like documentation that finance is not necessarily focused on.
Mariam: Lastly, what advice would you give other CoE leaders?
Will: Take advantage of Anaplan community resources. Engage with your partners in every way, by owning the delivery of Anaplan to the business.
You can watch the full video interview here.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter and look forward to engaging and helping you achieve your Connected Planning vision. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at mariam.azeez@anaplan.com.
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Center of Excellence showcase: Navigating the Anaplan landscape for sustainable success
Join Will Lederer, Solutions Architect: FP&A, Business Technology Director from Okta, for a session and discussion on how to make your Center of Excellence as effective as possible. Will’s presentation highlights the following: embracing new features, sustainability, scalability, data governance and strengthening business partnership.
Speakers:
* Will Lederer, Solutions Architect: FP&A, Business Technology Director, Okta
* Mariam Azeez, Principal Engagement Manager, Customer Centers of Excellence at Anaplan
Recorded: June 6, 2023 at the Anaplan Community Experience (ACE) event in San Diego, CA
https://play.vidyard.com/fhQNCXiZ1MKhw2p9bJiN1G?
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CoE Connect - Newsletter May 2023
Welcome to CoE Connect, your monthly destination for news and insights from the Center of Excellence Program! We hope this newsletter proves both informative and inspiring, and we always welcome your thoughts and ideas for future editions. Thank you for being an integral part of the CoE community—let's stay connected and grow together!
CoE Spotlight: Explore the captivating journey of the Center of Excellence (CoE) at Groupon, led by Dragana Kangrga. In this special edition, we're enhancing the experience by not only spotlighting Dragana but also diving deep into Groupon's remarkable transformation.
We're thrilled to provide an update on the CoE Leader of the Year Award nominations! We have received an impressive list of nominations, showcasing the outstanding achievements of CoE leaders within the Anaplan ecosystem. Stay tuned for the results in next month’s newsletter as we continue to recognize and celebrate the exemplary dedication and hard work of our CoE community members. Good luck to all exceptional leaders!
The Anaplan Community Experience (ACE) is back and in person in San Diego June 5-7! ACE will be joining together with Anaplan Connect in San Diego, to offer an incredible experience for Anaplan community members and users. Featuring inspiring keynotes and multiple breakout sessions focused on Your Anaplan Journey, a deeper look into Modeling & Data Management, networking sessions with Anaplan experts and fellow Community members, plus a special session on launching a successful CoE! Learn more here. I am looking forward to meeting many of you in-person at the event!
In a recent interview, I had the privilege of exploring Groupon's Anaplan CoE with Dragana Kangrga, the Senior Finance Manager and Anaplan CoE leader at Groupon. Dragana shared valuable insights on the Groupon CoE team's structure and their innovative approach to hiring and onboarding talent. Join us as we delve into Dragana's experiences and draw valuable insights from her success in leading Groupon's CoE team.
Mariam: Can you walk us through the inception of Groupon's Anaplan CoE journey and how it has evolved over time?
Dragana: The Anaplan CoE journey at Groupon started with a group of individuals from various functional areas, each managing their own specific Anaplan use cases. Over time, a natural progression occurred, resulting in one person emerging as the expert in the model and taking on the role of CoE leader. As the number of use cases expanded, more skilled model builders joined the team. Presently, Groupon's CoE team comprises three model builders, with me as the CoE leader and solution architect.
Mariam: Can you share the background of the talent in Groupon's CoE team? Do they come from a technical or business background, or is it a mix of both?
Dragana: The primary use case for Groupon covers financial reporting and planning, incentive compensation management, as well as support for tax and consolidations. The CoE team at Groupon is composed of individuals with a background in financial planning and analysis (FP&A) and a strong technical aptitude, including prior experience in digital transformation.
Mariam: How does the CoE team ensure self-sufficiency and flexibility when it comes to building and maintaining models?
Dragana: As our use cases expanded, we adopted a structure with three versatile model builders who take on multiple roles without being restricted to specific positions like UX designer or Model Builder. This approach enables the CoE team to be fully self-sufficient and capable of building and maintaining models in-house. For more complex use cases, we collaborate with external consultants to ensure success.
Mariam: Can you share your approach to hiring and onboarding talent in the CoE team?
Dragana: During 2018 and 2019, we faced challenges in finding candidates with Anaplan model-building experience. As a result, we opted to hire individuals with a finance background and a natural affinity for systems, training them to become model builders. When hiring talent, we prioritize "transformation experience" which encompasses IT, FP&A, data integration, and planning model or forecasting tool development. The ideal candidates have exposure to these areas and demonstrate enthusiasm for working within them. To facilitate the development of Anaplan model-building skills, we have designed an onboarding program for new recruits. This training process is also utilized for individuals from various functional areas within Groupon who express interest in Anaplan model building.
Mariam: Can you provide an overview of the talent onboarding program schedule and the learning outcomes?
Dragana:
Mariam: Can you please walk us through Groupon's project prioritization, workload management, and project intake process?
Dragana: Groupon's project prioritization, workload management, and project intake process involve several key steps. The CoE team conducts quarterly meetings with directors and other leadership stakeholders to discuss the roadmap and gather input. A long-term roadmap is established through leadership buy-in and communicated during these meetings. The CoE team evaluates each project's impact (value-add) and readiness (well-defined requirements), prioritizing them accordingly. Short-term bug fixes, enhancements, and projects can be submitted via email, and the CoE team promptly assesses these and provides feedback. Forecasted workload is considered when determining project priorities and their respective timelines, while strict governance principles are applied to all projects. Projects are considered for implementation only if they originate from director-level or higher, ensuring successful execution. Leadership involvement in the project intake process guarantees that the project is a priority for the entire team, necessary resources are allocated, and subject matter experts are available to contribute their expertise.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter and look forward to engaging and helping you achieve your Connected Planning vision. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at mariam.azeez@anaplan.com.
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Increase the limit of list item beyond 999 999 999
As a anaplan coe lead, i need to enable more complex and scalable use cases into anaplan and integrate seemlessly with high volumes system working with event or log based architectures.
To cover these, one limiting factor is the hard limit over the 1billion minus one on lists.
I d like to have this limit raised to higher number to keep up with the scalable enterprise level promise.
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Impact of saved views in Connected Planning
As companies are growing, their use of the workspace is also growing resulting in multiple models. From an user standpoint, it is complicated to audit every saved view, as you can only see those that are being used in the model where they are being imported.
As such, could we have a new tab in imports not only to see the imports that are coming in, but also those that are going out?
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Asana is looking for a Product Owner Planning Systems
Come work for a great Enterprise Technology team, implement and support FP&A, Workforce and Territory & Quota planning. For more information about the role go to:
https://asana.com/jobs/apply/4972731
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Retail Planning: The Business Case for Anaplan
The vision and interest to connect retail planning activities was well understood before 1990, but technology wasn’t as evolved as our ambition.
Anaplan is an ideal platform to enable virtually all retail, wholesale, and eCommerce planning activities. The value provided by Anaplan combines the flexibility of spreadsheets and the connected business drivers in today’s most common point solutions. But the best part is that when fully deployed to the organization, Anaplan ensures the right people are planning with the right data, at the right time, and within the right connected process environment. Meaning, planners are driving business instead of running around endlessly piecing data together from different parts of the business.
Retail Planning History
I think it’s important to start with how technology was used to enable planning activities over the last 40 or so years because these solutions framed the retail planning landscape that we see today.
Before 1990 – Ledger Paper
Because technology was so limited and data storage so expensive, the Retail Inventory Method (RIM) was the dominant method for inventory valuation and for inventory balancing. RIM does not use units but rather estimates the cost of goods sold by tracking the cumulative markup on new receipts. The method for merchandise planning and store planning was to use ledger paper and electric erasers. I can still remember the holes my eraser created from reworking my plans over and over.
The most important observation from this time period is that the demand for planning automation was so high that even a one-person solution was considered value-add. I should note that VisiCalc (1979), SuperCalc (1983), Lotus-123 (1983), Quattro Pro (1988), and Excel (1987) showed up in most of the retailers by 1990, but it was for DOS, slow, limited memory, and usually for one PC that everyone on the floor had to share. Mainframes had a role but mostly for transactional systems like item setup, allocation, purchase orders, and replenishment.
1990 to 2010 – The Rise of Spreadsheets and On-Premise Point Solutions
The race was on to innovate using whatever technology was in Gartner’s upper right-hand quadrant. As technology evolved, we continually rebuilt our planning applications in the seemingly never-ending chase to get us one step closer to our Connected Planning vision.
By 2000, spreadsheets were so pervasive that on-premise point solutions were able to make a good case for their offerings to consolidate and enforce consistency through best practices. But it didn’t take long for retailers to realize that integrating these proprietary systems together was harder and more financially burdensome than trying to integrate all those spreadsheets. Sadly, most retailers continued to use their spreadsheets.
2010 to Present
Internet and computing speeds are fast enough to support software-as-a-service (SaaS). The new generation of cloud vendors were able to learn from prior generation solutions to build platforms that were very functionally rich and flexible, while also taking advantage of the latest advancements in technology to maximize speed and scalability.
Anaplan’s founder, Michael Gould, had been involved in the development of three prior generations of planning tools. Anaplan also benefited from not having to worry about compatibility with legacy applications, as they had a fresh start.
As one might expect, retailers were slow to adopt SaaS because many had already made significant investments in point solutions and point-to-point integrations. The pathway to a connected planning environment would require a practical and financially achievable roadmap.
Meanwhile, it was obvious to retail planning solution providers that SaaS was the future, and they quickly invested in their technology roadmap to point towards that aim. The problem for most of them, however, is that their applications were meant for on-premise, mostly client/server platforms, and the transition to cloud was, and still is, very challenging.
Native cloud solutions are inherently better optimized for Connected Planning because they use open source technologies, provide rich data integration methods, outsource scalable and secure data centers, rely heavily on in-memory storage, and best of all, leverage and connect their customers and partners to help improve their offerings.
2020 Retail Planning and Analysis Processes
Retailers have known for a very long time what they want from a planning ecosystem. Everything in this retail wheel of functionality should relate to a common data source, but because of today’s mishmash of spreadsheets, point-to-point solutions, and unsupportable integration points, this diagram, for most, tends to resemble a wheel of idealism, an unobtainable library of enabled and connected processes.
Value Drivers
A common realization became evident as retailers’ solutions evolved from ledger paper to a kludgy and expensive integration of point solutions. That is, if the vision of a Connected Planning environment was the goal then there would have to be a financially rationalized strategic roadmap that takes them from their current state of investments to the envisioned state. In addition, the roadmap must also realize an ongoing return on investment.
To accomplish this task, many retailers used value drivers, or capabilities, that must be present in the solution as the complexity of the solutions increased. The value drivers are then mapped to KPIs which in turn are mapped to measurable financial drivers to rationalize capital investment.
To work within the boundaries of an organization’s human resources, appetite for scope, and budget allocation, a strategic roadmap can be implemented at a pace that optimizes these three competing levers. Implementations start with one to five use cases, typically framed in a long-term roadmap, to articulate the organization's long-term vision.
Illustrative example of a typical roadmap
Once a foundation is set and the benefits are documented, more advanced applications can be built and connected to each other. After that, other departments and divisions will take an interest and eventually a critical mass is reached where there is a Connected Planning environment established. Applications are integrated into a common data hub, ideally governed by an Anaplan Center of Excellence to support adherence to standards, knowledge sharing, and data governance.
Why Anaplan?
Anaplan connects and enables planning activities together in a single platform, a dream that started with retail planners before 1990 and born from frustration with having to erase their merchandise plans dozens of times in order to achieve turnover out three decimal points. Anaplan further adopts the advantages of future solutions by taking the ease of use and flexibility of spreadsheets and layering on the benefits of point solutions like security, scalability, and auditability.
Anaplan can accommodate a spectrum of applications, from simple to fully integrated and automated. This is Anaplan’s distinct advantage to connect all the planning activities in one platform.
Anaplan relieves the pressure on IT because the application development is designed to be built by business users. In addition to the development benefits and the financial benefits that come from connected planning, Anaplan also provides four distinct features.
Addressing Change Management
You might be asking, with all this change, how does Anaplan ensure user adoption? We all know that retail processes are fundamentally the same at their core, but we also know that no retailer implements them the same way or connects them similarly. Even within organizations that have multiple sales channels (retail, wholesale, eCommerce) and regions (Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific) there are usually inconsistent processes. Anaplan squarely addresses this need by connecting applications front-to-back, meaning they start with the user story and build out a solution around it. There are no pre-conceived solutions.
A great, flexible platform can miss the mark if proper diligence is not put in during the planning and execution of the application. Given the speed and flexibility of the platform, Anaplan implementations typically follow an Agile/SCRUM methodology, called the Anaplan Way. Anaplan also provides a blueprint for developing an Anaplan Center of Excellence in the organization with the intended vision to ensure user-adoption remains high, data quality is maintained, and applications are connected optimally.
But for many, the best part of Anaplan’s ecosystem is their Community exchange. There you can ask any question about the platform and usually, within 5 or 10 minutes you’ll get an answer, usually more than one, from people all around the world. In addition to being able to collaborate with other Anaplanners you will also find a vast library of documentation, best-practices, blog articles, and newsworthy events.
Summary
Post 1990, retailers finally could grow beyond the one-store format after the technology caught up and allowed them to automate routine tasks. Their vision of connecting all the functional areas of the company: human resources, merchandising, finance, accounting, operations, supply chain, marketing, and design was always well understood, but technology could only take them so far.
Over the years, retailers made massive investments in technology, and benefits were gained. However, with the introduction of eCommerce mega-retailers, traditional companies need to plan more effectivity and respond to insight through improved visibility across the organization if they want to compete.
With the adoption of SaaS platforms like Anaplan, the timeless vision of Connected Planning is possible. Implementation of a Connected Planning ecosystem doesn’t have to be rapid but rather, resolute, measured, and focused.
On a personal note, I’ve worked with many retail planning systems over the years. With the introduction of Anaplan, a SaaS provider, I have an optimistic outlook for what I’ve always believed to be the ideal retail planning configuration.
Jared Dolich is a Principal Consultant at Columbus Consulting. He is a Certified Master Anaplanner, Community Boss, and retail planning enthusiast. Jared’s passion for retail trace back to his high school days when he sold cinnamon toothpicks to his classmates and when he learned firsthand the concept of inventory management, cost of goods sold, and how to make a tidy profit. After being introduced to retail planning solutions as a buyer at Target Stores, he’s been on a personal journey ever since to help retail practitioners reach their potential by using software solutions that effectively enable their processes. Jared provides retailers, wholesalers, and eCommerce planners the rigor, training, and positive thinking needed to help them fully optimize their Anaplan platform. Prior to joining Columbus Consulting, a consultancy focused on the retail industry, Jared was a retail IT executive for Target, Tuesday Morning, Payless, and Ascena.
Contributors
Tom Phelps, Columbus Consulting Partner
Mark McNeela, Columbus Consulting Principal Consultant
Ameneh McCullough, Manager of the Master Anaplanner Program at Anaplan
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Day in the life of a Certified Master Anaplanner (Part 2): CoE Administrator
Author: Joel Bangalan, Certified Master Anaplanner, Solutions Architect, and Systems Administrator in the consulting industry.
Hello Anaplanners! This article is the second of two parts on my experience as a Certified Master Anaplanner. I’ve worked as an Anaplan implementation consultant and as an end user, I’m hoping to give my insights from both perspectives, how they compare from one another, and how Anaplan was instrumental in my growth.
In this blog, I will dive into what a Master Anaplanner does as part of a Center of Excellence (CoE) within a company that uses Anaplan. For context, my Anaplan journey started as part of a consulting team that implements and builds Anaplan under different use cases and clients. I provided insights on this experience in part one. Later in my career I joined an Anaplan client as a systems administrator. Much of the difference is in the perspective. For example, in consulting, you think of your clients as the buyer of the product, while as part of the CoE administering Anaplan, you can think of the end-users as your customer. The objectives of managing expectations and keeping customers happy are still the same. However, an administrator now owns the product and has a more long-term vision for how it fits in the overall corporate structure and strategy. Whereas implementation partners come and go, product administrators are always there and have a better understanding of the culture and the personalities of the end users and the stakeholders.
Here are the insights I learned as part of this assignment. Like in the first blog, most of these are emphasized in the Anaplan Way yet it helps to remind people of these factors regularly.
Day-to-day best practices as a CoE administrator
Be flexible and adaptive. In a fast-paced and growth environment, change happens a lot. It could be the structure, the metrics, the way metrics are calculated, and the processes involved. This impacts the metadata, the hierarchies, the calculation modules, actions and processes, and the user interface. Change may happen period-by-period; hence, the need for flexibility and the ability to adapt to changes. What this means is that we are taking advantage of the agile methodology in an implementation. This approach works well since there is a quick turnaround regarding new requirements. One thing I’d like to stress is that there is the temptation to add complexities on top of the existing model. An example of this is when an exception or a new logic is defined — it's easy to add a conditional in a computation and be done with it. However, care should be taken to still follow best practices (e.g., early exit). Therefore, I recommend having a holistic view of the calculation rather than simple adding another level of a conditional. This will make the model more sustainable and avoid introducing lag times as computations become more complex. \
Document as you go. As models expand (additional modules, line items, actions), it will be easy to get lost among a sea of formulas. Over time, even original authors have difficulties remembering how or why certain formulas were built. Same with actions — these can add up easily. It takes discipline to document as you build something. Take advantage of the Notes section in modules to reference a more detailed document. One best practice I've seen is to add dates to the notes as you make them so it's easier to track progression. Another important use of the notes is for line items that are used as filters. We’ve encountered issues in the past where it’s not as easy to determine if a Boolean line item is referenced as a filter. This is for cases where filters aren't all in one place. For actions, aside from renaming it to be descriptive enough to identify what it does, the Notes column should be further used. I also recommend regularly checking which actions you remove to avoid cluttering the Actions tab. It takes time to scroll through the Imports, for example, for a model that’s been around for a few years.
Find ways to expand and enhance. This is somewhat related to the first section on flexibility. Over time, models can get more complex. The way it was built in the past was based upon prevailing information at that point in time. The model architecture and the design of the formulas were optimal back then but may not be the case now. Keep track of the changes and/or enhancements from that point on (in addition to the “document as you go” section above). As more enhancements or efficiencies are identified, it becomes a strategic decision on how to best approach these. Should there be a partial rebuild or a complete rebuild? How many resources are required? How many hours are we able to allocate to the enhancements without impacting the day-to-day operations? Do we need to bring in outside consultants? These are some of the management factors that help guide the strategy and the timeline of a planned enhancement or rebuild of the model. One possible consequence of an enhancement or a rebuild is recapturing that efficiency that may have been lost over time (complex formulas, exponential growth in model size, etc.). Freeing up more workspace size will enable the organization to also consider an expansion into another use case. A successful administration of models in one department and/or use case will make it easier to have executive support toward expansion.
Conclusion
A Center of Excellence in an organization is important for model maintenance and ensuring that the models are used appropriately on a day-to-day basis. However, it shouldn’t remain stagnant — models grow with the organization, and the CoE should be flexible in adapting to changes, strategic in its enhancements and expansion, and disciplined in drafting supporting documentation along the way. These factors aid in championing Anaplan throughout the organization.
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"Anaplan Essentials for Customers" Program Badge?
Hello, Is there a badge awarded for the completion of the "Anaplan Essentials for Customers" program? Thanks
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Model history api endpoint
As a integration admin, i d need to be able to access to the model history through an api endpoint and in the model
This is required in order to
- listen to models actions and check if / whenservicess outside anaplan should be triggered
- extract for audit purposes the history of anaplan model and expose it to auditors or even bring it back to expose it to users.
- additionnally, within a model, an import action to be able to expose in a module the list of changes from the model history is a frequent request from users that needs currently to be operated manually.
Model history works well at a small / single model scale.... it doesnt at the enterprise level scale where you have tenths of frequently changing models around
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CoE Connect - Newsletter January 2023
Welcome to the first edition of our monthly newsletter CoE Connect!
CoE Connect is a monthly newsletter that aims to keep readers informed about developments and events within the Center of Excellence (CoE) Program. The newsletter will be shared on the 15th of every month and will provide updates on CoE-related news, inform about upcoming events, and spotlight CoE leaders and their Anaplan CoE journey.
CoE Spotlight: Meet Mohamad Hadi, our CoE celebrity for January. As Sr. Manager - Sales Transformation Lead at Philips, Mohamad will share his journey to becoming a CoE lead, what he enjoys most about the role, and how he utilizes resources within the community. Learn more in the CoE Spotlight section of our newsletter.
Introduction – Mariam Azeez: I want to start off by introducing myself as your Principal Engagement Manager – Customer Center of Excellence. I am so excited to work with you and get to know you throughout this upcoming year! In my role, I will be working alongside our CoE leaders on their Connected Planning journey leveraging the learnings and skills I developed leading several large-scale global transformation initiatives at a fortune 500 Anaplan customer.
* We are thrilled to unveil our revamped Community website, featuring an intuitive layout for easier navigation and access to information for our Centers of Excellence. Our subscription options have also been enhanced, allowing you to stay updated on specific content areas via the homepage, email, or notifications. Don't miss out — subscribe by clicking the bell icon within the categories in the CoE section.
* Join your peers in the CoE private forum to connect and collaborate with your fellow CoE leaders as they share their expertise, best practices, challenges faced, and lessons learned. Email me at mariam.azeez@anaplan.com to request access.
* In 2023, there will be continued peer-to-peer networking sessions where a small group of CoE leaders come together to share their learnings. If you are interested in joining these sessions, please let me know of your interest via email.
Q: Tell us about yourself and your current role?
Mohamad: I am Mohamad Hadi, currently working as Sr. Manager - Sales Transformation Lead at Philips. I am based in Atlanta.
Q: Share with us your career path within the Anaplan ecosystem from your first experiences to today.
Mohamad: Sure. I worked in Financial Planning at NCR Corporation for 5 years, leading Anaplan CoE, which enabled end-to-end Connected Planning Platform for global financial forecasting and annual planning. I am currently working at Philips in sales transformation, where I lead the transformation journey to enable efficiencies and eliminate silos across sales planning and sales incentives.
Q: As a CoE Leader, in your opinion, what are some of the benefits of having a CoE within an organization?
Mohamad: Having a CoE within an organization allows for greater ability for an organization to get the most value out of Anaplan. It enables efficiencies across an organization and opens opportunities to streamline processes in one connected platform.
Q: How has your journey been leading Anaplan CoE?
Mohamad: It has been rewarding. There have been stressful times and stressful projects, but when you are able to achieve and provide the value your stakeholders look for, over and over, it's exciting and rewarding for everyone on the CoE team.
Q: What are some of the most valuable skills you have learned along that journey?
Mohamad: I have learned that digital transformation is real with Anaplan. It's important to be agile and not to bite off more than you can chew. Iterative building, striving for MVP (not perfection!) and enabling continuous improvements through an agile journey in Anaplan are some of the most valuable skills I have learned.
Q: As a CoE Leader, what are some benefits to having that connection with Anaplan Business Partners and Customer Success?
Mohamad: Our customer success team has been outstanding; they've kept us up to date on the latest and greatest in the Anaplan World. They engage with us monthly and are key contacts to us when we want to explore leveraging new functionalities, resource needs/vendor partnerships, or even their help engaging us with the Customer Success Anaplan subject-matter experts to help with model optimization ideas.
Q: What are some of the resources within the Anaplan Community that you as a CoE leader see as being the most valuable?
Mohamad: The Community has been key to our teams' success and individuals' goals throughout the years. The learning resources available for our junior/upcoming Anaplan model builders and even seniors, have enabled them to learn and adopt the Anaplan Way and fast-tracked their ability to building complex use cases in our models. The Community platform discussions are also helpful when debugging an issue!
Q: In your opinion, what is the value of being an active member of the Anaplan Community/ecosystem?
Mohamad: Resourcefulness and broad network. We have learned more on what and how others are doing things and has opened the door for us to think outside of the box, learn new ways of building, take advantage of others lessons learned and explore new functionalities that others have adopted.
Q: What are some resources that you wish existed within the Anaplan Community?
Mohamad: I wish there were more opportunities for local engagement within the Anaplan community. When we first got introduced to the Anaplan world, the Community within the area/state was brought together every other quarter to events Anaplan organized. The events increased the level of engagement across companies/value streams which allowed us to establish partnerships with vendors and gave us ideas where else we could use Anaplan when sitting in on few company spotlight use cases. It's almost like a mini-Anaplan Live local!
Thank you, and Happy New Year!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the newsletter and look forward to engaging and helping you achieve your Connected Planning vision. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at mariam.azeez@anaplan.com.
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Reflections from ACE: CloudWorks for Anaplan CoE enablement
Author: Tiffany Rice, Certified Master Anaplanner and Anaplan Model Builder, Prudential Financial.
With a new year upon us, this is a great time for reflection on the prior year and the capabilities that have been added to Anaplan. During the recent Anaplan Community Experience (ACE) this past November, there was an informative session on CloudWorks as a key lever for Center of Excellence (CoE) enablement featuring Will Lederer, Solutions Architect: FP&A, Business Technology Director at Okta, and Ashwin Krishnamurthy, Principal Product Manager at Anaplan. If you missed it, the replay is available here:
https://community.anaplan.com/discussion/152205/whats-new-for-coe-leaders-breakout-session
For those of you unfamiliar with CloudWorks, this is a native no-code integration tool within the Anaplan platform. That’s right — NO CODE — and within the UX you are accustomed to working in every day. As a model builder from a non-technical background, I must tell you this was immediately intriguing to me. In my experience, integrations can be one of the most challenging aspects of an implementation, due to resourcing constraints as often you have multiple projects competing for the same pool of integration developers. This can lead to short-term approaches of manually triggering actions which unfortunately sometimes become long-term solutions once the workaround was created.
So how does CloudWorks help?
One of the most powerful features is the ability to schedule model-to-model imports without the use of an ETL tool or API. As Will phrased it, “CloudWorks really frees us up.” Members of the CoE and business users are now empowered to set up their own integration schedules. The setup is quick and easy with intuitive prompts. The scheduler capability allows for hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly integrations with the ability to configure them around the desired time zone. If you are looking for quick-win opportunities to begin capitalizing on these features, I recommend identifying the recurring tasks that you may be manually running today. Great examples are actions to update lists or modules from Data Hubs or to dynamically generate list subsets based on model updates. Before getting started, avoid the gotchas and be sure to read the documentation to configure a process. A common error is when working with lists that have selective access enabled you must first grant the “Integration (Full Access)” account access before the integration runs. Note: this integration account will not be found in the users panel and access must be granted within the list itself.
The next big win is the notification functionality which is massive from an ease-of-mind perspective. No longer do you need to review time stamps to determine whether an action ran successfully, within the setup you can specify which users should be recipients. These notifications can be customized based on run status, should the integration fail; you may want to notify your CoE team to begin triage and error resolution. For successful integrations, you may want to notify certain end users or possibly receive no notification in a no news is good news type of approach. The successful notification is particularly impactful in instances where end users have a dependency on the action being completed before they can move on to the next step within their process. If the action is a routine update that occurs in the background, I tend to gravitate towards no success notifications to minimize traffic. Notifications can be In-App, email, or both. I would recommend failure notifications be sent via email, particularly for off-cycle processes where there may be a delay before you observe the notice In-App. This capability eliminates the need to log on during weekends or nights to confirm critical integrations run successfully. See this help article for additional information on configuring notifications.
A less lauded but helpful feature of CloudWorks is the ability to see the run history of an integration without running history for the entire model. This provides not only an audit log of successes/failures but also allows you to view duration. This can be helpful in assessing changes over time for recurring processes. For example, if you have a daily job that has scaled up over time to include additional actions you can see the impact those additions had on the run time duration. Should the integration fail, the activity detail can be used to review error details as well to initiate an email to Anaplan support with the pertinent identifiers included (customer ID, integration ID, etc.). Note, it is best practice to troubleshoot internally for common errors prior to engaging Anaplan support. More can be read here on viewing activity details.
For those of you thinking that this all sounds very cool, but what can we look forward to on the roadmap? I am so glad you asked! My absolute favorite feature in development is the ability to “bundle and save” as Will so eloquently put it. Integration flows will enable admins to create sequential processes to address dependencies and streamline the setup process. Today to accommodate a sequential integration, each process must be scheduled individually with the duration accounted for in the start time of each subsequent step. In the future, you will be able to bundle these processes into a single flow where a step is triggered only after the preceding step is completed. One potential savings from the bundle is achieved if there are a series of processes across multiple models that should run on the same cadence such as feeds for Hub and Spoke models. By setting up a single flow, you can minimize the time spent configuring the schedules and have fewer maintenance points. I’ll certainly be watching the product releases for this much-anticipated orchestration capability.
Ashwin also covered a forthcoming feature to create a limited integration user role. The current integration role sets the permission at a tenant level whereas in a future release, we can look forward to access being provisioned at the workspace level. This will be impactful in those instances where it is desirable to empower business-led integration while still restricting integration access to any sensitive or highly controlled workspaces/models. Security and risk mitigation is an area that is always of chief concern and the roadmap clearly reflects those priorities.
A parting thought for those who have a robust and established system of existing integrations... it is perfectly acceptable to retain your preferred ETL. Managing the cost of change is part of the role the CoE must play, and the needs of each organization are unique. However, I would encourage consideration of the maintenance over time and if there might be opportunities to achieve scale and lift through a hybrid integration approach. The internal Anaplan processes are a goldmine of synergistic opportunities to empower your CoE and eliminate dependency on resources external to the CoE. Look for the right use case to explore the power of the native no-code capabilities and assess the leverage your teams could achieve.
Key takeaways
* Tenant administrators can assign Integration admin roles to users which will make CloudWorks accessible.
* Review technical documentation before setting up your first integration.
* Ensure the Selective Access is addressed for the “Integration (Full Access)” account.
* Ellipsis indicate additional functionality is available, use these to see detail, edit, etc.
* Use the right tool for the job, when contemplating setting up an integration think about the source, target, data transformation needs, and the development resources at your disposal.
* Stay tuned for future product releases!
Questions about this ACE session? Leave a comment!
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Building Anaplan CoE
After spending 6-7 years with Anaplan in different roles I would like to share some of my practical knowledge on setting up a CoE. In a series of videos I will try to help you ask the right questions that hopefully will help you with your CoE. The first one is on Anaplan being Business vs IT Asset. I am planning to talk about different approaches you may take, resources, training and hiring and may be a few other topics.
https://youtu.be/v8fOpd1RxK8
The playlist (will be updated with the new videos)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIlAgPzDe7It1bwC0Lbpmnghi3gqAwqmp
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Recognizing our ACE Award winners
This past November at our Anaplan Community Experience (ACE) event, we recognized two Community members who have gone above and beyond in 2022 to represent Advancement, Culture, and Education — the key elements of ACE — and who embody the spirit of the Anaplan Community. The winners were chosen specifically for their contributions to the Community and with input from Anaplan field teams who are closely aligned with the work they do every day. They truly set the bar high for what it means to be an exemplary member of the Anaplan Community.
Today, we want to again recognize and highlight our two winners: Senior Financial Analyst, Timmy Thomas (@TimothyThomas) at Groupon, and Anaplan Process Developer, Andrew Tye (@andrewtye) at Aviva!
Meet the winners
Timothy (Timmy) Thomas, Senior Financial Analyst at Groupon, spent his first five months at Groupon dedicated to leading and developing the solution for the Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) global implementation, as well as supporting the CoE team. Previously at Roseburg Forest Products, Timmy is celebrated for his all-in commitment to Anaplan — actively leveraging the Community to learn best practices and collaborate with his peers. When Timmy joined Roseburg Forest Products, Anaplan Customer Success Business Partner Aaron Wasinger said he’s never seen or heard of anyone who has gone through the Anaplan trainings so quickly who wasn’t a partner or Solution Architect, ultimately finishing Level 3 Model Building and becoming a Certified Solutions Architect at the end of 2021. Since then, Timmy has continued his devotion toward accelerated learning and is on track to become a Certified Master Anaplanner by early 2023.
As a top-engaged Community member in 2022, Timmy has an impressive 300+ engagement activities, including 110+ overall posts and 100+ replies. Timmy has not only maximized Community engagement opportunities to advance in his own career but also gives back his time and talents to peers who are looking to grow in their Anaplan journey.
Andrew Tye, Anaplan Process Developer at Aviva, holds a CoE leadership role and has been delivering complex Anaplan initiatives there for three years — all while supporting and mentoring team members on their individual Anaplan development. Previously at Thomas Cook, he was the Anaplan owner in Finance and delivered a number of Anaplan use cases, including FP&A and cash flow planning.
Andrew, a Certified Master Anaplanner (CMA) for nearly 4 years, passionately advocates for new Anaplan product features and actively enables others within their organization and externally within the broader Anaplan ecosystem. He is a top most-engaged customer Community member in 2022, boasting 110+ posts, 7 ideas posted, and over 150 kudos received. Andrew is also one of the top CMA contributors across EMEA, completing all three of the CMA engagement zones so far this year – Thought Leader, Technical Expert, and Connected Planning Evangelist. In 2022, Andrew spoke on an Anaplan Product webinar, participated in the pilot program cohort for the Anaplan Growth Program, contributed UX Quick Tip videos, and spoke at the ACE event.
We asked Timmy and Andrew to share more about their participation in the Community.
How has the Anaplan Community helped in your career advancement and journey?
* Timmy: The Anaplan Community has helped my career in a multitude of ways, from early on as a new model builder to helping me land my current role. When I was first starting out, I used the Community to help problem solve when my team was running into issues, and through creating my own posts as well as referencing others, I was able to get quick help from Certified Master Anaplanners and others with more experience to help solve complex problems, which helped me learn expert tips and tricks for future building. The community also encouraged me to work towards the Certified Solution Architect badge, which was an invaluable asset when talking with recruiters throughout the job search process - the CSA designation is clearly valued by talent sourcers!
* Andrew: The community helped me answer questions I was having, especially in the beginning when the team I was on was all learning Anaplan at the same time. It has also helped with being to able answer most questions that either myself or the team has in easy-to-understand solutions.
What do you enjoy about the culture of the Anaplan Community?
* Timmy: I love that the culture of the Anaplan Community is genuinely focused on teaching, learning, and sharing knowledge. There are so many out there with a wealth of Anaplan experience who have stressful, demanding jobs who still make it a priority to help others with questions they may have. There is a genuine sense of community there that seems to come from true enjoyment of the tool itself, and I find that very heartening when looking to the future of the community!
* Andrew: Everyone in the community is there to be a better Anaplanner, and that means it’s a highly collaborative environment.
What advice would you give to others looking to get more involved in Community?
* Timmy: I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but my advice is to simply not be afraid to jump in and get involved. Start reading questions people are posting on the forums, start trying to think through potential solutions, and begin answering when you can. You will meet experts and can make great connections that can turn into friendships, future career opportunities, or both! There's truly not a downside to getting more involved in the community.
* Andrew: If you want to get involved — start where you’re comfortable. Ask and answer questions on the forum and if someone has answered a problem you’ve been having, say that they solved it for you too. Before you know it, you’ll be writing articles and hosting sessions in User Groups!
Thank you, Timmy and Andrew, for being exceptional leaders in the Anaplan ecosystem!
Are there other Community members you would like to thank for their guidance and help? Leave a comment and shout them out!
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How to turn strategic goals into executable plans through effective prioritization
https://video.anaplan.com/watch/8jyLBoB2nDjHhxCvKb4PS1?
Do you struggle with prioritization? Do you have a never-ending task list that always gets pushed to the side? Are you a transformational leader who wants to implement new Anaplan use cases, but maintenance work eats up all your resources?
If the answer to any of the above questions is yes — watch the video above to learn how Hayli Hay, Sr. Manager, Anaplan Finance Forecast & Planning at Autodesk, prioritizes effectively by following five steps.
* Align the focus of your CoE with the strategic goals of your organization. Hayli shares above that the goals of Anaplan CoE at Autodesk roll up to focus domains that are tied to strategic company goals. Examples of focus domains from Autodesk/other customers are: expanding the Anaplan footprint, enhancing existing Anaplan models, optimizing the Ananplan ecosystem, building connections between models, automating processes, improving decision support, democratizing data, reducing complexity, improving forecast accuracy, improving productivity, etc.
* Classify the responsibilities of your CoE team into high-level categories. Examples of some of these classifications are new projects, enhancements, reporting, enablement, user support, defect resolution, and maintenance activities.
* Understand the team's current and committed workload and tie it to the strategic focus domain of your CoE. Effective resource planning is key to balancing workload, setting expectations with business owners, and influencing the leadership team. Hayli uses an Anaplan-based resource planning model to estimate the percentage of time CoE team members spend on various activities. This tool helps Hayli have objective conversations with her team and leadership to better manage workload, expectations, burnout, and capacity to take on new projects.
* Organize and plan annual maintenance work by defining value for the business model owners and stakeholders. In the video above, Hayli shares the Applied Framework she uses to prioritize maintenance activities. A positive value is associated with enhanced functionality, cost of inaction for bug fixes and technical debt, and iteratively improving models based on customer feedback.
* Vet and prioritize new build requests by better understanding the impact on users and the organization. Autodesk uses the Product Vision Board to tie product vision with product strategy. This board has five sections:
* Business goals are the benefits to the organization for investing in the new model.
* Product describes the features of the model.
* Needs are the business reasons for the model to exist. This is the "why" of the Anaplan use case.
* Vision is the ultimate reason for creating the new Anaplan use case
* The target group is the user group who will use the new model.
Many of our customers also vet projects by using Project Charter-type templates. These vision boards and project charters are also helpful for change management. Once the project is approved, we often find project owners starting all their project-related meeting cadences by presenting the project vision board/project charter to remind everyone of the true baseline of why the new use case is important.
Let us know in the comments the prioritization best practices you follow in your CoE!
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Building your internal Anaplan talent pool
Is your organization looking to grow your internal Anaplan talent pool, and either begin to establish an Anaplan Center of Excellence (CoE) or move up the Anaplan CoE maturity curve? If you’re not thinking about this component of your CoE, then you’re not thinking about a key ingredient of an Anaplan CoE! Or perhaps your organization recognizes that training is a key enabler of the Anaplan platform, but you don’t have a great way to motivate resources in this area? One way of growing your internal talent (model builders, solution architects) is to incentivize those in your organization. Consider implementing a rewards program — something easy to track and implement through an Anaplan app to track progress and serve as an entry point for Anaplan enablement.
To be a successful Anaplan CoE, especially in a hybrid or federated model, ensuring that the internal talent pool is growing their skillset is important. One of the key pillars of a successful Anaplan CoE is the training component — it is a core responsibility of maintaining and expanding an Anaplan footprint. Anaplan’s learning path is well-defined and offers potential Anaplan model builders the opportunity to learn at their own pace.
To further emphasize the importance of developing the internal skills at our organization, we implemented an internal certification program that compensates our team members for achieving certifications along the learning path, from Level 1 Model Building through Certified Master Anaplanner. Each participant can redeem their respective credits in the Anaplan company store. For your organization, you can determine your own compensation program, whether that is gift cards, credits to your company store, or additional days off — be creative!
Anaplan learning path and certification program
The above image demonstrates a UX board that allows any current Anaplan user that's interested in starting their model builder training journey to learn about the Certification Path. It outlines the rules of the certification program as well as allows the user to understand the Anaplan certification journey. The board also allows for one to click a link that takes one directly to the Anaplan Academy for enrollment.
Certification tracking and rewards
Those participants in the training can access this board to:
* See their respective progress, current certification level, the amount earned, amount redeemed, and current rewards balance.
* Click the link to the rewards store, which in this case is the Anaplan company store.
* Initiate the ordering process through an email link to the administrator.
As team members complete the training courses, they notify the administrator / Anaplan core team and share their certificate of completion.
Administration
In addition to tracking progress, the administrator maintains a dashboard for updating the completions for each participant as well as updating any amounts redeemed. As individuals start and complete the various courses and levels within the learning path, the administrator can use the UX page to update the status (not started, in progress, complete).
As credits get redeemed, the administrator enters the amount being redeemed into the dashboard and runs an action to update the cumulative amount redeemed.
When there's a new participant, the administrator can easily add that person to the list through the action on the board.
Using a module that has the ‘level’ list applied (image below), updates can then happen to the certification amount for each level completed. This can easily be set to points, items in a list, or whatever you set as the reward.
This program has motivated our employees to continue their Anaplan journey and created friendly competition!
What tips would you add as a way to enable internal talent? Leave a comment!
About the author: Adam Pinto
Adam Pinto is a Certified Model Builder who has been in the Anaplan ecosystem implementing and using Anaplan for 5 years. He's been in multiple roles ranging from model builder to engagement leader at Anaplan implementation partners, as well as helping various customers continue their Anaplan journeys. He is an Anaplan-passionate leader with extensive experience advising organizations on Connected Planning and how Anaplan can drive their current strategies.
