March 2024 Community Member Spotlight: Wendy Wen

becky.leung
becky.leung
edited April 12 in Blog
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March is Women's History Month and we're recognizing some of our outstanding female Community members! Our Journey podcast episode featured Silvia Di Feliciantonio (@SilviaDF) , and now in our Member Spotlight we are excited to introduce Wendy Wen (@Wendy)!

Wendy is a trailblazing Certified Master Anaplanner whose expertise spans over a decade in the Anaplan ecosystem. Learn more about Wendy's inspiring journey, contributions, tips and expertise below!

About Wendy

We asked Wendy about her background and history with Anaplan. Here’s what we learned!

As a Certified Master Anaplanner, I have dedicated over ten years to the Anaplan ecosystem, actively contributing to numerous end-to-end Anaplan implementations by leveraging my extensive finance background. My professional journey has encompassed various roles at Anaplan customers and Partners, enabling me to tackle a broad spectrum of use cases and assist in building Anaplan connected planning roadmaps.

I am inherently a results-oriented problem solver, deriving satisfaction from developing Anaplan connected planning roadmaps and expanding use cases to help businesses with financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, workforce planning, productivity capacity management, territory quota management, incentive compensation management, and other operational tasks. As a seasoned certified PMP, I excel in managing end-to-end implementations using Agile methodologies.

Combining expertise in Anaplan with a strong background in finance and sales operations, this knowledge allows me to effectively navigate complex Anaplan projects and deliver optimal solutions for clients.

We asked Wendy a few questions to get to know her.

Please share an Anaplan success story you’re proud of.

It can be challenging to pinpoint one standout success story amidst numerous end-to-end implementation projects. However, a notable achievement that I take pride in is the successful implementation of Anaplan's Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) model for our sales department. This initiative was prompted by the department's struggle with complex calculations, manual errors, and a lack of visibility into sales representatives' performance metrics.

To tackle these challenges effectively, we integrated the ICM model into our Anaplan Connected Planning roadmap, which resulted in several key benefits:

  • Automation of calculations to eradicate manual errors.
  • Implementation of flexible modeling to adapt plans in response to changing business goals.
  • Provision of real-time visibility to motivate sales representatives with actionable performance insights.
  • Utilization of scenario planning to optimize incentive structures.
  • Integration with CRM systems (Salesforce) and ERP system (Workday) to ensure data consistency.
  • Establishment of CloudWorks setup for daily updates across various models.
  • Inclusion of compliance features for enhanced governance and risk minimization.
  • Integration of Tableau's native connector with the model to deliver specific summary reports to the C-suite.

The adoption of Anaplan's ICM solution significantly transformed our incentive compensation management processes, resulting in heightened efficiency, improved accuracy, and better alignment with our business objectives. This transformation empowered our sales teams with real-time insights, streamlined our operational workflows, and facilitated enhanced performance tracking, thereby contributing substantially to our business growth and overall profitability.

Please share something you can teach about Anaplan — any tips and tricks you'd like to highlight? 

There are always so much to learn about Anaplan. Here are some tips and tricks that I would like to highlight:

  • Utilize Anaplan Community: Join the Anaplan Community to access forums, training resources, and best practices shared by Anaplan experts and users. The community is a valuable source of knowledge and can help you learn new tips and tricks to optimize your Anaplan experience.
  • Master line item subset: Instead of creating multiple line items for similar calculations, use line item subsets to group related line items together. This improves model organization and reduces complexity, especially when dealing with large and complex models.
  • Scheduled data imports: Take advantage of Anaplan's scheduled data import capabilities to automate data updates from external sources. This ensures that your models are always up-to-date without manual intervention.
  • Collaboration and comments: Use collaboration features in Anaplan to leave comments, tag users, and discuss specific aspects of your models. This fosters collaboration among team members and facilitates knowledge sharing within your organization.
  • Version control: Anaplan provides version control functionality, allowing you to create and manage multiple versions of your models. This is useful for scenario planning, what-if analysis, and tracking changes over time.
  • Utilize dynamic cell styles: Anaplan allows you to apply dynamic cell styles based on conditional formatting rules. This can be useful for highlighting important data points, such as thresholds, outliers, or exceptions, making it easier to identify trends or issues in your models.
  • Optimize dashboards: When designing dashboards in Anaplan, consider using interactive features such as selectors, drop-down lists, and drill-down functionality to enhance user experience and make data exploration more intuitive.

What is some great advice that a mentor has given you?

“Focus on continuous learning and growth throughout your career.”

This is best advice my mentor has given to me. I was born with natural curiosity. I always enjoy seeking new knowledge and skills, and embracing opportunities for personal and professional development. Continuous learning not only enhances expertise and adaptability but also opens doors to new opportunities and career advancement.

Thinking about women in STEM (science, tech, education and math) — who do you admire and why?

There are many notable women in STEM fields that I admired for their contributions and achievements. Gwynne Shotwell, the President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX, is one of my favorites. She has been with SpaceX since its early days, joining the company in 2002 as Vice President of Business Development and leading its efforts in building a robust commercial launch business.

As President and COO, Gwynne oversees all operational aspects related to space exploration, technology development, and commercial partnerships. Her role is deeply rooted in STEM disciplines, driving innovation and strategic execution within the company's ambitious space missions and engineering projects.

While Elon Musk is the CEO and visionary behind SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell has been instrumental in the company's operational excellence, customer relationships, and expanding its commercial space ventures. Her expertise and dedication have been key factors in SpaceX's achievements, including successful launches, innovative spacecraft development, and contracts with NASA and commercial satellite customers.

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We hope you enjoyed learning more about Wendy in this month’s Community Member Spotlight. Thank you, Wendy, for being an outstanding Community contributor and advocate!

Check out Wendy's Community articles:

Interested in learning more about our Community Member Spotlight series? Check out this post. Or do you know someone in the Community who you think should be featured in a Community Member Spotlight? We want to hear about it — please nominate them here.

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