What is an Anaplan Center of Excellence — and why it matters
Author: Stacey Borne is a Certified Master Anaplanner, former Anaplan Center of Excellence Leader, and runs the Certified Master Anaplanner Program and Anaplan Center of Excellence Programs at Anaplan.
Defining what an Anaplan Center of Excellence is — and how it powers smarter, faster decision-making across the enterprise.
Organizations don’t invest in Anaplan to modernize planning — they invest to transform how decisions are made, how teams connect, and how strategy turns into execution.
But after implementation, one critical question always emerges:
"How do we sustain momentum, scale innovation, and keep delivering measurable ROI?"
The answer is to build a Center of Excellence (CoE). This is the engine that turns your Anaplan investment into a long-term, strategic capability.
Whether you're an executive sponsor, model builder, or business process owner, understanding the role of a CoE will help you scale Anaplan effectively and sustain enterprise value.
What is an Anaplan CoE?
An Anaplan Center of Excellence (CoE) is a structured framework that unites people, process, data, and technology to maximize value from Anaplan across the enterprise.
It's where strategy, governance, and innovation intersect, ensuring that Anaplan doesn't serve a single business use case, but becomes a platform for Connected Planning across functions.
A strong CoE delivers:
- Clarity: a clear vision, purpose, and governance model aligned to business goals.
- Consistency: standardized design and development practices across models and teams.
- Capability: skilled internal talent empowered through training, documentation, and collaboration.
- Confidence: measurable insights into usage, adoption, and business impact that build executive trust.
A mature CoE enables faster decision-making, greater accuracy in scenario analysis, and a culture of continuous improvement across the business.
But what truly sets a CoE apart is the team behind it. Successful CoEs are powered by people who combine strategic thinking with technical excellence — individuals who champion best practices, advocate for adoption, and connect business needs with platform possibilities.
Strong CoE teams share a few key traits:
- Clear roles and accountability: defined responsibilities across governance, development, and support ensures smooth collaboration and ownership.
- Cross-functional representation: members from Finance, Operations, IT, and other functions bring balanced perspectives and shared ownership of outcomes.
- Continuous learning mindset: top-performing CoEs invest in skill development, staying current with new Anaplan features, tools, and methodologies.
- Strong executive sponsorship: leadership engagement provides direction, visibility, and resources to expand Anaplan’s reach across the organization.
- Culture of collaboration: the most successful CoEs operate as communities — sharing knowledge, mentoring new builders, and fostering innovation at every level.
When these elements come together, the CoE team becomes the organization's strategic partner in scaling Connected Planning and delivering lasting business impact.
Core pillars of an Anaplan CoE
While every CoE evolves differently, the most successful share four foundational pillars:
1. Strategy and governance
The CoE defines the vision and operating model for Anaplan — how new use cases are prioritized, designed, and supported.
Strong governance doesn't slow innovation — it enables it, by providing the guardrails and frameworks needed to scale efficiently and sustainably.
2. Enablement and adoption
A CoE ensures the organization's investment in Anaplan is matched by an investment in its people.
It drives enablement through structured onboarding, role-based learning paths, and internal communities that connect model builders, end users, and stakeholders.
3. Innovation and continuous improvement
Leading CoEs are proactive innovation hubs. They explore new Anaplan features, expand into adjacent business areas, and partner with stakeholders to identify high-value use cases.
They don’t wait for new initiatives — they help create them.
4. Measurement and value realization
The CoE connects platform activity to business outcomes.
By tracking adoption, ROI, and process improvements, it demonstrates impact and builds the business case for future investment.
CoEs that quantify success establish themselves as true strategic partners to the business.
Why an Anaplan CoE matters for platform success
An Anaplan CoE transforms a single implementation into a scalable enterprise capability.
It drives maturity across AI-infused scenario planning — moving from isolated use cases to a fully integrated ecosystem that empowers faster, smarter, data-driven decisions.
Organizations with strong CoEs consistently achieve:
- Rapid value realization: reusable standards and design patterns reduce build times and rework.
- Reduced risk: clear ownership and governance minimize duplication and dependency on individuals.
- Higher ROI: sustained adoption and consistent improvement ensure the platform continues to deliver measurable outcomes.
- Faster innovation: CoEs stay current with new platform capabilities and translate them quickly into business impact.
- Connected collaboration: teams across Finance, Sales, Operations, and HR align around shared data, assumptions, and goals.
Without a CoE | With a CoE |
|---|
Siloed ownership and inconsistent builds | Centralized governance and standardized design |
Reactive support and limited scalability | Proactive roadmap and repeatable delivery |
ROI plateaus over time | ROI compounds as new use cases expand |
Dependence on a few experts | Cross-trained, empowered internal teams |
Slow adoption and disconnected functions | Fast adoption and integrated decision-making |
A CoE turns Anaplan from a project into a platform — and from a platform into a strategic asset.
CoEs as innovation hubs
Beyond governance, CoEs are centers of innovation and transformation. They're the connective tissue that links business strategy with technology enablement, breaking down silos, reducing risk through strong platform governance, and driving agility across the organization.
Leading Anaplan customers use their CoEs to:
- Launch new scenario planning use cases faster
- Empower model builders and other users through training and mentorship
- Pilot and scale new platform features
- Drive automation and data integration initiatives
- Foster peer learning through internal CoE communities
When embedded within the business, the CoE becomes far more than a technical function — it becomes a strategic enabler of enterprise agility and innovation.
Getting started: building your Anaplan CoE
Every strong Center of Excellence starts with a clear foundation—alignment on purpose, ownership, and direction.
That foundation begins with your Anaplan CoE Charter. It defines the CoE's mission, structure, and governance, ensuring all stakeholders share a common vision. Completing the Charter thoughtfully — and securing executive and cross-functional buy-in — is one of the most important steps in setting your CoE up for success.
Good planning at this stage drives clarity of purpose, defined ownership, stronger collaboration, and visible governance — all critical to long-term adoption and accountability.
For tools and examples to guide your process, explore the CoE Charter Framework article in the Anaplan Community.
Turning vision into value
An Anaplan Center of Excellence isn't optional — it's essential.
It's how leading organizations ensure their Anaplan investment delivers continuous value, aligns with business strategy, and fuels innovation across every corner of the enterprise.
The most successful Anaplan customers share one thing in common – they've built strong CoEs that connect vision to execution, governance to agility, and innovation to measurable outcomes.
If your organization is ready to strengthen governance, accelerate adoption, and scale impact, start by reviewing the CoE Charter Framework to define your foundation and drive alignment.
Then take the next step by joining the Anaplan CoE Program — a global community of customer CoE leaders and teams sharing proven strategies, frameworks, and success stories.
