Author: Reena Sethy is a Principal Product Manager at Anaplan.
In Anaplan Data Orchestrator, you can manage data integrations, prepare and transform data before you load it into Anaplan models. It automates data loads into Anaplan, and transforms raw source data into a format that matches Anaplan’s import requirements reducing the overall time spent in data preparation for planning.
Additionally, you can export the data to external systems such as Snowflake and S3 providing an end-to-end data flow as part of an upcoming release in first half of 2026.
Why outbound connectivity matters
Being able to export the planning output back to source systems helps align strategy with execution. It reduces manual data entry, maintaining data integrity across systems.
There are many examples for such end to end data input from source systems to planning to execution, and closing the loop. Example, a finalized approved budget from Anaplan planning model is uploaded into source system to enforce spending limits. Other examples include resource allocations, headcount plans updating position requisitions, compensation budgets updating salary ranges and cost allocation, in case of workforce planning, and KPIs (revenue targets, margin goals etc) in financial planning.
How its done in ADO
Once the connection has been established, to pull data from source system to ADO, the same connection can be used to point to an existing table to update with the planning data from ADO.
Image 1: Showing Pipelines in ADO
There are different modes of writing it back, such as Full Replace, Append and Upsert catering to different needs.
Image 2: Showing different modes for writeback
When the data requires to be overwritten, user would select ‘Full Replace’. When there is already data, that one wants to append to it, would choose ‘Append’. Upsert would be to update the data incrementally with the primary key(s).
Image 3: Showing Staging table and constraint columns for Upsert option
For an efficient Append and Upsert, behind the scenes, there is a staging table created. There may be cases, where ADO may not have rights to create the staging table. In such cases, user can provide an existing dummy table with same schema as the destination target, and ADO will use it as a staging table to do append and upsert.
With this release of outbound connectivity ADO closes an important capability to put data into actions from source systems to planning to back into source. It’s also a beginning of many such outbound connectivity options with ADO whether it is file based or database based or API based system.
Questions? Leave a comment!
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