Culture of Connected Planning

Defining and fostering a culture of Connected Planning within and outside your CoE is a critical responsibility of a CoE Leader;  Breaking down silos and challenging the norm is at the core of Anaplan and CoE members. The vision, clarity, and connections empower everyone to stay focused and act faster to continue the momentum.  
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Key Topics

  • For Your CoE
  • Roadshows & Promotions

For Your CoE

What your CoE members must know about Anaplan's value, the tools they should have (both modeling and non-modeling), and how to stay connected to make an impact

  • Why Anaplan: Being able to articulate the value proposition of Anaplan within the firm and more broadly your industry, will ensure that decision makers & firm executives are comfortable with leveraging the platform for critical business processes. — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

  • White Papers: Gather ideas and understand the ‘art of the possible’ by reviewing the latest developments for your industry, your use cases, and your technologies. — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

  • Client Testimonials:  Establish buy-in and credibility for new initiatives by understanding how peers overcame similar pain points. Explore opportunities for business improvements that may not have been immediately obvious. — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

  • How We Engage & Collaborate — By Asslam Umar Ali, CoE Leader @ Fortescue Metal Group (@Asslam)
    • Anaplan Training: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Model Building training, and The Anaplan Way Training 
    • Anaplan Core/Central Team Secondments: Opportunity to backfill roles for 3-6 months to further upskill in model design, build, and deployment 
    • Sharing Best Practices
      • Fortnightly/Bi-Weekly: 30 minutes Tips & Tricks catch up with core/central team 
      • Share "Tip of the Day" by the user from the core/central team 
      • Ask Anaplan Anything: A session through Anaplan Customer Success Business Partner 
  • The 3 Pillars of Connected Planning — By Prince Ayinde @ Linkedin CoE (@Prince.Ayinde)

    • People: The people pillar requires a cultural change from top (strategic) to bottom (operational).
    • Data: The data pillar, in terms of drivers, outputs, and inputs from different use cases, is important for Connected Planning.
    • Plans: The plans pillar is the dynamic way you execute a strategic objective.
  • Anaplan Academy - Agile Implementation Related: Understand how to work iteratively & flexibly to promote user adoption, while having structured guidance & planning to mitigate risks & ensure effective deployment. — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

  • Non-Anaplan modeling competency — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

    • Expand your skill set outside of Anaplan.

    • A CoE needs to be able to have an equivalent understanding of existing Excel or Non-Automated processes in order to be successful in migrating to Anaplan.

    • Understand what is a good fit for Anaplan vs better suited in other tools.

  • Selecting Center of Excellence Governance Structures: How recurring sets of checkpoints/meetings with standardized agendas are critical to staying connected and eliminating siloed planning


Roadshows & Promotions

How to showcase Anaplan's value to other teams and spark innovation and drive executive buy-in to expand beyond the current state

  • Cross-Functional Demonstrations — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

    • Schedule time with non-Anaplan model users to showcase how currently deployed models bring scale to the organization.
    • Emphasize parallels, opportunities for no-code integrations, and rapid time to deployment; Prepare proof of concepts (if applicable) to make the platform relatable.
  •  Current State Process Review — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

    • Schedule time with Anaplan model users to understand how they are receiving & sharing data/insights.

    • Document business workflows in the process mapping tool and highlight areas of opportunity (e.g. Manual data manipulation, offline processes that fill point solution gaps).

  • White Papers & Case Studies (Internal Strategy) — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)

    • Document lessons learned from deployed projects & create run books/reference guides in a central repository.

    • Publish communication to a broad set of employees to spark idea generation & uncover new opportunities.

  • Executive Deep-Dives — By Josh Baker, CoE Leader @ PJT Partners (@josh.baker)
    • 1-on-1 or tailored group sessions with firm executives to highlight the successes, known roadblocks, and upcoming projects within Anaplan.
    • Come prepared with 1-page summary guides so the executive team can comfortably understand ongoing use cases but are not to burdened by excessive detail.