Welcome! Get started here

Hello, and welcome to the Software & Technology User Group!

 

We’re glad you’re here. We (your group facilitators) are here to help you as best as we can, so please reach out at any time. Use the Forum to ask questions and start new discussion topics. You can also tag us on a post or send us a private Community message.

 

Meanwhile, please take a moment here to introduce yourself to the rest of the group. Since introductions can sometimes feel a little awkward, here are a few questions to help you get started: 

 

  • How did you find the Anaplan Community?
  • What specifically are you working on at the moment and how can this group assist you?
  • What goals do you have for your participation in this group?

 

— Ashwin Iyer (@ashwiniyer), Mike Jorgensen (@mikejorg), and Tiffany Rice (@Tiffany.Rice)

Comments

  • @Tiffany.Rice thank you for getting us started! I'm excited to be part of this user group.

     

    A little bit about me: I've been working with Anaplan since around 2015, but have been getting more deeply involved over the last 18 months. I'm in an FP&A role, and most of my model building activities are focused on expense planning. I have a few projects right now related to enhanced workforce planning and expense governance.

     

    My primary goal as one of the User Group leaders is to help facilitate discussion and help out in any way I can. One of the things I love most about the Anaplan platform is its ability to adapt to custom solutions. I really want to foster a sense of community that helps expose us to new ways of using the tool.

     

    All the best,

    Mike

  • WelcomeMasterAnaplanner.jpgHi Everyone in the Software and Technology Anaplan Group! I'm Jared Dolich.

    Thought I would introduce myself - very excited to be part of the conversation.

     

    My passion has always been focused squarely on the retail industry (30+ years) but I've found there is a significant merging of use-cases between technology and retail. In fact, even right now, I find myself working at a client that is focused on software.

     

    I know we're in good hands with @Tiffany.Rice@mikejorg, and @ashwiniyer - looking forward to getting involved!

     

    Contact Info:

    Jared Dolich

    Certified Master Anaplanner

    Send me an Anaplan Text to @JaredDolich 

    Email | jdolich@columbusconsulting.com 

    LinkedIn

    Anaplan User's Profile #22354

  • Welcome @JaredDolich!  Thrilled to have you join our group.  Your point around the merging of use cases I think is a testament to the power of the platform, with Anaplan you don't have to be just one thing.  

  • Hi everyone! I've included my introduction below:

     

    How did you find the Anaplan Community?
    I revisited the Software & Technology group forum after listening to an interview in which Sarah Roberts briefly mentioned the group “Higher Education & Public Sector”. There’s a good amount of engagement in that group, and I’d enjoy the benefits of that in this group! 🙂


    What specifically are you working on at the moment and how can this group assist you?
    Right now, I’m working on a tool that helps reconcile budgeted revenue to actual revenue. While there isn’t anything I specifically need help with, it is interesting to learn about how others in the industry have approached reconciling budget vs actual ASC 606 revenue.

     

    What goals do you have for your participation in this group?
    Things that would be nice to see in this group:

    - Learning about projects that others are working on
    - Learning if anyone has tapped into the engineering resources at their companies to see how The Anaplan Way correlates with software development.
    - Learning where your Anaplan team sits: what part of the organization? What's the size of your organization vs the size of your Anaplan team?

    - What type of models do you currently have and what future models are in your roadmap/honeycomb?

     

    I imagine a lot of us have similar challenges and solutions in common and some online or virtual chats could benefit all of us!

  • Nice intro @nicole.johnson . Welcome!

    For those that may not be familiar with ASC 606 (I had to look this up!), this is a standard by which companies recognize revenue. This should be a very, very interesting use-case!

  • @nicole.johnson  Welcome and thanks for introducing yourself!

     

    Love all your ideas for engagement/participation!  Feel free to throw a topic out within the forum to start a dialogue.  

  • The transition to ASC 606 has been an incredible use case thus far! We previously implemented a 606 revenue projection tool which made ample use of the profile function. This solution was invaluable to me: We have multiple profiles for revenue recognition based on the type of future product sold. The linked solution allowed me to assign profiles to product types and then lookup the profile instead of using a potentially very long and unmanageable if statement. It is one of the more abstract maneuvers I've made in Anaplan, and I really enjoyed implementing it.

  • Thanks! I will!
  • Ah, yeah, @nicole.johnson !! The famous @DavidSmith - I have to admit he has solved many of the most complicated use cases I've had so far. No one better. Thanks for sharing that post! You should consider turning @DavidSmith answer into a best practice - I suspect this is something a lot of modelers can use.

  • What a great idea @JaredDolich  I felt really lucky when I found the answer. It makes a lot of sense that other modelers might be looking for it, too.

  • @nicole.johnson 

    Here's the link to create a best practice if you feel inclined to do so. Great way to promote the Software and Technology Group too.

    https://community.anaplan.com/t5/Content-Sandbox/tkb-p/contentsandbox

    Usually master anaplanners and Anaplan specialists add best practices but please don't let that discourage you from writing your article. A lot of people can benefit from this solution, plus you'll get 1:1 time with the reviewer, maybe even @DavidSmith himself. That's how I first met him.

    Just be sure to give David credit for your inspiration and approach. Good luck! I hope you'll write it.

  • @JaredDolich Thank you so much for sharing the additional information! Getting set up to write it will be even easier thanks to the information you provided. Once you suggested it I immediately added it to my list of goals for the next 2 weeks. I appreciate the encouragement. It is too good of an opportunity to pass up! 

  • @nicole.johnson Very cool!  We too have struggled through the transition to ASC 606, scars and all.  Your use case sounds really powerful!  We to do our revenue projections based on higher level trends for major lines of business and market segments vs. discrete projects/products so don't leverage a highly complex calculation (simple % per quarter).  I could see something like this coming into play with the depreciation model we've been playing with as we apply different accounting profiles based on asset types.  Thanks for sharing, you've got me to thinking!

  • @Tiffany.Rice That's great to hear! When I first learned about the profile function, fixed asset depreciation was the first thing that came to mind (I was formerly an Accountant that developed a fixed assets database in MS Access for a nonprofit). This use of profile for fixed assets is a perfect use case! I can see how you'd have a different profile for each depreciation type, and then each asset or asset type is assigned a depreciation profile. Then, incorporating David Smith's example, you'd have all of the depreciation calculating really efficiently.

  • @JaredDolich I doubt you recall this exact exchange, but I had said that I would be starting up a Best Practice article in the next 2 weeks, but there's been some exciting career changes in the air for me that have been consuming a lot of my time as of late. I have to put drafting a Best Practice on the back burner for a short while, and didn't like that I posted a commitment to writing it in this forum and then did not follow through. We'll see if it hasn't been covered yet when I get back at it. 🙂 

  • @nicole.johnson 

    Most importantly, Congratulations on your career discussions!

    You're terrific. That's the great thing about the Anaplan Community - it will always be here. And, hopefully with your upcoming discussions it will lead you back. Really glad you followed-up! 

Categories