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The components involved in a Center of Excellence combine to promote self-sufficiency within a business. This may start as early as a business’ first release, and can continue on throughout each new release. There are eight key components that each business should expect to benefit from with the establishment of a Center of Excellence: Skills and Expertise The Center of Excellence provides an entire organization with the skills and expertise needed to develop the Anaplan platform within the business and provide training to the team. It creates functional Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), provides solution design, architecting, and technical model building skills, and offers project management capabilities. Furthermore, it provides ongoing training for an organization, including instructor lead (classroom) training and on-demand eLearning courses.     An Implementation Approach The Center of Excellence creates a known and understood approach to delivering and evolving solutions within Anaplan for an organization. Utilizing the benefits of the Anaplan Way Agile methodology, a  Center of Excellence encourages collaboration between all parties involved with the Anaplan platform, successful iterations of new and updated releases, and accurate visualization of each project and release. Direction and governance The  Center of Excellence creates a governance framework that is used to steer and prioritize the Anaplan road map within an organization and drive the ROI of each release. This includes identifying an organization’s steering committee, executive sponsors, and the sign-off/approval approach and process. The  Center of Excellence may also act as the project management office (PMO), which is attached to each release. Data Governance and Integration Establishing a  Center of Excellence helps to utilize the master data hub concept within an organization. The  Center of Excellence will generally be responsible for the master data hub, which will feed into most, if not all, models within the organization. Doing this creates a single point of data reference within the organization for all departments and regions to refer to. Also, the  Center of Excellence provides adherence to conventions, policies, and corporate definitions that are used with the Anaplan platform. Access to Knowledge and Best Practices The  Center of Excellence is responsible for providing a knowledge base and internal community to support an organization’s efforts in Anaplan. These internal resources should provide functional use case and technical model building best practices, as well as a shared practical knowledge surrounding the platform and the organization’s specific use within. An Anaplan "Savvy" The  Center of Excellence constantly holds an awareness of the "power of the platform." This awareness includes what the platform is currently doing for the organization and what it could be used for in the future with platform updates and improvements in mind. Additionally, the  Center of Excellence maintains a practical understanding of the Anaplan App Hub and how apps can be leveraged for rapid prototyping and deployment of releases. Access to Support The  Center of Excellence acts as a 24/7 customer support desk for the organization, and offers customized support when necessary. Change Management The  Center of Excellence provides a support system to handle all change management surrounding the Anaplan platform. This includes clear and appropriate communications to drive and support user adoption, and alignment of upstream and downstream business processes. Return to: Why Do I Need a Center of Excellence? Jump to next: Selecting Center of Excellence Governance Structures ... View more

At its core, a Center of Excellence is a central governing body dedicated to the successful implementation of Anaplan for Connected Planning. The makeup and structure of this group are dependent upon the culture of the company it serves, meaning no two Centers of Excellence are exactly alike. To define the appropriate governance structure, companies must identify the appropriate balance of centralization, define the location of the Center of Excellence team members, and set a regularly occurring cadence with standardized agendas. Below we've outlined the three steps you should take when working to build your center of excellence structure. Define the Appropriate Governance Structure Once a Center of Excellence charter is established, and team members identified, often the biggest challenge faced by the group is finding the correct governance structure or balance between centralized and federated responsibilities.  A fully centralized governance model is one where all decisions, discussions, and development involving Anaplan are funneled through one group of people, who the business end users come to any time they have questions or need support regarding Anaplan. This is similar to how most enterprise technologies are managed at scale, though not always the right approach to a flexible business-owned planning platform like Anaplan. On the other hand, a fully federated model is one where individual business teams have full freedom to do whatever they want without any internal approvals or coordination. Most companies land somewhere in the middle, with corporate culture dictating most of the decision process. This is very similar to how most business users plan today when Excel is the tool of choice. We recommend using he following framework to help find the best level of Center of Excellence centralization. The COE is a strategic partner with the business to ensure all planning related activities are meeting the highest expectations. To use this framework, first identify which benefits from the Centralization and Federation columns are most aligned to corporate culture and needs. Then, work through each Interaction listed in the diagram and identify if it needs to be Centralized, Federated, or both. Finally, the level of centralization of governance model should align to where the majority of Interactions and Benefits are even. Depending on your centralization blend, select the appropriate governance model. Identify the Location of the Key Participants A Center of Excellence is defined first and foremost by its people. Selecting the appropriate team and locating them in the correct part of the organization are paramount to achieving success. Core backbone roles of a stable Center of Excellence. The location of the Center of Excellence resources is dependent on the Center of Excellence’s level of centralization and governance blend. A strong Center of Excellence combines representation from the business, IT, and dedicated Anaplan resources. Each of the following roles should be identified and may exist somewhere along the spectrum of entirely separated or entirely unified in the Center of Excellence. This is an example of the breakdown of a Hybrid Center of Excellence model: Cross-departmental breakdowns of a Center of Excellence team. Schedule a Recurring Set of Checkpoints with Standardized Agendas The final remaining step is to schedule the Center of Excellence’s cadence. There should be a regularly recurring set of meetings scheduled far in advance, at different intervals for the different types of meetings. Members of the Center of Excellence and adjacent stakeholders should be able to anticipate these meetings long in advance and know exactly what to expect when they occur. Typical Center of Excellence cadence. This regularly defined cadence is key to ensuring a stable Center of Excellence where all stakeholders trust the competence of the team and believe in its ability to fulfill its purpose. In each meeting, a standard recurring agenda should be in place that is upheld by a lead member of the Center of Excellence. There should always be room for flexibility, but that flexibility needs to be built around a solid core agenda, which will provide comfort and certainty to all participants. The agenda of each meeting is highly dependent upon the corporate culture and specific mandate of the Center of Excellence. So, while the agendas may vary between companies, the core ideas and goals should remain similar. Standard recurring meeting agendas. Now that the governance model is defined, the people are identified, and the cadence is scheduled and planned, the core function of a Center of Excellence as a governing body should be fully operational. With a robust and intentional foundation in place, it should be easy to adjust and evolve the Center of Excellence as time goes by and the Anaplan footprint continues to grow. Once your team is up and running, begin planning for how to address the Production Support  needs of the organization. Follow these next steps to build your Center of Excellence. Return to: Benefits of Establishing a Center of Excellence Jump to next: Center of Excellence Roles and Responsibilities ... View more

Every Center of Excellence is unique in its function and composition. To help standardize Centers of Excellence across the ecosystem, and provide a strong starting point for the development of new Centers of Excellence, this article will provide guidance for the high-level team structure of a typical Anaplan Center of Excellence, as well as detailed descriptions of the suggested members within it. Connected people are the backbone of successful Centers of Excellence. At its core, a Center of Excellence needs to have Executive Sponsorship at the highest level of the organization, and a technical expert with a deep understanding of how the platform works. These are your Chief Planning Officer and Master Anaplanner , respectively. In addition to those core foundational members, Centers of Excellence will have additional team members depending on the size and scale of the Center of Excellence related to the size of the current Anaplan footprint within the company. These additional roles typically include: A Center of Excellence leader who organizes the team. A group of dedicated model builders or Anaplanner council. Project management representation to coordinate ongoing implementations and efforts. Business subject matter experts (SMEs) to represent the needs of business functions to the Anaplan team. Quality assurance or production support representation to fulfill customer service functions for production models. Everybody plays a role in ensuring successful Connected Planning. Depending on the corporate culture and the charter of the Anaplan Center of Excellence, these resources may be located in several different parts of the organization. There is no one correct location for these resources, but the most successful Centers of Excellence have been those that are physically and organizationally located as close to the business planning users as possible. Most importantly, the team will be successful as long as its members share a common commitment to ensuring successful utilization of Anaplan and Connected Planning, and have a regular cadence to come together to work towards that common goal. Depending on your governance model , these resources may be located entirely on a central dedicated Anaplan Center of Excellence team, entirely federated within different existing business functions, or some balance of the two. Cross-departmental breakdowns of a Center of Excellence team. Roles and Responsibilities Use the interactive menu below to review the roles and responsibilities of resources in a Center of Excellence. While each Center of Excellence is different, this structure and list of suggested Center of Excellence team members should provide a useful starting point to building a strong foundation for a solid Anaplan Center of Excellence. Please join the discussion in the Center of Excellence Discussion to share your organizational structure and recommendations, or ask questions about how to implement this specifically for your company. Return to: Selecting Center of Excellence Governance Structures Jump to next: Center of Excellence Production Support ... View more

Connected Planning doesn’t happen overnight. Onboarding and connecting disparate teams and business functions must be an intentional and organized effort, coordinated through a central ownership group or a Center of Excellence. The Center of Excellence is responsible for maintaining stable enterprise-grade production models and a strategic and scalable roadmap, while also sharing lessons learned across the organization. In this article, we'll dive into the production support (often called Business As Usual, or BAU) a Center of Excellence is responsible for. Centers of Excellence enable cross-functional Connected Planning. Once a few use cases are deployed, the Center of Excellence is responsible for everything from customer service to Connected Planning expansion and value realization. While every individual Center of Excellence has a unique charter and set of outcomes by which to measure success, a commonality among all Centers of Excellence is an emphasis on supporting the business and unlocking the true potential and benefits of Connected Planning. Hierarchy of Center of Excellence production support functions. The Center of Excellence needs to define which elements of this framework fall within its responsibility, and which are owned elsewhere in the organization. It is common for companies to have separate support organizations in place that may overlap with any of these functions (often in an IT department), and it isn’t necessary for an Anaplan Center of Excellence to duplicate services provided elsewhere. In these cases, the Center of Excellence’s priority is ensuring that these objectives are being met somewhere and that the business is not prevented from realizing the value of Connected Planning. Core responsibilities of maintaining and expanding an Anaplan footprint. At the foundation of the framework is customer support or production defect management. If the Center of Excellence is the primary point of contact for Anaplan defect intake, the team should be prepared for the common types of support issues that end users may raise. These will vary significantly across deployments, use cases, and companies, so the Center of Excellence is responsible for asking for any potential issues during the implementation and before each model is deployed to production. Examples of common support issues, and the responsible support owner. The Center of Excellence is responsible for having a formal structure in place to receive, respond to, and resolve defects raised by the business. Most companies have a framework in place to deal with a platform-agnostic incident resolution, and the process itself is less important than ensuring that the process is thoroughly-defined, consistently-executed, and well-communicated to stakeholders. One customer’s support ticket process. Expectations should also be clearly communicated to all stakeholders. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) should be defined and agreed upon up front, and then tracked and measured against at regularly scheduled intervals. Support Service Level Agreements Severity Definition Response Time Min. Resolution Time Max Resolution Time Critical (1) Critical production issue that severely impacts your use of the service. The situation halts your business operations and no procedural workaround exists. 30 Mins 2 Hours 4 Hours Major (2) Major functionality is impacted or significant performance degradation is experienced. The situation is causing a high impact to portions of your business operations and no reasonable workaround exists. 2 Hours 4 Hours 12 Hours Minor (3) There is a partial, non-critical loss of use of the service with a medium-to-low impact on your business, but your business continues to function. Short-term workaround is available, but not scalable. 8 Hours 12 Hours 24 Hours Cosmetic (4) Inquiry regarding a routine technical issue; information requested on application capabilities, navigation, installation or configuration; bug affecting a small number of users. Acceptable workaround available. 12 Hours 24 Hours 40 Hours Moving to the top end of the value spectrum of the Center of Excellence framework, Centers of Excellence should be prepared for a steadily increasing rate of enhancement and new use case requests from the business. This is to be expected as the business becomes more comfortable with Anaplan and becomes increasingly excited about leveraging the technology to advance their planning sophistication. The Center of Excellence’s job at this point is to act as a multiplier, not a bottleneck, to this business expansion. Receiving and prioritizing enhancement and expansion requests. Similarly to defect resolution, the Center of Excellence should outline a precise process through which the business can raise enhancement and new use case requests. The process should be as transparent as possible, and as with defects, it is critical that the process is clear and consistent. One customer’s change request process. Expectations around handling new requests should be established with the same rigor as defect resolutions and should be equally measured and reported consistently. Change Request Service Level Agreements Category Level of Effort New Contract Required SLA Response Time Min. Resolution Time Max Resolution Time Sample Requests Small 1-3 WD No 1-2 WD 1 WD 3 WD Rename the Module, Line Items Add a line item to capture comments Medium 4-10 WD No 2-3 WD 4 WD 10 WD Add new list item (this could increase the size) Large 11-15 WD Yes 3-5 WD 10 WD 15 WD Add new dimension for example: Geography to Cost Center Details New New Request No 5-10 WD TBD TBD Headcount Planning A Center of Excellence should hold itself accountable for supporting the business in its use of Anaplan to enable Connected Planning. By following the production support framework, the Center of Excellence can play a critical role in assisting the business to realize the unique value and ensuring that the Center of Excellence continues to receive the care and resources needed to support continued future evolution. Follow these next steps to build your Center of Excellence. Return to: Center of Excellence Roles and Responsibilities Jump to next: Alternative Names for an Anaplan Center of Excellence ... View more

We all know what we mean when we talk about an Anaplan Center of Excellence, (if not, first review our Introduction to a Center of Excellence). However, like most things, there are as many variations of Anaplan Centers of Excellence as there are Anaplan customers. And among the many elements of a Center of Excellence that may vary from customer to customer, the name itself is often a significant sticking point. One of the primary benefits of the Anaplan platform is that it can be entirely owned by the business users that depend on it without dependencies on an IT team for support, like most other enterprise platforms. That said, a Center of Excellence may be too reminiscent of these historical IT-owned applications; therefore cultural sensitivity is needed when naming your dedicated Anaplan team. Sensitivity in naming helps to ensure there is no confusion and that the group is owned and operated by the correct business function. What follows is a brief sample of alternative names for your Center of Excellence that may assist you in determining that appropriate name for your dedicated group of Anaplan governance professionals. Name Pros Cons Shared Services Center Aligns with centralized model focused on providing high-valued trained resources. Very commonly used in Public Sector. Implies tactical focus, lessens focus on governance/strategic planning. Not well-known outside Public Sector. Captive Center Aligns with centralized model. Typically associated with offshore capabilities and commodity services/cost-reduction. Provide limited goals or value propositions. Global Business Services /  Multifunctional Shared Services Strong associations to and recognition within Finance and HR functions. Includes emphasis on business outcomes. Limited association with something owned by IT. May not alleviate sense of complexity typically associated with CoE. Global Insourced Center / Global Shared Services Organization Represents a more mature version of a Captive Center, including emphasis on strategic planning. Aligns with centralized model focused on providing high-valued trained resources. Most commonly known in the IT space. Associated with cost-reduction activities. Global Competency Center Aligns with centralized model focused on providing high-valued trained resources. Emphasis on non-commodity capabilities. May not alleviate sense of complexity typically associated with CoE. Traditionally associated with outsourcing ops. Additional Names Planning Command Center Shared Business Operations Business Operations Optimization Central Planning Team Planning/Anaplan Committee Business Enablement Team Community of Practice Decision Acceleration Group Return to: Center of Excellence Production Support Jump to next: Center of Excellence Resources ... View more

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Launching in August 2019, your Anaplan Community account will begin to provide access to multiple systems in the Anaplan ecosystem.  Our goal is to make this transition as simple and painless as possible.   What is my Anaplan Community account for? Your Anaplan Community account is used to provide a single-sign on solution to multiple Anaplan Services.. We will be rolling out additional services to support this single login process in the future and will communicate out any additions at that time.  Currently supported systems include: Anaplan Community Anafans More coming soon! Register an account You can begin the registration process by choosing "Register" in the top right corner while not logged into Community, or by visiting http://idusers.anaplan.com. Verification email and password setup Upon registration, an email verification will be sent to your email address. You will need to follow the link sent in the email to complete registration and set the secure password for your account. Reset password If you have trouble logging into your Community account or got your password mixed up upon the hundreds we all have, you can reset it at any time utilizing the password reset process. Follow this link to begin and choose "Need help signing in" -> https://id.anaplan.com/. Display name vs. email address Your display name (username) will be the publicly available name that everyone will see when you interact in Community, such as leaving a comment, sending a message, or creating a new idea. This could be a combination of your first name and last initial, or you can be creative and come up with something unique. You will utilize your email address and password to log into your Community account. About roles The vast majority of our Community is open and doesn't require an account or specific access. We utilize a series of roles to provide the appropriate access for all other content. If you require a specific level of access that was not provided at the time of your account creation, please contact us at Community@Anaplan.com with the request and we would be happy to assist.  Changing your email and/or display name. At this time, we do not have an available option for you to modify your email address or display name/username in Community. Please reach out to Community@Anaplan.com for assistance. Can a Community Admin see my login information? The Anaplan Admin team can only see your username and email address. We do not have access to your password.  A password reset would have to be initiated to receive a new password. Is my password safe? Yes, we provide rigorous security measures and controls to protect your information, and all passwords are 256-­‐bit AES encrypted ... View more

The best preparation for certification exams is practical experience. We recommend one or more years of hands-on experience using Anaplan. Training can also help you advance your technical skills and learn best practices for working with Anaplan. In addition to our required training, we also offer training and materials to help you prepare for the certification. Learn how you can grow your knowledge in the areas below.  Data Integration Model Building Center of Excellence   Data Integration Courses   Data Integration Knowledge   Base   Anaplan Platform   Documentation       Model Building Courses   Model Building Knowledge   Base   Model Building Videos   Anaplan Platform   Documentation       Center of Excellence Course  Articles    • Benefits of Establishing a   Center of Excellence    • Why do I need a Center of   Excellence?    • Establishing an Anaplan   Center of Excellence—shared   lessons from CAPCO Can’t find what you’re looking for? Send us an email at MasterAnaplanners@anaplan.com. ... View more

The best preparation for certification exams is practical experience. We recommend one or more years of hands-on experience using Anaplan. Training can also help you advance your technical skills and learn best practices for working with Anaplan. In addition to our required training, we also offer training and materials to help you prepare for the certification. Learn how you can grow your knowledge in the areas below.  Data Integration Model Building Center of Excellence   Data Integration Courses   Data Integration Knowledge   Base   Anaplan Platform   Documentation       Model Building Courses   Model Building Knowledge   Base   Model Building Videos   Anaplan Platform   Documentation       Center of Excellence Course  Articles    • Benefits of Establishing a   Center of Excellence    • Why do I need a Center of   Excellence?    • Establishing an Anaplan   Center of Excellence—shared   lessons from CAPCO Can’t find what you’re looking for? Send us an email at MasterAnaplanners@anaplan.com. ... View more

Benefits Master Anaplanners are certified model-building experts that have demonstrated a commitment to ongoing engagement in all things Anaplan. In return, Master Anaplanners are recognized in a variety of ways, with more exciting benefits to come! 1. Exclusive Access to Anaplan’s leadership, including the executive team as well as our engineering and product teams. An exciting opportunity to be the first to see the future product roadmap as well as having a channel to ask company-specific questions directly to the top of decision makers. 2. Network with Fellow Master Anaplanners who are the best in their field and widely respected within the planning industry. Our program provides a unique space for you to discuss issues with experts from other companies in your industry, and a chance to learn from their mistakes as well as share examples from your experiences. 3. Showcase Your Company's Thought Leadership and expertise in the Connected Planning industry. Within this program you can highlight your success in utilizing Anaplan on a global stage (figuratively and literally at our annual conference). 4. VIP Anaplan CPX Experience. Gain entry to our VIP Master Anaplanner lounge and claim your exclusive CPX gift. Visit with top executives and experts during private Master Anaplanner sessions. 5. Gain a Competitive Advantage. Build your brand and amplify your status within the planning industry when you are globally recognized as a top Anaplan model builder.  6. Advance your Career. Earning a certification can open up new opportunities for advancement and increase your earning potential by as much as 51 percent*. 7. Gain Further Career Recognition with an updated Master Anaplanner certificate to display within your Community profile and on your LinkedIn profile.  8. Shape the future of the Master Anaplanner program, the Master Anaplanner program is evolving and you can impact the direction it takes. Help us build out the program you want by providing feedback and sharing what motivates you as a Master Anaplanner. *According to The IIA’s 2017 Internal Audit Compensation Study (based on U.S. responses). ... View more

Master Anaplanner Eligibility Certified Master Anaplanners are Anaplan’s experienced platform evangelists, who share a common technical language and are involved in the structural development of their models. Anaplan customers, partners, and employees are all eligible to become a Certified Master Anaplanner, given they are willing and able to meet qualifications and requirements below. Questions? Check out our FAQs or reach out to MasterAnaplanners@Anaplan.com if they’re not answered there.  Step 1: Application In order to be considered for Certified Master Anaplanner status, please fill out our online application. You only need to fill this out once and can continue with the certification process even as you change employers – just let us know that you’re making the switch. Step 2: Qualifications In the first phase of the certification process, candidates are screened for the following criteria: At least 1-year of experience within the Anaplan platform A high level of Anaplan model building activity, as compared to current Master Anaplanners Completion of the required training outlined below* Master Anaplanner Training Intermediate Model Building (201) Agile and Anaplan (140) Agile in Action (341) *Partners and employees interested in obtaining Master Anaplanner status must complete all courses listed in the Partner Learning Path prior to applying. Step 3: Requirements Once a candidate has proven to be qualified, they are asked to meet our program requirements in order to officially become a Certified Master Anaplanner: A passing score on the Master Anaplanner Certification Test  Active contribution to the Anaplan ecosystem (as part of annual maintenance requirements -- more information coming soon) Certification Test Resources Our certification test is designed to test your cross-functional Anaplan knowledge, and includes multiple-choice questions on Model Building, Data Integration, and Center of Excellence Principles. The best preparation for certification exams is practical experience. We recommend one or more years of hands-on experience using Anaplan. Training can also help you advance your technical skills and learn best practices for working with Anaplan. In addition to our required training, the following materials can help you prepare for the certification test. Learn how you can grow your knowledge in the areas below:   Center of Excellence Topics Data Hubs Building a Data Hub Establishing a Data Hub and Data Architecture Data Hub Configurations Governance & Structure Building a Center of Excellence Introduction to Centers of Excellence  Selecting Center of Excellence Governance Structures Center of Excellence Roles and Responsibilities  Why Do I Need a Center of Excellence? Benefits of Establishing a Center of Excellence Data Integration Topics Importing and Exporting Data Data Related Training Classes Get Started with Imports Export from Anaplan Overview of Private and Default Files Import Data Sources Integration Platform and Connectors Data Integration Anaplan Connect ETL Connectors Guide to Data Integration using Anaplan REST API Anaplan API Guide and Reference Tableau Connector for Anaplan Excel Add-in Version 3.0 Third-party Data Integration Anaplan Connector Guide for Dell Boomi Anaplan HyperConnect Powered by Informatica Model Building Topics Model Building Best Practices Best Practices for Module Design Formula Optimization in Anaplan Knowledge Time Range Application Reduce Calculations for Better Performance PLANS–This Is How We Model Shared Best Practice Add Notes Formulas and Functions Calculation Functions YEARTODATE Function Formula Structure for Performance SELECT Function RANK Function Dynamic Cell Access Dynamic Cell Access Dynamic Cell OR Selective Access Dynamic Cell Access Tips and Tricks Selective Access Selective Access (Anapedia) Selective Access (Academy) Time Ranges Time Ranges Introduction to Time Ranges Time Ranges–The Basics Dashboard Filtering Filter (Anapedia) Filter Best Practice Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) ALM Overview Revision Tag Best Practices Save Incomplete Changes when Synchronizing in ALM Production Lists Overview Structural Information Reference ... View more

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