Latest episode
Abacum or Anaplan, decided by how unusual your planning logic is.
Anaplan (planning software) runs whatever logic a certified model builder sets up. With Abacum (FP&A software), the finance team changes the model and the forecast itself, even in month 6.
Finance teams of 5 to 20 people shortlist Abacum and Anaplan when the budget outgrows their workbooks. Abacum is an FP&A platform and Anaplan is a connected planning platform, and they suit different shapes of team.
- Abacum (FP&A software)
- The finance team sets up and changes the FP&A model in a spreadsheet-like interface. The data comes from the ERP, the HRIS and the CRM.
- Anaplan (planning software)
- Model builders build Anaplan models from lists, modules and line items on the Hyperblock engine. The finance, workforce and sales models link up.
- The difference
- A specialist builds an Anaplan model to fit the group's planning logic. With Abacum, finance changes its own FP&A model without a specialist.
Abacum and Anaplan handle the same 10 FP&A tasks, with different people building each model.
| Abacum (FP&A software) | Anaplan (planning software) | |
|---|---|---|
| Load actuals from the ERP, the HRIS and the CRM | Abacum's connectors pull the ledger, the headcount and the pipeline into data tables on a schedule, mapped to the model's dimensions. | Actuals arrive through Anaplan's integration tools or Anaplan Data Orchestrator, and the builder maps them to the model's lists. |
| Plan headcount for 400 people by role and start date | The headcount plan runs on Abacum's workforce model, with each role, start date and cost held in a row finance can edit. | The headcount plan is a workforce model of lists and modules, built by the model builder and linked to the finance model. |
| Build a driver based revenue forecast | Finance defines the drivers in Abacum's model, on the pipeline and volume tables the connectors filled. | Drivers are line items in modules, and the calculation runs across every cell that depends on them. |
| Run a what-if plan alongside the one the board approved | A scenario is a copy of the plan with changed drivers, compared with the base in the same report. | Versions are a native dimension in Anaplan, so a branch is a version and the comparison is a line item. |
| Write the variance commentary for the board | Variance reports read the actuals and the plan in the same table, and Abacum's own AI drafts commentary on the variance. | Variance is a calculation in a module, and the commentary is written in the report or in a connected tool. |
| Give 30 budget holders a place to enter their numbers | Budget holders enter numbers in Abacum's forms or in a synced spreadsheet, and the platform tracks the approvals. | Budget holders enter numbers in Anaplan dashboards built for them, and the builder sets up the workflow. |
| Model an unusual allocation that touches 3 functions | Finance configures an allocation within the structures Abacum's model provides, and Abacum's own team builds anything outside them. | The model builder writes the allocation across whichever lists the logic touches, with no structural limit. |
| Change the model after go-live | The finance team changes drivers, tables and reports itself, in the interface it plans in, with no specialist involved. | A certified model builder changes the model, a role Anaplan trains and examines at 3 levels. |
| Consolidate 12 entities with eliminations | Abacum plans, and the consolidation with its eliminations runs in another system whose output Abacum reads. | The consolidation runs in another system, or the builder models it on the intercompany balances loaded to Anaplan. |
| Go live before the next budget round | An Abacum implementation configures a model that already exists, and the finance team owns the model at the end. | A partner or Anaplan first builds the model to the group's logic, and the group goes live once the build holds. |
Abacum holds an FP&A model the finance team configures without a model builder.
Abacum connects to the ERP, the HRIS and the CRM and keeps the actuals in data tables. The budget and the forecast run on those same tables.
The finance team sets up the drivers and reports itself, in an interface that looks like the workbook it replaced. Finance can change the model the same afternoon without raising a ticket, so budgeting takes less time.
Abacum's model comes with structures for the tasks most finance teams share: headcount, revenue, cost centres and scenarios. Finance sets up those structures itself. Abacum's own team builds any logic that falls outside them.
Anaplan runs whatever planning logic a model builder writes, and the group keeps a builder to maintain it.
Anaplan calculates lists, modules and line items on its Hyperblock and Polaris engines, and a model builder defines all 3. Anaplan certifies model builders at 3 levels in its own curriculum, and a group either trains its own or keeps a partner.
Anaplan Connected Planning links a finance model to a workforce model and a sales model through shared lists. A change in the sales plan moves the finance plan without an export. A group with 3 planning teams buys Anaplan for that reach across the functions.
An Anaplan model holds any logic the group has, however unusual, because the builder writes each rule into the model. An allocation across 3 functions and 2 currencies is built exactly as the group wants it. A builder then looks after it.
Abacum suits planning logic built on drivers, and Anaplan suits planning logic shared across functions.
Abacum's structures hold the headcount, revenue and cost centre plans a finance team of 8 runs on drivers. That team can go live before the budget round and change the model itself.
Anaplan's model is built to shared lists and allocations that run across functions, for a group with 3 planning teams and a budget for a builder. The group gets that reach and pays for a builder to look after it.
Constancia is an EPM consultancy and an official partner of Abacum. We start by listing a group's planning logic on 1 page. Then we read the data model under it and recommend a structure.
Abacum and Anaplan also appear in our other comparisons and on the Abacum implementation page.
Abacum or Pigment
Abacum and Pigment compared on the model underneath each one and on who builds it, since both sell on time to value.
Read the comparisonOneStream or Anaplan
Anaplan's planning engine compared with OneStream (EPM software), which runs the group close as well.
Read the comparisonAbacum implementation
We check the data tables before an Abacum model goes live and passes to the finance team.
Read the service
See more on our
Subscribe on YouTube
Every Sunday, 6am
The Sunday Close.
Our weekly newsletter on AI in finance.
Yours to enjoy with your Sunday morning coffee.
- AI in finance observations from Alex (CEO) and Brad (COO)
- Newest video from our YouTube channel
- AI in finance trends we have spotted each week
Tell us the date you are working to.
The people who would do the work read every message and reply inside 2 working days.