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Abacum or Pigment, decided by who implements it and on what model.
Abacum (FP&A software) and Pigment (business planning software) both promise finance teams a fast move off their workbooks. With Abacum, finance configures a ready FP&A model, and with Pigment a builder defines the dimensions first.
Finance teams of 5 to 30 people shortlist Abacum and Pigment when their spreadsheet will not survive another budget round. Abacum is an FP&A platform, and Pigment is a wider business planning platform by design.
- Abacum (FP&A software)
- Abacum comes with a ready FP&A model on data from the ERP, the HRIS and the CRM. The finance team sets it up and changes it.
- Pigment
- A builder first defines the dimensions, metrics and tables in Pigment. Applications for finance, workforce and sales are then built on top of them.
- The difference
- Abacum gives finance a model ready to configure. Pigment gives the group a modelling layer built to its own dimensions and shared with other functions.
Abacum and Pigment take different routes through the 10 tasks a finance team runs in its first year.
| Abacum (FP&A software) | Pigment | |
|---|---|---|
| Go live in 6 weeks before the budget round | The FP&A model exists on day 1, and the weeks go on connecting the systems, mapping the chart and configuring the drivers. | The dimensions, metrics and tables are defined in the first weeks, and the applications are built on them once they hold. |
| Load actuals from the ERP, the HRIS and the CRM | Abacum's connectors fill the data tables on a schedule, and the finance team maps new accounts as they appear. | Pigment's connectors and imports fill the tables the builder defined, mapped to the dimensions on the way in. |
| Plan headcount by role, start date and cost | The workforce model carries each role as a row finance edits, with the cost logic already in place. | A workforce application is built on a people dimension and a set of metrics, with the cost logic written by the builder. |
| Forecast revenue from the pipeline | Finance sets the drivers on the CRM tables the connector filled, and the forecast reads them in the same model as the actuals. | A revenue metric is written over the pipeline table, on dimensions shared with the sales application. |
| Copy the plan, change the drivers and compare the results | A scenario is a copy of the plan with changed drivers, compared with the base in 1 report. | A scenario is a member of a scenario dimension, compared with the base in the same board. |
| Share the plan with sales, HR and operations | Other functions enter numbers through forms and synced spreadsheets, and the model stays owned by finance. | Other functions work in their own applications on shared dimensions, and each application has its own owner. |
| Draft the variance commentary for the board | Abacum's own AI drafts commentary on the variance between the plan and the actuals in the same table. | Pigment's own AI answers questions over the model and drafts summaries, on the metrics the builder defined. |
| Change the model after go-live | The finance team changes drivers, tables and reports in the interface it plans in. | A trained builder in finance or at the partner changes dimensions and metrics, and the applications follow. |
| Consolidate 12 entities with eliminations | Abacum plans, and the consolidation runs elsewhere with its output read into the data tables. | Pigment plans, and a consolidation is built as a model on loaded balances or runs elsewhere. |
| Take a reference from a group your size and shape | Ask Abacum for a finance team with your entity count and your ERP, and ask who changed the model last. | Ask Pigment for a group whose builder sat in the finance team, and ask what the builder changed last. |
Abacum ships a ready FP&A model, and the implementation sets it up for the finance team.
Abacum is a Spanish company with a presence in New York. Its product is an FP&A model on data tables fed by the ERP, the HRIS and the CRM.
The finance team sets up the drivers, reports and scenarios itself, in an interface built to replace its workbook. Month end is shorter because the connectors bring in the actuals without an export.
An Abacum implementation takes weeks, because the team configures a model that already exists. The finance team owns the model at the end and runs the second budget round without outside help.
Pigment is a modelling layer, and each planning application is built on the dimensions a builder gives it.
Pigment was founded in Paris in 2019 and sells a business planning platform. A builder defines the dimensions, metrics and tables, and the applications for finance, workforce, sales and supply sit on top.
Pigment's applications share the same dimensions. A headcount change in the workforce application moves the cost line in the finance application, with no export. Groups with 3 planning teams buy that shared layer, and they need a builder to maintain it.
Pigment and its partners run Pigment implementations. The more dimensions and applications the first release holds, the longer the build takes. A first release with only the finance application is a shorter build, and the other applications can follow later.
A reference call for either product should cover who built the model and who changed it last.
Abacum's ready model suits a finance team of 8 that wants to go live before the budget round and change the model without a builder. Ask Abacum for a reference from a group with the same entity count and ERP.
Pigment's modelling layer suits a group where 3 functions plan on shared dimensions and a builder sits in finance or on retainer. Ask Pigment for a reference from a group whose builder sat in the finance team.
Abacum references and Pigment references give 2 different answers when asked who changed the model last month. Constancia is an EPM consultancy and an official partner of Abacum. We check the data tables under the plan before we recommend a structure.
Abacum also appears in our comparison with Anaplan, our FP&A software guide and its own partner page.
Abacum or Anaplan
Abacum compared with Anaplan, a planning engine that certified model builders build.
Read the comparisonFP&A software, compared
Our guide to FP&A platforms, split between groups that consolidate and groups that do not.
Read the guideAbacum, the platform
What Abacum covers, what sets its price and where other systems take over.
Read about Abacum
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