What is Anaplan?

Anaplan is a software tool designed for Connected Planning across various business functions such as Finance, Sales, Supply Chain, HR & Workforce. It enables organizations to perform planning activities that are strategic, fast, and in real time. Anaplan's software supports the specific and unique needs of businesses and has been utilized by customers across every industry to drive outstanding outcomes.

As a service, Anaplan offers a Connected Planning Platform that enhances the efficiency of business planning processes. This platform is particularly beneficial for real-time planning and allows for quicker sales, financial, and inventory planning. It is leveraged by notable companies like Vodafone, Carter’s, and Bayer and caters to sectors including Consumer Goods, Financial & Business Services, Manufacturing, Retail, and Technology, Media & Telecom. Furthermore, Anaplan has established partnerships with leading companies to provide personalized demonstrations of their platform.

ETL Tools for Anaplan

Anaplan Connect is a command-line client designed to be installed on an organization's system, enabling various data actions such as import, export, delete, process, or upload. It operates on platforms that support a Java 8 or 11 runtime environment. Anaplan Connect manages data transfers through Windows Batch files or Unix shell scripts, making it a script-based tool for ETL processes.

CloudWorks is another Anaplan native tool that integrates with cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google BigQuery. It supports two-way integration and enhances the speed of model-to-model imports and exports within Anaplan's ecosystem.

The Anaplan public REST API provides capabilities for data actions through bulk APIs and for viewing and updating metadata with transactional APIs. These APIs are essential for the interoperability of ETL tools with Anaplan, as they define the possible interactions with Anaplan's data and services.

HyperConnect, an ETL tool for Anaplan, is powered by Informatica Cloud and requires an Informatica Cloud license. It supports batch-oriented integration and facilitates Anaplan's connection with various SaaS platforms, including Salesforce.

Other ETL and ESB tools such as SnapLogic, Boomi, OneCloud, and MuleSoft are connectors provided by Anaplan. They offer integration solutions but are paid options and may require a separate license. Boomi, specifically, can integrate with databases and flat files, and it allows for scheduling data transformations within the platform. OneCloud offers support for integration with a wide range of enterprise applications.

Additionally, purpose-built Anaplan integrations with platforms such as Power BI, Tableau, and DocuSign enable the reporting and visualization of Anaplan data. The Anaplan Tab in Salesforce.com facilitates the visualization of Anaplan data within the Salesforce platform.

Streamline Your ETL Process with Sourcetable

When considering the integration of Anaplan data for business intelligence and automation purposes, Sourcetable emerges as a superior solution over traditional third-party ETL tools or self-built ETL solutions. Unlike other more complex systems that require additional layers of integration, Sourcetable syncs your live data directly from Anaplan, making the ETL process hassle-free. This seamless connection ensures that your data is always up-to-date, providing real-time insights for better decision-making.

The inherent complexity of building and maintaining custom ETL solutions can be a significant resource drain for any organization. Sourcetable eliminates this by providing a user-friendly spreadsheet interface that is already familiar to most users. With Sourcetable, you can automatically pull in data from Anaplan, bypassing the steep learning curve often associated with specialized ETL tools. This allows teams to focus on strategic analysis rather than the intricacies of data integration.

Furthermore, Sourcetable's automation capabilities are a game-changer for organizations seeking to enhance their business intelligence efforts. By using Sourcetable, you can efficiently transform and load data for analysis, without the need for constant manual intervention. This not only saves valuable time but also reduces the risk of human error, ensuring that your data is both accurate and reliable for all your business intelligence needs.

In summary, leveraging Sourcetable for your ETL needs when working with Anaplan data offers a multitude of benefits. It simplifies the ETL process, provides a familiar interface for querying data, and supports automation for more efficient business operations. Sourcetable stands out as an optimal choice for organizations aiming to maximize their productivity and data accuracy in a spreadsheet-like environment.

Common Use Cases

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  Consolidating financial data from various departments into Anaplan for budgeting
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  Importing sales forecasts from SaaS platforms into Anaplan to align with inventory management
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  Automating the transfer of HR data from on-premises systems into Anaplan for workforce planning
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  Transforming and integrating customer relationship management (CRM) data into Anaplan for strategic decision-making
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  Migrating historical transactional data into Anaplan to analyze past performance trends

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the differences between Anaplan Connect and CloudWorks?

Anaplan Connect is a command-line client that requires Java 8 or 11 and allows for customized automation of data actions with knowledge of Batch and/or Shell scripting. It's more technically demanding than CloudWorks, which is a native Anaplan tool with a low technical barrier to entry, integrating with AWS, Azure, and Google BigQuery, and can be managed with RESTful APIs or preexisting connectors.

Can I integrate Anaplan with third-party ETL tools?

Yes, Anaplan can be integrated with third-party ETL and ESB tools like MuleSoft, SnapLogic, Boomi, and OneCloud using Anaplan connectors. These tools are more technically demanding and require a license to use.

Is there a way to display Anaplan data in Salesforce?

Yes, the Anaplan Tab in Salesforce.com allows Anaplan data to be displayed within Salesforce, facilitating visualization and integration of data.

Does CloudWorks allow for two-way integration?

Yes, CloudWorks allows for two-way integration and is particularly efficient in speeding up model-to-model imports and exports.

What technical skills are required to use Anaplan Connect?

Using Anaplan Connect requires a person with knowledge of Batch and/or Shell scripting to make updates and automate data actions, making it more technically demanding.