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It is not uncommon for the way in which your organization uses Anaplan to grow and change. Sometimes, your business processes change. Sometimes, individuals enter and exit your organization. And sometimes, you simply think of better ways of doing things.

The good news is that Anaplan is designed to help you respond to all three of these dynamics, and it is quite common to need to do so. There are three main areas of focus to do some ‘spring cleaning’ in your Anaplan deployment that will streamline your planning for the year ahead:

  1. Cleaning up your models.

  2. Cleaning up your processes.

  3. Cleaning up your projects.

Cleaning Up Your Models

There are several items you could examine in your models, but we will focus on three key areas: organization, simplicity, and performance.

There are two prongs of organization to consider: Data flow and User Interface (we will address the latter in the next section). First, a critical item to evaluate is whether the flow of data through the model is the most efficient and effective that it can be. Are there redundant line items? Is there overlapping or duplicative reporting modules? Do calculations take the shortest route from data/input to result? Looking through the answers to these questions can provide benefits in all three areas (organization, simplicity, performance).

Fortunately, Anaplan has developed a comprehensive system for designing and structuring your model to do just that. The D.I.S.C.O. model structure focuses on organizing modules in your model into Data, Inputs, System, Calculation, and Output modules, which is complemented by the PLANS methodology, which asks us to build in a way that is performant, logical, auditable, necessary, and sustainable. We are continually learning better ways to build an Anaplan model, and perhaps when you built yours, this design was not established. Now is a great time to change that!

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Aaron Overfors
Aaron Overfors
Principal Architect, Spaulding Ridge
About the Author

Aaron Overfors is the Principle Architect in Spaulding Ridge’s Anaplan Practice, where he is responsible for crafting and implementing best practices and ensuring a quality solution is delivered to clients. He also contributes to the overall leadership in Sales Performance Management through thought leadership and project leadership.