Three routine jobs can take over a quarter-end month
Ask a finance team where the month went and you will usually hear the same three answers. None of them is analysis.
| An illustrative quarter-end month | The job | What takes the time |
|---|---|---|
| 4 days | The monthly reporting pack | Pull, paste, reconcile, chart. Then do it all again next month. |
| 3 weeks | The quarterly consolidation | Every entity sends its own spreadsheet, and someone has to stitch them together. |
| Every week | Managers asking for the latest numbers | The same questions land on finance, and each one means another extract. |
That leaves little room for what finance is there to do: explain the numbers and plan what comes next.
Each of these jobs has a tool built to shrink it. This guide looks at three: Power BI, Anaplan and Workday Adaptive Planning. For each one we cover what it changes, where it fits and what to check, then how to choose without buying more software than the problem needs.
Match each of the three tools to the job it shrinks
Each tool is built for a different job. Start from the job that costs your team the most time, not from the feature list.
| The job that hurts | The tool built for it |
|---|---|
| “We see last month’s numbers too late, and nobody can say why they moved.” | Power BI: use it to understand what happened, and why. |
| “Sales, operations and finance each plan in their own spreadsheet.” | Anaplan: use it when the plan has to connect finance to the rest of the business. |
| “Budget season takes over the quarter.” | Workday Adaptive Planning: use it when the budget cycle, not the analysis, is the pain. |
All three tools sit on top of your books. None of them cleans the books for you.
Power BI: from a four-day reporting pack to a refresh
Imagine the monthly reporting pack as a four-day job: pull, paste, reconcile, chart. The tool question is how much of that can be automated.
Today, the pack is built by hand: day one is pulling data, day two is pasting, day three is reconciliation and day four is charting.
With Power BI:
- Reports refresh themselves. Scheduled refresh keeps reports current without rebuilding the pack each month.
- Managers drill down themselves. Users filter, sort and drill into the lines behind a total, which can cut one-off extract requests.
- Exceptions find the people. Alerts and email subscriptions send the right view to the right person.
What it is
Power BI is Microsoft’s business analytics platform. Power BI Desktop is where analysts connect data, model it and design reports. The Power BI service is where those reports are published, refreshed and shared, and Power BI is also a core part of Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft’s wider data platform. For finance, it is the layer that turns ledgers, budgets and operational data into one set of live reports.
Forrester’s July 2022 model of a USD 10 billion company estimates 4–6 hours saved per analyst per week, rising from year one to year three. The study was commissioned by Microsoft and uses a composite organisation with 40,000 employees; it is not a forecast for every business.
Power BI pulls multiple data sources into one view
Imagine a finance manager who gets sales from one system, payroll from another and the budget from a spreadsheet. The question is how to see them together.
- Data connectivity: connect data from Excel, SQL Server and other sources.
- Power Query: clean and transform raw data.
- Data modelling: create relationships between tables.
- Visualisation: build interactive reports and dashboards.
- Security and performance: manage data access and optimise reports.
Power BI connects to more than 100 kinds of data source, including Excel, SQL databases and cloud services, and Power Query cleans and shapes the data on the way in. The manager then builds a model, with relationships and calculations written in DAX, so that sales, payroll and budget sit in one view.
Reports are interactive: users filter, sort and drill down from a summary into the lines behind it. Published reports sit in the Power BI service, where workspaces, scheduled refresh, email subscriptions and alerts keep the right people informed, and row-level security controls who sees what. Copilot and natural-language Q&A add an AI assistant. The publication cites Microsoft Learn for more than 100 data sources and more than 30 built-in and custom visuals.
Where Power BI fits
- Management reporting and variance views.
- Combining data from several systems.
- Sharing live views with managers.
What to check
- It is built for analysis; budget input and approvals usually sit elsewhere.
- Models need an owner to keep calculations right.
- Row-level security needs deliberate setup.
Use it to understand what happened, and why.
Sources: Microsoft Learn, “What is Power BI?”; Forrester Consulting, “The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Power BI” (July 2022), commissioned by Microsoft.
Anaplan: from a three-week relay to one model
Imagine the quarterly consolidation taking about three weeks, with every entity sending its own spreadsheet. The tool question is how much of that relay can go.
Today, entities A, B, C and D pass spreadsheets to group finance. With Anaplan, they work through one connected model, with consolidation and reporting in the platform.
What it is
Anaplan is a cloud planning platform. It describes itself as a unified platform with AI at its core, built to connect financial plans with the operational plans behind them. It takes in data from ERPs, CRMs and HRIS platforms through connectors and APIs, and it offers applications for planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidation and reporting.
How it speeds up finance activities
- One plan, many teams: operational plans are linked to financial targets, so a change in one shows in the other.
- Faster scenarios: Anaplan says scenario modelling is faster and plans stay aligned as conditions change.
- A shorter group close: consolidation and reporting are part of the platform, which can shorten the group close.
One interviewee, a financial services director, cut quarterly consolidation from about three weeks by roughly two-thirds. The March 2026 Forrester study was commissioned by Anaplan and models a USD 5 billion company with 28,000 employees, based on five interviews, so test the numbers against your own.
Finance, sales and operations on one plan
A sales target changes on Monday. By Friday, finance, supply chain and HR are still working from different versions of the plan.
Anaplan brings in data from ERPs, operations and sales, and links operational plans to financial targets. Its finance applications include integrated financial planning, profitability analysis, project cost planning and subscription revenue planning.
Planning methods named include long-range planning, rolling forecasts and zero-based budgets. Consolidation, disclosure management and financial reporting are also offered, and Anaplan describes an AI agent, the Finance Analyst, that automates budget tasks.
Anaplan reports nine Leader recognitions through the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software. One customer, JLR, reports short-term forecast accuracy above 90 percent. These are vendor-reported rankings and an individual customer result.
Where Anaplan fits
- Plans that cross finance, sales and operations.
- Scenario modelling as conditions change.
- Rolling forecasts and zero-based budgets.
What to check
- A broad platform needs design and a clear owner.
- Weigh cost and effort against the problem.
- Rankings and accuracy are vendor-reported.
Use it when the plan has to connect finance to the rest of the business.
Sources: Anaplan, “Financial Planning & Analysis” solutions page; Forrester Consulting, “The Total Economic Impact of Anaplan” (March 2026), commissioned by Anaplan.
Workday Adaptive Planning: less time chasing data
Imagine 200 cost centre managers each asking finance for the latest numbers, every week. The tool question is how many of those questions can answer themselves.
- Managers help themselves: shared data and workflows let cost centre owners work from the same plans.
- Forecasts that roll: rolling forecasts and a Predictive Forecaster keep the view current between budget cycles.
- What-if on live data: unlimited personal and shareable scenarios run on real-time data.
What it is
Workday Adaptive Planning is Workday’s planning software for budgeting, forecasting and reporting. It supports top-down and bottom-up budgets, rolling forecasts and scenarios on real-time data. It is ERP-agnostic, bringing in ERP and cloud warehouse data, and it adds a Planning Agent and a Predictive Forecaster.
Forrester’s model of a USD 1 billion company estimates 50 percent less time chasing data for 200 managers with view-only access, worth over USD 1.2 million. The model also credits retiring redundant software licences and freeing two IT staff for other work. It is a composite of five customers, commissioned by Workday, so treat it as a guide, not a forecast.
Four budgeting methods in one tool
Budget season usually means a dozen spreadsheets, several owners and one deadline. The question is how to keep everyone on one plan.
| Budgeting method | Starting point |
|---|---|
| Top-down | Executive targets. |
| Bottom-up | Plans built with cost centre managers. |
| Incremental | History. |
| Zero-based | Every line justified. |
Shared data and workflows keep stakeholders working from the same plans. For forecasting, Adaptive Planning offers rolling forecasts and a Predictive Forecaster, with daily, monthly, quarterly and long-term horizons.
Users can create unlimited personal and shareable scenarios on real-time data, and driver-based expense planning has a built-in rules engine for allocations. The platform is ERP-agnostic, and its Planning Agent shows explainability and confidence metrics.
Where Workday Adaptive Planning fits
- Annual budgets with many cost centre owners.
- Rolling forecasts and what-if scenarios.
- Groups with more than one back-end system.
What to check
- Close and consolidation is a separate Workday product.
- Clean ERP data feeds matter as much as features.
- Review AI outputs, using the confidence metrics.
Use it when the budget cycle, not the analysis, is the pain.
Sources: Workday, “Adaptive Planning: Budgeting and Forecasting” product page; Workday blog, 5 March 2026, summarising a Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Workday and conducted in February 2026.
What the studies show: modelled returns, not promises
Each vendor commissioned Forrester to model the return on its tool. The figures are useful direction, but every model is a large composite company, not an SME.
| Measure | Power BI | Anaplan | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three-year ROI | 381%, with payback under six months. | 152%; USD 19.0 million of benefits on USD 7.6 million of costs. | 242%, with payback under six months. |
| Time saved | 4 to 6 hours per analyst per week, rising from year one to year three. | 30% to 60% of planner time saved, from year one to year three. | 50% less time chasing data for 200 managers with view-only access, worth over USD 1.2 million. |
| Cost and efficiency | USD 5.5 million modelled saving from replacing legacy reporting tools: licences, infrastructure and report writers. | USD 4.3 million modelled saving in group close and consolidation efficiency. | 35% FP&A efficiency gain by year three; credits retiring redundant software licences and freeing two IT staff for other work. |
| Model company | USD 10 billion revenue, 40,000 employees; five interviewees. | USD 5 billion revenue, 28,000 employees; five interviews. | USD 1 billion enterprise from five customers. |
| Commission and date | Microsoft, July 2022. | Anaplan, March 2026. | Workday, conducted February 2026 and summarised on 5 March 2026. |
Use these figures as direction, not as a forecast for your business. Test every figure against your own size, systems and data.
Before you buy any of the three tools, fix the books
Every tool in this guide reads from your ledger. If the close is late and the data is messy, the dashboards and plans will be late and messy too.
We advise businesses outside India on their finance function. We do not sell or implement software, so our view on tools has one aim: pick the one that fits the problem, at a cost that fits the business. In our experience, the order matters more than the brand.
The order we recommend
- Diagnose the close. How many days after month-end do you see last month’s numbers? Find where the time goes.
- Clean the data feeds. One chart of accounts, consistent entities and reconciled balances. Every tool depends on this.
- Name the job, then the tool. Reporting pain points to Power BI, a connected plan to Anaplan, the budget cycle to Adaptive Planning.
- Give it an owner. Models, rules and access need a named person, or the tool drifts back to spreadsheets.
Strategic Finance Advisory: we advise, build and run your finance function, and help you choose the tools that fit it.
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Building a finance function that supports better decisions?
A strong finance function is more than accurate accounting. It combines disciplined processes, reliable reporting, cash visibility, effective controls, and forward-looking financial analysis.
Whether you are strengthening your month-end close, building management reporting, improving working-capital visibility, or developing forecasting and governance processes, a structured approach can help finance become a stronger business partner.
To see where your finance function stands today, request a Finance Health Check. Email [email protected] with the subject line “Finance Health Check”, or discuss any topic in this publication with our advisory team.
The purpose of finance is not simply to report what happened. It is to create the clarity, control, and forward visibility that help management decide what happens next.
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